Finances, Money and Budgeting can be hard to talk about in today’s world.
One of the most common causes of tension and conflict in marriages and relationships revolves around finances. How they spend their money can either bring couples closer together, or drive them further apart.
We all need money to live off of. The bottom line is that most of us don’t handle our finances very well. Take a look at our economy. We are trillions of dollars in debt as a country and most of our individual households are deep in debt also.
Fortunately, this problem can be solved. The short answer is that we all need to learn how to live BELOW our means (spend less money than we make).
Handling Your Finances by Creating a Budget
One of the best ways to take control of our finances is to use a BUDGET.
There are many different ways to do a budget, but to quote Dave Ramsey, “A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”
A budget includes writing down all of your income and expenses for a specific period of time (typically bi-weekly, monthly, and/or yearly). It also includes setting a projected income and expense amount for each item and then entering the actual amounts as they occur.
At the end, ideally, your projected amount should end in $0 and your actual amount should end in $0 or be a positive amount. The main goal is to again, LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS!
If, at the end of the month, your projected amount ends in a negative amount, you will have to find ways to either increase your income, decrease your spending, or a combination of both.
The concept is simple, but a real struggle for many people who don’t stay on top of our finances.
Dave Ramsey has some great advice when it comes to finances. We have not followed Dave’s “Baby Step Method” perfectly, but you can’t deny the logic behind his program.
The Benefits of Being Out of Debt
Jon and his wife Nicole are currently following it and have just finished up Baby Step 2. They have paid off all of their consumer debt minus their mortgage. That has NOT be an easy task, but boy has it been a rewarding experience for them, spiritually and mentally!
Take Care of Your Finances with Our Free Budget Tool
All that being said, We want to help you get a grasp on your finances. We have a created a VERY SIMPLE budget spreadsheet that you can use to help get your finances under control. It is simple and can be modified to suit your specific budget needs.
You don’t have to be an Excel wizard to be able to use it either. We made it where you can easily plug in your information and everything will calculate for you!
Click the link or graphic to access our SIMPLE YMC Budget and start telling your money what to do!
