Budgeting Help........

[jolenegreen2]

Ok Ladies! Need some help getting my budget on track! All my bills are late or not caught up. LOL. Its getting pretty hard here in NY..but anyways....I was wondering. I can easily make up a budget but how and where do I start? If all my bills are not caught up then how do I stay on tack or stay caught up? Thanks

[Domestic Gal]

IF you post all of your debts and income on here there are many people on here who can help you with your budget. (what to cut out, what to pay, ways to cut things your bills)

[staciah]

First: Look at when you get paid. Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly. What day? Always the same? For instance: if you get paid the 1st of the month and the 15th of the month now look at your bills.

Get rid of the ones you can't afford (magazine subscrip, gym memberships, video memberships, etc) Keep the nessesities.

If your bills come in different times of the month look at the "pay by dates". Pay your bills according to the "pay by date" and when you get paid. Like if you Water bill has a "pay by date" of 8th of the month. Pay that bill from the 1st of the months check.

Figure this all out with all your bills. If you get the same pay amount every pay check that will be easy.

Write on your calander when you will pay your bills and from what pay checks. I.E. - 1st - Cable $$, Phone $$, Water$$, Rent$$
15th - Garbage$$, Internet$$ Etc

Figure food, gas and other weekly payments in there too.

A budget isn't too hard it just takes alittle work.

[peanut]

Depending how backlogged you are, and how desperate the situation is, you may want to contact the people you owe and work out a payment plan with them. If you're beyond that, maybe try consolidating. But if we're talking utilities, those babies have to dealt with right now! Before your electric etc. is cut off!

I second cutting out every unnecessary expense possible. Think "Do I want that?" or "Do I need that?" Cut out the wants for now. You can live without cable. You can live without take out. You can live without new clothes every week. You get my drift. A good place to save money is the grocery budget. "Must have" stuff is stuff you will die without (food, clothing, shelter) or that will seriously compromise your ability to earn a living.

But, as for making a budget...list all your "must have" expenses for one month and see if you can pay those bills off with any leftovers. If you have no 'leftovers', then you're in trouble. You need to cut your "must haves" or increase your income. It's that simple.

If you don't know what your expenses are each month, then you're going to have to start tracking your money for at least 1 - 3 months. Then you'll have to consider annual expenses or expenses that don't fall every month and add them into that figure.

Hope that helps.

Jean

[Marie78]

Hi, from a fellow New Yorker. I know that times are tough here and I feel for you. I would try to set up a payment plan with each company you owe to get yourself back on track with the bills you are behind on. I would cut out any extras, I know that's tough, but you might have to make difficult choices until you are current with your bills again. Is there any way you can make a little extra income working a second job to help get yourself on track?

[Momto2Boyz]

My form that I use for budgeting is based on being past due. We were past due on things for so long, that I developed a monthly budget to help me work out what is past due and what is currently due and what payments to make to get caught up in a certain amount of time.

It's late here now, and I was just checking in before I head to bed. But I will try to remember tomorrow to scan in my budget form and post the pic of it for you to look at. And I'll kind of try to show you how I use it. It might help you, or at least give you some ideas to try.

This form worked for us, we are now current on everything, have no debt except our mortgage and are able to put savings in every month! It just takes some organization, time and diligence!