Wanna Learn How I Budget my Finances?

While the subject of budget may sound battling with your own self, learning how to do it at an early age may be beneficial once you start earning your own money. Since we were young, we were being taught on how to save money. Though, it may sound so easy to say, doing it is really hard, especially if there are too many temptations around – new clothes, new shoes, new gadgets, etc. – well, at least for me.

In this article let me share to you how I do my own budget on a bi-monthly and monthly level. Ill share here a sample Excel sheet where you’d see how I categorized each expense that I have to deal with every pay day, as well as the amount of saving I have. I hope that at the end of this article, you’ll be able to learn a thing or two on budgeting, which would help you in the coming days.

You see, ever since I started working, I play as the bread winner in the family. In the Philippines, being the bread winner is commonly known as the one paying all the bills, expenses, grocery and more. I must say it wasn’t an easy task, especially if you don’t have enough income to budget, but one thing I learned in this process is that if you start to learn how to do budgeting at early stage, you’ll get to find a way to enjoy life despite of limitations, in terms of financial, that is.

 
Okay, in this form, I basically I categorized each item based on the importance – meaning, I can’t be late on the payment. So, in the first part I have here the House Amortization, and my Insurance. On the next section, I have here the Credit Cards, which I usually use for emergency purposes and for my gym membership. As you see, I have two credit cards, but if you could live a life with these, I suggest that you do – life is better without it. But as I said, I usually use these for emergency purposes, so I’m okay with them. For those who are afraid of having these cards, there are some establishment that offer payday loan, where in you have to pay your loan during paydays. This way, you don’t have to keep a credit card or even pay an annual fee.
 
Going on to the next section, I have here the Utilities where I listed my electricity, water, cable, internet and mobile phone plan. Some items here may lessen, but given that my nieces at home are doing online school, having a reliable Internet connection with higher bandwidth as well as mobile phone can come really handy in life. For those you have subscription to Online Streaming Channels like Netflix, HBO Go and etc., you can add them here. In my case, my sister is the one paying for my Netflix subscription, so I don’t to add it in my budget. 😊
 
For other items, I have here my laundry bill, my allowance for the period as well as my grocery budget. In the event that I over spend on grocery, I usually take it from by bi-monthly allowance. With the rising price of commodities now, including gas, I often left with small amount for allowance, which is kinda okay.

Lastly, for the Savings part – ideally, professionals will say to us to have at least 30% of our monthly income go to our savings, another 30% to our emergency fund and the remaining for our daily expenses. Though, I must admit that my salary is not the enough, I think I’m doing a good job trying for both ends meet. With a house amortization and insurance, which serve as my investment as well, I’m somehow finding comfort in life now. Also, with almost 14% saving every month, I’m finding some leg room on my daily routine, without worrying too much. I just hope that I’ll get to earn more so that I can splurge on more fun part of this life. Hello, boss, I hope you’ll get to ready this. Haha! You can find the online version of this excel file here.
 
I hope my budgeting style give you some idea and if you have something that can further help me, feel free to share it on the comment box. Thank you.