November is only a couple days away so now is the perfect time to make sure that you have prepared your budget! It is so important to have your budget prepared BEFORE the month begins. You are way more likely to stick with the budget if you have a plan in place for the first day of the month.
Make sure you download one of our FREE Budget Tools. You can choose either the monthly budget or the weekly budget template from our website. After you have downloaded your tool, you can get started putting together your income and expenses for the month of November.
Step One: Enter your expected income for November. Put a number in that you KNOW is going to happen. If you should receive more money throughout the month, you can always adjust this number upwards.
Step Two: Enter your expected expenses for the month. Even if you do not know what all of your bills will be, put in a number that is conservative enough that you know will be enough to cover it. Once your bills actually arrive, you can adjust these numbers to match what you will actually need to pay. Make sure you also include any Known, Upcoming Non-Monthly Expenses. You can use this calculator HERE to make sure you are saving enough to cover these expenses when they come up.
Step Three: Make your INCOME – OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO™. If your budget turns yellow or red, it is now time to start adjusting so that your budget turns green. You might have to make some uncomfortable decisions or even tell yourself “no” a couple of times this month. It will be worth making some sacrifices in order to finally have a working budget.
Make sure you take some time this weekend to get that budget put together so that when Thursday rolls around, you’ll be prepared for a new month. This could be the month that you have your first ever successful budget. How awesome would that be? It all starts with a plan so make sure you have yours in place!
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