Creating a budget is one thing, actually budgeting your money is another thing entirely. However, it’s not that hard to do once you have the know-how to do so. Not only can budgeting help you save money, but it can also save you from bank fees and declining financial history. To help you get started budgeting your money, follow our simple steps below.

Find Out Your Income

To start, you should first determine what your income is after taxes are taken out. However, if what you earn depends on how many hours you put into your job, add your monthly salary total and create an average of your salary. Just make sure you don’t calculate any unpredicted funds, such as bonuses or tax refunds. Knowing your salary will help you make a budget that you can stick to.

Keep Track of Your Weekly and Monthly Spending

Create a list of your regular weekly to monthly expenses, such as food shopping, utilities, rent, insurance, internet, TV service, and gas, etc. You should also include credit card, home loan, online title loans in Texas, or student loan payments as well. Once you have all your expenses, you can continue developing your budget.

Include Small Expenses

Although you may already have a large number of expenses going into your budget, there are still small amounts of spending that you have to account for, such as ATM fees and day-to-day spending. You should work on tracking these small expenses either on your phone or in an expense journal to create better spending habits. This way, you can work on limiting these small, unnecessary expenses and save more overall.

Have an Emergency Savings Account

Emergencies happen, there’s no getting around it. However, it’s important that you have a thriving emergency savings account for unexpected things in your life. Plus, it’s not a bad idea to have a sizeable savings account on the side to indulge yourself in Girl Scout Cookies, fundraising events, or even birthday/holiday gifts for your loved ones. Just make sure that you properly budget yourself so you can regularly put money into the account, so it doesn’t dry up within a few months of starting it.

Identify Expenses You Can Cut Out

If you find yourself spending more than you like or make, having a budget in place can help you cut down on unnecessary expenses. Whether it be a costly gym membership or extra internet add-on, you should evaluate all your expenses and see what you can live without. However, once your budget gives a little, you can place that expense back in. It doesn’t have to go away forever, just long enough to get yourself back on track.

Use Technology

Taking advantage of technology is one of our most important tips for people looking to budget their money better. Online tools, such as Mint and Quicken, can help you keep better track of your money and allow you to budget through an app on your phone for convenience. Plus, these services also allow you to pay bills online and keep track of checks you write, so you always know how you’re doing financially.