How to Budget

Learning how to budget means starting at the beginning to get a full understanding of what your income is and what your monthly expenses are.

Once you've got a grip on these things, you can start to play with your budget by reviewing and revising it to make life easier. A budget allows you take complete control over your spending and your future.

This section is all about how to budget using lots of articles within this site to give you a good understanding of the principles, the right tools to use, and free budget worksheets and planners to make sure you know where your money is going and how you can keep hold of it and prevent getting into debt.

Instead of getting in debt you will be able to put some money aside for enjoying life within the budget you have created.

Articles on how to budget

How to budget money
Start with this article, it teaches you the steps needed to start budgeting money, assessing your income and spending needs, filling in a budget worksheet, revising your budget, and living within your means by sticking to a budget.

Making a budget work for you
Discover ways of making a budget work for you. Drastic changes or small steps?

Envelope budgeting
Perfect for those who use cash, envelope budgeting is a tried and tested, old fashioned way to budgeting success.

Zero based budgeting made easy
Zero based budgeting makes your budget work really hard by investing all spare money back into the budget. Find out how it can work for you.

Teaching money to our kids
Teaching your kids about money doesn't have to be hard if you use some of these great ideas.

Living on a student budget
Whilst at university it can be tough to make ends meet, but living on a student budget is something we all have had to do. Check out these tips for keeping your student budget in check.

How to make a budget and stick to it
Sticking to a budget is definitely the hardest part when learning how to make a budget, but there are lots of little tricks you can use to help yourself stay on track financially.

Budget Spreadsheet
A budget spreadsheet can be one of the best ways to easily track your budgeting and make calculations to help financial planning and saving money. Complete instructions of how to set up budget spreadsheets are here.

How to create a budget for an event
Learning how to create a budget for an event is a little different from learning to create a monthly home budget. Here is some advice on how it can be done.

Setting up a budget - Things that easily get forgotten
When you're setting up a budget, it's important to be thorough. There are a few small things you might forget, though.

A simple budget as an example
Budgeting doesn't have to be complicated. If you're a little afraid of what your budget needs to look like, this simple budget and guidance can help you get started.

Budget variance - What to do about it
Budget variance is when there is a difference between what you set out to spend and what you actually do spend in any given month. Learning how to deal with such variance is vital for making your budget a success.

How to Work With Your Budget
Once you have a budget written up it is important to periodically review it and make any changes needed. You may be able to make further savings!