Main content
Planning a budget: How do you start?
Budgeting can be done using many tools: paper, printable sheet, spreadsheet, or app.
Budgeting: How do you start?
Your budget needs to be something that you can look at and refer to frequently. There are multiple ways of building a budget, and you should pick the one you are most comfortable using:
- Pencil and paper: You can write down your income and expenses on a piece of paper, and subtract your expenses from your income to see how much money you have left. You can also divide your expenses into categories, such as needs, wants, and savings, and decide how much to spend on each one.
- Printable sheets on the internet: You can find many websites that offer free or cheap budget sheets that you can print and fill out. You can even download one here. These sheets may have different formats and features, such as charts, graphs, or tips, to help you organize your money and track your progress.
- Spreadsheet: You can use a computer program, such as Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers, to create a budget spreadsheet. You can enter your income and expenses in different cells, and use formulas and functions to calculate and compare your numbers. You can also customize your spreadsheet with colors, fonts, and styles, and make changes easily.
- Apps: You can download apps on your phone or tablet that can help you create and manage your budget. Apps like Empower, YNAB, or Mobills can connect to your bank account, credit card, or other financial accounts, and automatically update your income and expenses. Some apps can also give you alerts, reminders, or suggestions, to help you stay on track and reach your goals.
Want to join the conversation?
Ok so I just got a job. I’m 16 and I’m taking this course to have more knowledge for the future. Should I start using or practice budget when I get my first paycheck?(15 votes)
That's up to you for the first few paychecks. At 16, you are probably not yet paying for your own rent, food, insurance and other typical costs of living. So, if you blow a few weeks on pleasure, it won't make too much of a difference for your life.
But DO set a date not too far in the future for when you'll start the 50/30/20 thing advocated in the lessons here, and hold to it, even if you're NOT paying for rent, insurance and your own feeding. Just "pretend" that you're doing that, and use that money to fill up your emergency fund.
I wish you every success as you move forward. 16 years old is both a wonderful and difficult time in the lives of many people.(50 votes)
- If you budget properly can you make more money(4 votes)
Not make more money, but you can save money. If you budget, you'll have more money than if you didn't budget because you saved your money.(23 votes)
what job is best for starters?(4 votes)- I think you might find better guidance on this matter in the course on careers. I've found a lot of good thought over there. Try it. If you don't like it, you don't have to stay.(11 votes)
- make more money(6 votes)
- I differ with that. Making a budget requires, first, gathering data. What are your current assets? What is your current income? What are your current liabilities? What are your ongoing expenses? With answers to these four questions, you have data to manipulate, which can form the foundation for a plan. A budget is, at base, a plan.
As life goes on, stuff will happen, because stuff does. But if you have a plan for the expected things, you can adapt to the stuff.(6 votes)
- What is the best way to make a budget when I don't have a set schedule and my paycheck is always changing depending on how many hours that I get each week? I get paid By-weekly. I only have one bill as of right now that I pay for myself because I am only 17.(4 votes)
- 1. Don't budget based on your dollar income, but on percentages. So, no matter how much or how little you take home in a pay period (whether that is a week, every-two-weeks, or a month), you put a certain percentage of it away so that it cannot be frittered away. You pay your single monthly bill and have fun with what is left over after the savings have been put out of your reach.(10 votes)
- This is more of a comment. Although probably not unique, I used to think about budgeting
as a constraint opposed to a possibly helpful tool. It appears that a budget can be a tool to help you reach your goals as you actively choose where to use your resources.(8 votes) - If you budget properly can you make more money(3 votes)
You can't make money from thin air, but you can save more money than you otherwise would have.(10 votes)
how do i budget(0 votes)- That's what the lesson is about. Listen to it, and all the other lessons on budgeting. They will help you.(16 votes)
whats the best paying job(0 votes)- Starting to think about a job from the question of what pays best is, perhaps, the wrong place. Start by asking what sort of job suits you best. Get that job. Then manage your life within the parameters of what you earn.(15 votes)
- How is budgeting going to help in the future?(0 votes)
- As you move through life and grow up, you will find that you need to plan many things. You need to plan how to use your time, how to eat healthfully, how to exercise enough, and how to get to and from places like home, school, church and the shopping center.
Budgeting is just one kind of a plan. It is about how you will use your resources.
Consider: If you go out the door on your way to school, but don't plan what route to take, you might end up someplace far away and never make it to school. It's likewise with money. If you spend without a plan, you'll go broke.(14 votes)