Lauren Cobello » Budgeting » Budget Tips and Tricks » Benefits of Using a Budget Planner
There are so many Benefits of Using a Budget Planner! So why aren’t you using one? Maybe you aren’t sure how to budget yet.
The benefits of using a budget planner are many, but it does take some work and dedication. Today I am going to show you what I think are the greatest Benefits of Using a Budget Planner, and how to maximize your money saving budget planner.
In case you were wondering, I use The Personal Finance Planner. This is my favorite money saving budget planner.
The #1 reason that you should use a budget planner, is so that you know where your money is going. The last Sunday of every month, I do a Facebook and Instagram Live Budget Night. We budget alongside each other, and I show you how to calculate where your money is going.
The first thing you want to do is calculate how much money you spent the last month. I print out my bank statements and categorize each expense in the following 5 categories: Miscellaneous, Eating Out, Groceries, Clothing, and Gifts.
I put this recap on my Notes page at the beginning of the month in my Personal Finance Planner. This way I know what last month looked like, so I can know where to start for the next month.
Are your finances a mess? Are there bills sitting in a shoebox that you haven’t opened yet? Are you and your significant others finances scattered around the house and no one knows where anything is?
One of the greatest benefits of using a budget planner is that you have all of your bills organized in the same place. By setting up your budget in the monthly calendar page, you can see which bills are due when. You can see the dates you get paid, organize your bills around those times, and it keeps everything SO much more organized.
Does your significant other know what is going on with the money in the household? Does he/she know where to find that information? If you have a household budget planner and keep it in a central location, your significant other should be able to find out all the information that they need before they make a large purchase.
I always recommend doing your budget together as a couple, but if that is not something you do, having a family budget planner is a great option.
I believe in prospective budgeting. That means that I set my budget before the month even starts. For example: I budget on the last Sunday of May and plan out the entire month of June. This helps me know what is going on for the next month so I can plan my money ahead of events.
A common question I get is “How do I know how much to budget for things like groceries, eating out etc.”. My answer is that you need to know how much you HAVE been spending first. Track that for 3 months, take an average of that spending per category, and start with that amount. In order to keep track of this, you need some sort of budget planner where everything is organized.
There are SO many benefits to having a budget planner, and these are just 5 of my top ones.
Want to get a budget planner of your own? Check out the personal finance planner. It is the only planner on the market that teaching you how to budget month by month, and helps you keep your finances organized.
Want to know how to start a budget that works? My YouTube video below may help.
COMMENTS