Raise your hand out there if you haven't heard this in your lifetime; create a personal budget. All of you? Not surprised, it is standard advice and a lot say it, more attempt it, but only a few succeed.
Personal budgets are easy to create, but keeping them and getting control over personal finances is the key. Building a personal budget that works, requires the individual to make honest assessment about their financial standing and maintain discipline.
The honesty part comes in expenses, not the ones documented on a monthly bill, but the impulse expenses, the budget busting expenses. Avoid creating a budget which grossly underestimates the impulse expenses such as food and gas. These costs are high, so be honest.
Next get all family members involved in the process of building a budget. If one member is not on board, the budget is instantly busted. Sit down as a family and develop a doable budget.
Like expenses, be honest about income. The idea of a budget is to have more coming in than going out, so avoid hiding money. Like all expenses, make sure all income is accounted for.
Keep multiple copies of the budget each month in sight of everyone. Allow spaces for expenses and income to be listed and work to make sure everyone is record spending. This is especially crucial for the first few months, providing real data and allowing for any adjustments to the budget.
Give the budget at least 3 months before declaring it a failure or success. Economics is fluid, especially expenses which can go up or down very rapidly. Keep good records and after three months make any changes to the budget or completely disregard it.
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