Why Budgeting is Important for Moms: Budgeting is a key tool for managing your finances effectively. It helps you track your income and expenses, identify areas where you can save money, and ensure that you’re living within your means. Budgeting allows you to know exactly where you are financially. It removes, hopefully, the stress of wondering if you are going to have enough money each month. When you know exactly what your income and expenses are, you know exactly what to say no to and what to say yes to. One of the most important things about a budget is that it allows you to be in control of your money, not the other way around.

Creating a Budget: To create a budget, start by listing all of your sources of income, including your salary, any freelance or side income, and any government benefits. Next, list all of your fixed expenses, such as rent or mortgage payments, utilities, insurance premiums, and debt repayments. Finally, list your variable expenses, such as groceries, transportation, and entertainment. Make sure you list everything. Go through your bank statement and every single debit that comes off your account. Don’t guess how much you spend on groceries. Work out what you actually spent on groceries in previous months to get an average. I had an amount for groceries but when I actually start tracking our grocery spend it was a lot more than the budgeted amount. I also found that by adding in a line item for coffee, means I can order a coffee or two throughout the month guilt-free. 

Tracking Your Expenses: Once you’ve created a budget, it’s essential to track your expenses to ensure that you’re sticking to your budget. You can use a simple spreadsheet or a budgeting app to track your expenses and compare them to your budgeted amounts. We use an excel spreadsheet. As debit orders go off I update them if need be and mark them as paid. At the end of the month I work out the actual spend on the variable amounts.