Glory The Maestro

Most financially savvy people construct their own budgeting templates. If you’d like to construct yours, but have no clue as to where to start, fear not, this post is for you. This is what you have to do:

• Open an empty Excel sheet.
• Title it Personal Monthly Budget Planner.
• Create a cell that shows the particular month e.g. Month of September
• At the beginning of the month, fill in your budgeted income and expenditure.
• At the end of each week, use your financial diary to fill in your actual expenses
• At the end of the month, compare both to get your monthly variance
• Over the year, this careful budgeting will help you keep an eagle eye on how much you spend on several key items

Basically, your budgeting templates should look like the below:

INCOME:

Income	Budgeted	Actual
Wages
Interest received
Dividend
Miscellaneous
Income totals

EXPENDITURE:

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Home Expenses	Mortgage/ Rent
	Utilities
	Home telephone
	Mobile telephone
	Home repairs
	Home improvement
	Home security
	Garden supplies

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Daily Living	Groceries
	Child care
	Dry cleaning
	Dining out
	Housecleaning service
	Dog walker

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Transportation	Gas/ fuel
	Insurance
	Repairs
	Car wash/ detailing services
	Parking
	Public transportation

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Health	Health club dues
	Insurance
	Prescriptions
	Over-the-counter drugs
	Co-payments/ out-of-pocket
	Veterinarians/ pet medicines
	Life insurance

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Holidays	Airfare
	Accommodations
	Food
	Souvenirs
	Pet boarding
	Rental car

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Dues/ subscription	Magazines
	Newspapers
	Internet connection
	Public radio
	Public television
	Religious organizations
	Charity

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Financial obligations	Long-term savings
	Retirement
	Credit card payments
	Income tax (additional)
	Car Loan

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Personal	Clothing
	Gifts
	Salon/ barber
	Books
	Music (CDs, etc.)

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Entertainment	Cable TV
	Video/ DVD rentals
	Movies/ plays
	Concerts/ clubs

Expense	Items	Budgeted	Actual
Misc. payments	Other
	Other
	Other
	Other

A D-I-Y budget allows you to literally see your spending patterns, and helps you to track your income and expenditures; so have fun doing your own budgeting and knowing you’re on your way to becoming financially savvy.