Sample budget to get you started

It can be helpful to look at a sample budget if you're doing a budget for the first time. If you've got a family to care for, learning how to create a workable budget will allow your family to live well on what you have and to stay out of financial trouble in the future.

Budgeting is really not difficult, although it can be tough to stick to your budget at times. Using a sample budget to figure out how you can create a simple, workable budget can be helpful in getting started, but the real work comes in when you have to actually stick to your budget in real life.

The basics

Basically, a budget ensures that you're spending no more than what you make. In order to create a budget you need to know what money is coming in each month and what money is going out, and you should end up with more coming in than going out.

Allow for contengencies

A good budget will also allow for contingencies, so you'll want to try to build up a bit of an emergency fund.

Work on spending less than you make, and you'll soon find ways to create a slight surplus each month; over time, this surplus creates a contingency fund for unexpected expenses – like a broken-down car – that would otherwise disrupt your regular budget.

Getting started

When you start budgeting, it's a good idea to first figure out all of your regular income. Then, start writing down all the unchanging expenses each month. This would include your rent or mortgage, insurance, taxes, telephone and internet bills, minimum loan and credit card payments, car payments and insurance, and television licence and satellite or cable bills. Deduct these things from your income to see what's left. Since things like groceries, eating out, and clothing can be variable, you'll work these in next.

To be sure that you account for all your expenses, look over a couple months' worth of bank statements to see where you've been spending money. The trick to creating a good budget is to account for everything but to leave yourself a bit of flexibility for those inevitable months that don't go as planned.

This sample budget will get you started and later on you can work up to slightly more sophisticated forms of budgeting that allow you to pay off debt more quickly or to save up money for future expenses and things like gifts throughout the year or bi-annual family holidays. Once you get the hang of living on a budget, you'll find that you have much more peace of mind and control over your money.

You can also click on the image to download it to your desktop as a PDF. You can then print it out as many times as you like.

You will need Adobe Reader (the latest version is recommended) installed on your computer in order to open and read the budget. You can get Adobe Reader here (a new window will open so you can download it without leaving this page).

Click here for a free monthly spreadsheet you can work with in Microsoft Excel

Your sample budget