The 3 steps to putting yourself in control of your money
Being the boss of your money starts with understanding whatâs coming in and out of our bank accounts each month. To accomplish that, we need a budget. Â
A budget can be like a four-letter word for most of us. But it shouldnât be. Our budget should be the thing that makes us feel confident about our money and gives us the decision-making power to say where it goes. Sounds a lot better than worrying about making it to the end of the month, huh?Â
Weâve broken down the steps for building a budget. The goal here isnât to spend an entire weekend crunching numbers or digging through old receipts and bank statements. What we want to do is create a quick snapshot of where we think our money is going each month. Then, we can look back at our snapshot and refine for future months.Â
Letâs get started.Â
3 steps to build your budgetÂ
- Commit to it - Budgeting only works if itâs something you want to do and plan to stick with. Really - this is a mental thing. We have to be motivated to be the boss of our money for this to work. Â
- Know whatâs coming in - To build our budget, we need to know whatâs coming in each month and when. For most of us, that means looking at our paystub to understand what weâre earning and when it hits our account. Knowing this, we can figure out how much we have to spend and when we can spend it. It also helps us avoid costly things like overdrafts or needing a payday loan. (To learn more about your paycheck, whatâs coming out and where itâs going, check out our video so you can stop asking, âWhat the heck, paycheck?â)Â
- Balance needs and wants - Weâve all got things we have to have - a roof over our heads, food on the table and reliable transportation. Then thereâs the fun things, like shopping trips, movie nights and eating out. We can do all the things we need to do and the things we want to do by prioritizing whatâs most important. Listing out the things we spend money on each month can help us see where our money is going and helps us evaluate whatâs a priority. (If you want to add more fun without stretching your budget, check out our list of fun family-friendly activities you can do around Kansas City for free. Thatâs right - free!Â
Get started building your budget - or just taking a fresh look at your spending - by downloading our free budget worksheet. Again, itâs designed to give you a quick snapshot of where your money is going. It wonât require digging through old paperwork or complex math. Â
Or if youâre a budget ninja and want to dig even deeper into where your money goes each month, weâve highlighted a few popular budgeting frameworks. And we've got a whole ebook that can help you become the master of your money.