"A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it."
- William Feather

"A simple fact that is hard to learn is that the time to save money is when you have some."
- Joe Moore

"Modern man drives a mortgaged car over a bond-financed highway on credit-card gas."
- Earl Wilson

Budgeting Tips and Advice:
Let's Get Started...

Unlike the quotes provided above, seemingly reflective of general opinion on family budgets today, I will attempt to take a much more positive approach to budgeting, as a family oriented, user-friendly, financial management and planning tool and life-enabler.

However, when reflecting on family budgeting and inquiring as to why more families aren't actually doing it, it becomes self-evident that similar skepticism runs rampant and deep in reality and society, even globally so.

Once you start probing family budgets, expending time and energy researching the subject in-depth, it becomes quite clear, that most families are caught in a vicious, almost never-ending cycle of “what comes in must go out.”

Most families feel that budgeting is a futile effort, unnecessarily burdening them with thoughts and ways, to go broke methodically and slowly, without the creature comforts and indulgences of our human modern-day society.

Others might voice that they feel as if they are merely throwing money away, in a never-ending and dizzying spiral of spend, spend, spend. People are getting deeper and deeper into debt, no matter how hard they try to get out of it. Questions are then raised: How do we stop these courses of action? How do we change the thinking around family fiscal discipline?

Put simply, in “Help Me Create a Family Budget, Save Money and Stick By It”, I focus in on how to empower families to set up better, more realistic budgets, stick to them and celebrate their successes (plus learn from their failures!)

Families eventually do have a monthly surplus, see their savings start to grow, consolidate their debt, set aside discretionary funds and personal allowances, build their wealth and become more aware of their pro-active involvement and responsibility regarding their lives and finances. This is when excitement builds and fundamental thought patterns as well as spending attitudes are changed.

Budgeting: What Is It?

Budgeting is a change in behavior. It is an accurate measurement of success when significant behavioral transformation is taking place (ie: you stop WASTING your money and CHANGE your spending habits DRAMATICALLY).

Do you ever feel that you do not have enough cash at the end of the month to pay bills or buy the necessities of life? Are you barely making a dent in your credit card debt balance, no matter how hard you try?

Here is a reality check for all of us: when we choose to spend money, it is gone for good. Period.

We cannot spend it on anything else.

Are you worried about that nest egg for your golden years or savings for early retirement? Then you have arrived at a source that can provide some practical tips on how to start, finish, implement, stick to, revise and refine a family budget.

The family budget is a dynamic process, even more so than a mere static work-product, result, process-outcome or document. It will, can and should change over time. It becomes a barometer of your family’s fiscal circumstance, resources and health.

Maybe budgeting is not as much about reflecting on what you cannot have, but more about thoughts on how to stretch, invest and spend your earned dollars more wisely. In short, it is about making your money going further.

These quick-reference how-to articles were developed to assist you with setting up your own personal, household and family budget, to help you with all of the above and more.

You will understand how thoughts and spending patterns need to change in order to become fiscally more disciplined. You will learn many techniques, attitudes, habitual behaviors that you need to un-earth, evaluate and possibly change, before you even start budgeting.

For example, being a bargain hunter looking for good buys, cutting down on careless spending, being on the lookout for careless credit card spending and letting the person who handles money best in your household actually take care of it, are all good examples of what I mean.

For most households, a budget is no more than a spending plan. Any spending plan can help you see where your money is going. It fits your spending to your income. It reflects how you get the things you want and need most, while being ready and prepared for bills you must pay every month.

For most families it is simply about making a budget you can live with and stick to easily. It is not a difficult exercise, but one most people fear, avoid or dread because of the unknown and perceived complexity of it (sometimes wrongfully so!).

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SolveYourProblem.com : 2008

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