Page 20 - FAMILY TIMES MAGAZINE JAN 23

FAMILY TIMES -The Family Edutainment Magazine - January 2023 Edition ©

Fourth, at the end of the month, total each spending category. Don't
forget to factor in annual or semiannual expenses such as property or
insurance premiums. Calculate the cost per month of each such bill.
You'll need to set that money aside to be able to pay these bills when
they come due. This will help you see if too much or too little of your
monthly income is going toward certain kinds of purchases. Then add
up all your expenses for a grand total and compare that to your net
income for the month.

This leads to the fifth and last step-to actually plan out your budget.
Hopefully your expenditures for the month were lower than your
income. Then your task is to prioritize this excess to areas of your
budget such as savings or paying extra on outstanding debt. Look at
your monthly expenditures to see if they were in line with your family's
goals. If not, you will need to make appropriate adjustments in your
budget.

If your expenses exceeded your income, you'll have to cut expenses or
increase your income to have a balanced budget. If finding additional
income is not possible, you will need to decrease your expenses. Most
of these cutbacks will have to come from variable expenses (utility bills,
entertainment, transportation, clothing, groceries, entertainment, dining
out, etc.) rather than fixed expenses (mortgage or rent payments, auto
and educational loans, tithes, etc.).

Once you've come up with your budget, stick with it. When you do spend,
record the expenditure either on a computer (using a budgeting program
such as Quicken or Microsoft Money) or in a ledger book. Keep a running
total of how much you've spent in your various budget categories for
each month.