Our Managing Your Budget brochure is a resource to help you achieve financial goals while maintaining your day-to-day living expenses. Budgeting empowers you to become a money manager which is a needed skill as you save for college expenses.

Step 2 – Organize your monthly and daily expenses. The categories can be as simple as “bills to pay monthly” and “variable expenses” that are paid, as they are due. For example, if you make more than one payment a month on a credit card this will decrease the amount of interest charged on the outstanding balance. It is important to remember to put away three months of either one salary or the combined salaries if more than one person is responsible for maintaining the budget.. This savings should be used for emergencies or other unexpected expenses only.

Step 3 – A realistic budget, by figuring out where your money is going. The daily expenses chart is an easy-to-use template that can help you monitor what you spend on a daily basis.

Step 4 – Create your budget. Use the information collected from Steps 1-3 to put your budget on paper. The monthly budget worksheet will help you create a budget by using the calculated totals from your daily expenses.

Step 5 – Organize your financial records. It’s important to keep documents and receipts in a central file. There is no one specific way to handle your bills, financial records, important loan or mortgage documents, etc. Some people go to painstaking methods to keep their records in place and others throw most of their paperwork into the garbage. To get started, create a file folder for each type of bill you have. Keep the original statement, receipts, documents, or copies of your income taxes in these file folders.