Every financially savvy family budgets their monthly income.
Understand that budgeting is a must in order to maximize your resources for the greatest return.
It is not as difficult as it seems as long as you utilize the tools that are readily at your disposal.
1.
Budgeting Programs are essential.
Be mindful that there are various budgeting programs available to help you track and evaluate your spending patterns.
These money management programs provide you with a framework to follow that helps you to track your cash flow from small to large expenditures.
As long as you are disciplined in entering the necessary information in the system, you can generate reports that diagnose your spending behaviors and help you determine where you may be overdoing it with your credit and debit cards.
Through these programs you can also input your various bi- weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly payments.
They can also help you to keep track of what you give to your church or favorite charity.
Additionally, some programs also offer you a tracking measure so that you can easily import the information from your budget to your tax forms when it is time to give Uncle Sam his cut.
2.
Coupons help cut food budgets.
Another less glamorous and possibly time consuming budgeting resource is the handy dandy coupon.
Almost every item that is sold in the grocery store carries some sort of coupon for it from time to time.
You may find it easier to just buy some of these items at the local Aldi's or Save-a-Lot store instead of spending hours cutting out coupons though.
I remember when I found out that these smaller and lesser attractive grocers provide a 40% savings to my family food budget overall.
It was amazing.
If you buy a pack of Oreo cookies in the local Wal-Mart or Krogers, chances are you are going to pay at least $3.
00 for the pack on sale.
At Aldi's they sell an off brand version of Oreo's for $1.
00.
That's at 67% discount without ever having to take out a pair of scissors.
If you are worried about the taste, then do a blind taste test with your children to see which ones they prefer and let that be the deciding factor.
3.
A list is a friend not an enemy.
A good list system will help you to be way more productive in budgeting.
A lot of people use spiral bound notebooks to keep their lists, others use their mobile or cellular phone to stay op top of their budgets and some prefer the flexibility of their personal digital assistant (PDA).
No matter what type of list tool you use, you must remember to refer back to it often in order to stay focused or you will not be very good at following your budget objectives.
Before you go to buy food next time, plan out what you will allow in your shopping cart based on your upcoming menu.
You should take a look at what is in your cupboards also before you head for the store (Your older kids are great at doing this for you).
My daughter saves me every time I forget to do this because for some reason I always believe we are out of mayonnaise and it ends up in my cart more frequently than it should.
She reminds me that it is not on the list for a reason when she is with me and then laughs at me when I bring home another unneeded jar again.
Your list should also contain the items that your are very low on and will run out of before your next food trip.
This will save you having to do a midweek trip that guarantees you purchasing items that you do not need and were never budgeted for.
If you are the kind of person that cannot follow your list to save your life then you might need to enlist the help of your kids.
Let your kids do the shopping.
Arm them with your list and have them shop for the items, then they can let you know when they are done (Read a book or something in the car while they shop).
Then you can go into the store and pay for the food and if they make wrong selections you can tell them to go back for the right ones.
This will help them to understand how expensive food is as well and make them more sensitive to waste.
4.
Your filing cabinet will help you keep your records straight.
Another invaluable tool for budgeting is a filing cabinet.
You should start labeling your files in order to put your bills in good order for continual use and retrieval in case you need them later.
I recently changed my filing system because now I scan them and put them on a disk.
If I need to print off a copy I can easily do so and if there is ever a fire in my home it is easier to believe that I can get my disk folder than take out my entire filing cabinet should the worst happens.
By keeping your bills, statements and receipts together, you are more able to keep track of how much you owe and the due dates of your payments.