Family Budget WorkSheet Online

Why Prepare a Family Budget?

I don’t know about you, but I find that if I don’t make some effort to plan out my finances, it leads to trouble every time. I always seem to be an eternal optimist, thinking that financial matters will just take care of themselves. The thing is, that do seem to take care of themselves as long as I am aware of how much is coming and going out. But when I neglect to pay attention to this, my savings evaporate and debt creeps up.

Famly Budget Worksheets

We have given you two resources to help you plan. The first is a family budget sheet which you can download and print. This gives you a simple way to document your income, expenses, and savings. I understand that some income and expenses are variable. It is not so important to document every expense down to the last dime. It will be enough to make a good estimate of an average month. So you could sit down with the real numbers from the past couple of months, or you could just try to make a general estimate based upon your experience.

The second resource is a sample family budget that we have filled out. We used a fairly moderate income as an example, and also some fairly moderate bills. But you will see that in the example, the family expenses actually exceeded their income, and they made no effort to save money at all. But this worksheet will also give you some tips that this family used in order to cut about $300 from their monthly budget, putting them back in the black! And these savings tips did not mean giving up on anything they really needed to have a normal life.

Your Family Budget Attack Plan

If you prepare your budget, and you see that your expenses income minus expenses actually equals a negative number, you need to figure out how to fix this. This situation means that you will not be able to save or reduce debt. But it does not mean you need to panic. Most of the time we can find some simple fixes. Of course, sometimes during periods of unemployment or underemployment, the situation is not so simple to fix. But in these cases, the adults in the family usually understand the big problem without using a budget form.

Example Budget Fixes with No Pain

• Most of us need to buy homeowners and auto insurance. You may be able to compare insurance rates, take advantage of a competitive market, and actually save quite a bit of money every month on a fixed bill! I cannot promise that everybody will save money, but I did this recently and actually saved $200 a month by switching from one top insurer to another, and by taking advantage of additional discounts the other company gave me.
• Do you really need a landline? Everybody in my family has a cell phone, and I also have an internet connection.  After awhile, I found that most of the calls to my traditional phone were from salespeople. Friends and family used our cell numbers. By taking advantage of an internet phone offer and using cell phones, I eliminated about $60 a month in landline charges and taxes. I still kept the home phone number by switching it to an internet phone that my cell phone provider sells for $10 a month.  So my net gain was $50 a month!
• I do not live in a family of stoics. We love to eat out a couple of times a week. However, I did reduce the number of times we grabbed burgers during the week by making sure I had some simple food to prepare at home. This is cheaper and healthier. I can prepare tacos at home for about $10, but it costs $40+ for our family to go out for Mexican food. We still usually eat out once during the week and once on Sunday. But I try to look for coupons in those mailers I used to toss out. Anyway, by adjusting our meals, but not eliminating some meals out, I probably save $200 a month.
• Put yourself back on cash! I know we are all used to the convenience of using debit cards. But these little plastic cards make it a lot easier to spend more money. When we used to carry cash or write checks, it was much easier to keep track of how much we spent. Give the family, including yourself, a cash allowance. If a family member goes over the budget, you may choose to give them more, but at least you will know how much money is getting spent. For example, I may give my high school age child $20 a week. If he needs extra money for an activity or gift, I give it to him. But this way, I am aware of how much money is getting spent. Likewise, I give my self a couple of hundred dollars a week for groceries, fuel, and spending money. It helps me really think about what I spend. I may go over my allowance sometimes, but I have to think about going to the ATM for more cash. It is a much better system for me than just swiping my debit card wherever I go!

So you see that by being aware of my expenses, and juggling a bit to make better use of my money, I cut out about $500  a month from the expense side. Believe it or not, most families can do this.

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