How to Make a Budget Plan to Save Money on a Fixed Income

How to Make a Budget Plan to Save
Money on a Fixed Income

1. Determine your overall monthly income-: If
you are earn a fixed salary, then you are certain
about how much you take home each week or
month. But if you are a freelancer or
independent contractor whose monthly income
varies, you should try to figure out how much
you earn on the average. Knowing how much you
earn per month is the first step towards
creating a workable budget. However, you must
bear in mind that your monthly income is what
you are left with after you have remitted your
due tax. So, don’t factor in your tax dues into a
your overall income.

2. Understand how you spend money-: Your next
and perhaps the most important steps towards
setting up a budget is to list every bill that you
pay monthly as well as your minimum payments
to things like credit cards.
Think about how you spend your money each
month. What are the monthly bills you have to
pay? What are your extraneous expenses that are
not really necessary ? Looking at where your
money is going can help you control your
expenses better. Pick up a pen and paper. List
all the things you spend your money on. Then
break down your expenses into categories, such
as home, auto, food, utilities, health, savings,
and so on.
If you owe some debts, you should make a
separate list of the total amount you owe each
creditor. If necessary, you may need to call your
creditors to confirm exactly how much you owe
them. Calculate your total monthly payments to
know how much you will set aside for them each
month. Remember, this is the time to be
completely honest with yourself. Never lowball
your expenses nor inflate them.

3. Add in extra payments-: To the total you have
calculated in the first step, add the amount you
spend on gas for your vehicles, groceries,
clothes, and anything else you spend money on
each month, such as newspapers, cigarettes
( yes, you need to add it if you smoke), and wine
bottles.
To get a clear picture of these additional
expenses, you may want to keep your receipts
for a week or two. Don’t forget that you will
need some pocket money for emergency
payments. Total your extras together with your
monthly payments.

4. Compare your spending to your monthly
income-: After listing your monthly spending,
compare your calculated total expenses with your
total income. If what you get after subtracting
your expenses from your earnings is a negative
number, that means you are living beyond your
means—and you need to reduce your spending
until it equals or becomes less than your income.
Spending more than you earn is the worst
financial mistake you can ever make, and it can
confine you in the quicksand of debt for life.
If your total expenses exceed your income, you
need to check your list of expenses to find areas
you can cut down on. For example, you can stop
buying newspapers and start reading the news
online using your phone, instead. Similarly, if
you are a chain smoker, you can reduce the
number of sticks you take per day ( aside that
this will help you save money, it will also
improve your health ). You might be paying too
much for auto insurance, in which case you need
to look around for a cheaper policy.
As you note areas where you can cut costs,
keep subtracting your total expenses from your
income until you get some left over. If you still
can’t make this happen, probably because you
can find any unnecessary payment in your list,
you might need to increase your income by
taking another job.

5. Set your budget and financial goals-: By
creating a budget, you should have some goals in
mind, both short-term and long-term. Setting
goals and working towards achieving them helps
you stay on track with your budget. Examples of
short-term goals include saving a certain
percentage of your income every month.
Examples of long-term goals include paying off a
huge debt or being able to put down a mortgage
payment on a home or car. Short-term goals are
easier to reach than long-term goals, but they
are usually a build-up to the long-term goals. If
you are unable to achieve your short-term goals,
chances are you won’t be able to achieve the
long-term ones.

6. Analyze your spending for importance and
necessity-: With your short-term and long-term
goals in mind, go through your list of expenses
once again to see if your total expenses can
allow you to achieve your goals. If you cannot
achieve your goals without reducing your
expenses, then you need to cut down on those
spending that are not absolutely essential.
If a significant amount of your money is going
into things that are not necessary, you will need
to cut down on those. In short, you will most
likely need to make necessary changes to your
spending habits in order to achieve your goals.

7. Restructure your budget-: After eliminating
unnecessary spending from your budget, rewrite
and review what you are left with. This will help
you ensure that you have not left out anything
important. Don’t forget to include unforeseen
spending in your budget, such as the cost of
repairing your car after you suddenly landed into
a ditch or the cost of fixing your smartphone
screen that smashed after the device slipped off
your hand.

8. Stick with your budget-: The only way to
make your budget useful is to implement it to the
letter. Don’t be tempted into spending over your
monthly budget, as that’s a sure recipe for
failure to achieve your short- and long-term
goals. Creating a budget is easy, but sticking
with it is difficult. If you can successfully stick
with your budget, then you will be able to
achieve your financial goals.