Do you ever find yourself wondering how you will pay for groceries next week? When money is tight, budgeting becomes difficult because there can simply not be enough money to go around. Budgeting doesn't have to be that way though! I have a list of 5 simple budgeting tips for beginners that will help you get started on the right foot! This is a beginner guide to budgeting. Let's check it out!
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Make it a priority
Budgeting can take some time and may be easy to put off. But it is important to make a budget. Making a budget is putting your hard-earned money to work for you. You are ensuring that you know where your money is going to. Have you ever wondered where it has gone? Budgeting can help to prevent that. Make it a priority to make a budget.
You deserve to keep track of your money and know what everything is being used for. Take the time to do this, make it a priority.
Incoming and outgoing
In this beginner guide to budgeting, it is very important to know what is incoming and what is outgoing. Incoming items are all forms of income that you earn. If you have someone that helps to pay for bills such as a spouse or significant other, be sure to include their income into the total as well.
All outgoing items are items that you pay money for. Some items that fall under this category may include: rent/mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, and groceries. Be sure to include all of your expenses. Once you have them all written down, then go over it closely to make sure you did not leave anything out.
After making a list of your incoming and outgoing items, be sure to write down when each item is due. This can help to make sure that you do not pay them late. Late fees can be steep and can really add up too.
It might be hard at first to stick to doing this, but after a few months, keeping up with this can become second nature.
Make necessary adjustments
It is important that your outgoing total is not more than your incoming total. If it is, you will need to make necessary budget adjustments.
What does budget adjustment mean?
A budget adjustment is when a change is made to an item or items in your budget. An example of why this may be done is if you have a higher outgoing number in your budget than incoming number, a change in expenses to decrease the outgoing number would be a budget adjustment. It would be helping to make the incoming amount be equal to or more than the outgoing amount.
Sometimes it may be difficult to change things that we are used to. For example, when needing to make budget adjustments, nonfixed expenses are a place to look at and consider changing if possible. We may not always want to do that. These may be temporary until you are able to bring in more income or lower debt.
Possible budget adjustments to consider
- Cut back on cable
Do you have cable? Considering cutting out your cable to decrease your outgoing money. If you want to keep cable check to see if there are less expensive packages to save on your bill. But if you still are in need of cutting back consider cutting out cable altogether.
- Cut back on subscriptions
Are there any subscriptions that you have? What about magazine or beauty subscriptions? Cutting these types of things out even if for just awhile can help to save some money.

Pay yourself first
When you make your budget, it is important to pay yourself first. One example of why you may pay yourself first is to build an emergency fund. If there were to be some type of an emergency such as a large doctor bill that needs to be paid, you want to be able to have the money to cover it. Setting aside some money each month, paying yourself first, can help you to build up an emergency fund for you and your family.
How to start paying yourself first.
Do you feel like there is no extra money to possibly be able to pay yourself first with? Are you asking yourself, how do I pay myself first? Having a savings can give you some peace of mind. Making it a priority is important. This can help give motivation to save.
After going through all of your items to budget and making budget adjustments where necessary, now it is time to go through it again to find money to save. If you feel like there is just no way to find extra money to save in your budget, perhaps adjusting your grocery bill will help. Some ways to help you adjust your grocery bill and save money and not forgo all the things you and your family need, is by using coupons, shopping sale ads and shopping at discount stores. The money saved could be placed into savings. It is important to remember that every bit adds up.
If you are able to find some areas in your budget to save, setting up automatic deposits from your paycheck to go directly into a savings account is a great way to be sure to pay yourself first.
Budget app for beginners
You may find it helpful to have a budgeting app. An app that I really like is Every Dollar by Dave Ramsey You can download the app or access it on desktop computer. I like the focus of giving every dollar a place and ending up with zero. This means everything is added and subtracted making everything accounted for. You will not have to wonder where your money is going. I think this would be a nice budget app for beginners as well as for those who have been budgeting a long time.
Conclusion
Taking time to make a budget and sticking to it, even if you think it takes too much time or is difficult, can be one of the best things for your future. It will help keep your finances organized and on track so that you’re not surprised by unexpected expenses. Sticking to your budget can also help you to grow your savings.
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