BUDGETING TIPS

What if you income is variable? My family has a weekly review. My husband often works overtime in various amounts of time. We look at our income, then we look at all the bills due in the next few weeks. We save at least 10%. What is left over we decide what to spend in each of the variable categories. Just make sure you have money in savings for any bills that are larger than your weekly income like mortage or rent. The weekly review doesn't really take much time because we usually do the same amount for gas, food, and any classes. It is mostly our fun money we have less of some weeks.

Judy sent me some wonderful budget tips. "As I was developing my budget I came across something that is often left out of budget sheets. Some bills come every 2 or 3 months. It's important to remember to calculate what these expenses will cost you weekly and put that money aside.

I also find using envelopes to separate each group of expenses very useful.

Another tip: "I was so bad with money that I often bounced checks, at $15.00 a check, it was becoming rather expensive. So, for a period of time I used money orders. Yes, they cost money, but not nearly as much as the bounced checks. The bonus was once you buy a money that money is gone and the bill is paid. You can't change your mind. This also encouraged me to consolidate bills and pay bills in person, in cash. Slowly I am beginning to use my checkbook again, but I leave all the balancing up to Quicken. This type of software is worth the investment. Not only does it record, add, and subtract, but it balances your checkbook and works a budget for you.

Finally, if you have a computer, get on the net. I get all my magazines, newspapers, craft patterns, sewing patterns, countless things for the kids, not just games, the list goes on and on. I can't tell you what a money saver it's been. Consider this when looking at all those small expenses because allot of them you can access on the net. Hope you find these tips useful."

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