Budgeting 101: Know where you start
- November 7th 2007
- Saving for your trip
If you want to travel, you will have to figure out where to get the money from. For those of us who don’t have a rich uncle, this means finding places in our budget where we can take the belt in a bit and save some extra cash for our vacations. When you’re planning any budget, the first thing you need to do is understand where you currently stand and what you’re currently spending your money on. That said, I’m not in the least an expert in this subject. Tracking my spending is the most difficult part of budgeting for me. There are ways that I’ve gotten around that, but those will come in a latter post.
Step One: Balance your accounts
You probably balance your checkbook occasionally, but you need to sit down and balance all your accounts. How much do you owe on your credit cards? How much do you owe on student loans? How much do you have in your bank account? How much do you have in savings? How much do you have in your retirement account? Who do you have personal loans or other such things from that you need to pay back? Do you have any unpaid parking tickets?
Tally them all up… this is your starting point.
More »
