Budgeting

Before you work on improving your spending profile, you must understand where your money goes. This is the first key step in learning how to budget. You must be fully honest with yourself regarding your current spending and when it comes to setting achievable goals. To make your budget more personal, consider establishing higher-level categories or “buckets” of spending aligned with your personal life goals.

For example, try creating “buckets” that align with what’s most important to you. Examples may include:

• Church
• Family
• Friends
• Growth
• Career
• Adventure

If you see spending areas that don’t quite fit your goals, you can reduce your spending in that area or eliminate it completely.

At August Financial Consulting, we offer both worksheet and workbook guides that can assist in capturing spending categories. Plus, we are glad to work through a budgeting discussion with you to assist in developing and understanding your baseline.