How to set up a Yearly Budget Planner

Are you struggling to stay on budget because something always seems to pop up? Do this cause you to spend money that you don’t have? That is why it’s helpful to use a Yearly Budget Planner. A yearly budget planner helps you organize your year so that those unexpected expenses don’t continue to break your budget.

Today I am going to talk to you about how you should set up your own Yearly Budget planner, and also talk about my favorite Money Saving Budget Planner.

Before we get started, it may be helpful for you to realize why you need a budget planner in the first place. I teach people how to budget and the planner I use to teach them is The Personal Finance Planner. It is the the best budget planner in my opinion. The important of a budget planner is to keep everything organized in a central place. It is basically ground zero for all the hard work you will do throughout the year.

How to set up a Yearly Budget Planner:

1.) Write down your year at a glance

You want to start your yearly budget planner by writing down every big event that is happening in your year.

Here are some ideas to include:

• Birthdays
• Anniversaries
• Graduations
• Teacher Gifts
• Christmas
• Easter
• Yearly bills (like tax payments etc)
• Family Events
• Car repairs

I am sure there are more events that I am forgetting, but you get the gist.

2.) Break your year down into 12 months.

The best yearly budget planners break your year down into months. Here is a list of free budget planners that you can download to help get started. You want to print out and plan t your year a month at a time.

Within each month you want to write down each bills you have and also any of those yearly expenses that are coming up. Then prioritize which bills are most important and which ones can be reduced or eradicated.

If you need help negotiating bills, check out Ask Trim. Here is my Ask Trim review to read to see what it is all about.

This is a page from The Personal Finance Planner that is included in the front of the book that helps you with your yearly and monthly planning.

3.) Plan ahead by saving for those big holidays

For years I had to take on some side hustles to pay for holidays like Christmas. I didn’t have the extra cash to pay for gifts, so this was an easy way to get some extra cash quickly. What I do now is set aside a certain amount of money every month into a savings account. I love to use my Smarty Pig account, here is my smartypig review if you are interested.

You can also set up a simple account at your local bank and set aside money. I like to set aside $50 – $100 per month into this Christmas fund and that seems to cover everything I need. Gifts for 6 kids, teacher gifts, the big holiday meals and any other family gifts I need.

4.) Project your yearly income vs expenses

This is an important one. Write down what you expect to make this year, then add up all of your monthly bills. How are you doing? Do you expect to make ends meet? Do you need to pick up an extra part time job? Do you need to pay more attention to your spending? Where do you expect yourself to be next year?

5.) Plan month by month

To have a successful yearly budget plan you need to have a successful monthly budget. Which means that one day at a time you need to stick to your plan. The key to creating a successful yearly budget planner is to make sure that you set yourself up for success on a daily basis as well.

I hope this article helped set you up for success. If you are looking for a great Money Saving Budget Planner, check out The Personal Finance Planner.