The traditional budget is the most common tool used by money experts in working out how to get your financial situation on track. Have a look at the example below before reading any further.

Step 1. Go back through your bank accounts for a year or as long a period as you can find the information for. Record what you spend on groceries, clothing, entertainment, loan repayments, absolutely everything into the blank spreadsheet in the spreadsheets section in the top menu.

Step 2. Record your expenses when they fall due. Some will be similar every month while others will only have entries 1 or 2 times a year. Go and complete your own budget from the spreadsheet section.

Step 3. It is essential that you realistically record all income and expenses. Have you any money left over? If not can you do anything about it. Sometimes expenses will be larger and this is where planning comes in. By knowing a bad month is coming up allows you to prepare and by that we mean save some money beforehand.    

Step 4. Open a separate account for your bills and each pay, put the amount you have worked out above into this account. Never again will you not have enough money set aside to pay your bills!  

Step 5. Review your budget regularly.

This may sound scary, boring and unachievable, but you can do it! It will work providing both partners (if you have a partner) work at it and you review your position regularly. It will make you wealthy - slowly!

Be honest, if you cheat you are only hurting yourself

Remember to reward yourself when you achieve your goals

Compare actuals to forecast! Are you sticking to your budget?

Only buy things after checking your budget and discussing the purchase with your partner. Do you really need it?

You can't live like a monk - so make sure your budget is realistic.

Seeing your wealth grow will give you a great sense of achievement and spur you on to greater things. You just need to get started - so do it today!

If you are unable to work out where your money has been going over a long period. You most likely won't be confident the traditional budget will be accurate. It is suggested you look at the automatic budget as an alternative.

  or

If you start the traditional budget but can't stick to it we suggest you look at the automatic budget as an alternative.

 Example Traditional Budget (27 kB)