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One of the first home organization tools you need in order
to fix your budget is a way to track your money. There are
inexpensive or even free tools to help you do this.
Quickenonline.com offers a free online budget tracker to
help you keep track of all of your money. You can also
easily setup a budget tracker in Microsoft Excel. If you do
online banking, you can download a copy of your statements
into Excel and assign categories to all of your expenses.
So now that you have a way to track your money, the next of
the home
organization tools that you will need is a
specific spending plan. This means that you decide on
exactly what you want to/should spend on each category in
your budget. Some things will be obvious and fixed expenses:
mortgage, fixed loan payments like school loans or home
equity loans, internet service provider, cable, trash,
water, electricity, etc. I think you get the idea.
But then there are areas of your budget that fall more in
the flexible spending categories. For me personally, this
includes: groceries, entertainment, eating out, clothing,
and some business expenses. I put groceries in this category
because if I only buy what I absolutely need, I can cut my
grocery bill significantly each month. I once fed myself and
my daughter on less than $100 during a month (and that
included eating out!). It required looking for bargains and
resisting the urge to impulse buy things that I did not
need. Not easy but not impossible either.
And perhaps the most important of the home organization
tools to have in your toolbox: consistency. This means both
consistency with tracking your money and consistency with
staying on budget in all areas. If you expect to use your
money wisely, you need to know how you are using it. The
only way that will happen is by consistently tracking where
your money is being spent. This is not always easy and can
even be a bit uncomfortable. When you start knowing exactly
where your money is going every month, buying that extra
blouse or that additional meal out can become an
uncomfortable experience because you know that it is not in
your budget. Stay consistent in both tracking your money and
how you spend your money.
A few life and home organization tools can help you stay on
track when it comes to your budget. It will require some
effort to setup and stay on track with but it will help you
live within your means every month.
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