Member-only story
Dear Budgeters,
When it comes to the daunting task of making a budget, you’ll want to consider these 10 factors. We’ll walk through an example so you can see how the different variables come together. You’ll then be able to put this into practice when you’re in the thick of budgeting next month.
1. Income
While in most people’s case this is exactly what you want to keep an eye on, it’s important to know how much your job makes, your business brings in, or property brings in. You need to make sure you can cover all of your expenses for that month. You may have bills piling up that haven’t been paid for months yet that will need to be covered before the end of the month.
2. Expenses
You should consider many different categories within your general expense section of the budget, such as food and health care expenses, transportation costs, entertainment costs, etc. This is where it can get tricky, because you may have expenses that don’t fit into the same category every month. For example, your utilities may be more expensive in the summer when it’s hot outside, but your cell phone bill may be cheaper. Take this into consideration when setting up your budget.
