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If you are one of those people who feels that sticking to a budget is akin to being trapped in a prison cell, then listen up! Believe it or not, sticking to a budget actually gives you more freedom than you had before. It creates breathing room and allows you to sleep easy at night, knowing that all of your bills are getting paid on time and that you even had a little to spare at the end of the month. Your budget allows you to spend money guiltlessly, without worrying if that clothing splurge will delay your payment of the electric bill. Here are a few tips to get you started on your own path to financial freedom: the budget.

The Essentials

When you sit down to draft your budget, begin by listing the essentials. The essentials include things like your mortgage or rent, car payment, groceries, and utilities. There is no single right way to do this, nor is there one budget for everyone. Different people have different expenses that roll around every month. Some have children in daycare, others have monthly medical expenses. Some travel a lot for work and have a huge fuel expense, while others might have to pay rent for an office space. Whatever your essential outgoing monthly, weekly, or biweekly expenses are, write them down.

Save!

Now take a look at your net income. Subtract the total of your essential items and determine the amount left over. Before you get all excited and go out and purchase that big screen television you've been wanting, you need to determine a fixed amount that you will save every month. Even if all you can put away is one hundred dollars, do it. Saving something is always better than saving nothing. Having something set aside for a rainy day is responsible and wise, because the rainy day will come! The car will break down or (God forbid) the lay-off will occur. But if you have a nice little emergency fund in your bank account, you can smile in spite of the rain.

Budget For Fun

You probably don't need to be told to do this, but you've got to allow yourself some spending money in the budget. If you don't, the budget will drive you crazy and you'll break down and splurge, wrecking the budget all to pieces. It's like going on a diet. You've got to allow yourself to have a bite of sweets in moderation once in a while, or you will binge and wolf down an entire cake and half-gallon of ice cream. Give yourself an allowance, and don't require any accountability for the funds. If you are married, you might cash out twenty bucks or so every pay period and allow you and your spouse to stuff the cash in the purse and wallet. That way the next time the lady of the house finds the sale on designer jeans that she just had to have, the budget won't suffer. You can even save up your allowance to buy that high dollar item you've been wanting!

Now that you are equipped with the budget basics, you are ready to go tackle a budget of your own. Be flexible, but be determined to reign in all those out-of-control dollars. Remember, you and only you are in control of where your money goes. With a little bit of practice and self control, you'll have a successful working budget in no time. And you'll wonder how you ever survived your finances before!

Learn more about this author, Sara W..
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