And what even is it anyway?
When setting up a home budget it's really easy to write down your income, list your expenses & see what's left over.
That's the simplest albeit not so efficient way of doing one.
One reason I've created so many templates & ebooks is that you shouldn't have to become a master of any budgeting method, you haven't got time for a start you just want one that you like right?
Deciding what to spend your money on before you've earned it will set you up for far greater success than merely reporting on what DID happen.
You'll see the bumps in the road ahead & be able to intelligently forecast your financial year ahead.
But let's keep it simple.
Let's say your home income next month & most months is £3000.
Assuming you're on the ball with your essential stuff & making each expense as lean as possible so your gap, or your margin in business speak, is as wide as possible
Lets say your absolute-must-have-survival-budget comes to £1500, you've then got £1500 to "play with"
But how do you plan to play with this? Without a plan, it will disappear. It ALWAYS does.
Creating simple categories really helps.
Let's go with this list:
Savings - Emergency Fund
Savings - Annual big expenses
Savings - Next year's holiday
Fun Stuff
New Clothes
Eating Out
Self Care
Gifts for birthday
Spare Cash for bits & bobs
How you allocate your £1500 here determines your mini budgets.
Everything that is important to you gets a look-in
EVERY £1 HAS A RESPONSIBILITY
YOU GET DOWN TO ZERO BECAUSE EVERYTHING HAS BEEN ALLOCATED
You now have your month set up perfectly - and the month after that and the month after that.
Your months will vary, sometimes with income sometimes with outgoings.
You can plan for that.
If you can see something is ahead, and you know you can't afford it out of the one month's budget, instead of reaching for the credit card, can you put some savings away out of your "£1500" each month leading up to it so that you've less to pay in that month?
Zero based budgeting can work beautifully and save you money because you will be in control
You can pinch from Peter to pay Paul from your mini budgets as you need.
You'll see what spending decisions you can make
And see what spending decisions you have to change.
Getting started isn't always easy which is why I have a getting started personal mentoring service.
Find out more here:
For some gorgeous getting started budgeting templates & ebooks you can check out this page for more
So, tell me, has this been useful?
Please do give it some ⭐️⭐️⭐️ love & share it with your friends.
Love from
Comments