How to Create a Budget Binder

Finances and money are tricky subject. As a concept, it seems so easy spend less than you make and you won’t go into debt.

But how can we balance cars, houses, toys, vacations, schooling, credit cards, furniture, the never ending list of things we need meanwhile planning and saving for the future too right?

Things like retirement, the kids’ college fund, emergency fund, and who knows what else?

 

 

 

Ready to track your money the smart way? 

Download the Budget Binder Spreadsheets now!

 

As I’m starting this financial journey, I have a couple of main goals in mind:

Goal #1 | Successfully keep track and stay on top of planned budget. Know exactly where our money is going.

Gone are the days where we look back and wonder where all of our money went. We will know exactly how we spent our money that way we can always tweak our systems to make it better the next month.

Goal #2 | Still live life but by making better decisions throughout the month, we can pay off our debt by December 2019.

This is our top priority. Debt Free. I can’t even imagine how great that will feel, to not owe anything but our mortgage.

Goal #3 | Change our behavior — change our future.

The thing I’ve realized is that “one day” will never come. That day is today, it was yesterday, it’s tomorrow. You have to live every day with intention or else nothing you ever plan for yourself will come true. A goal will always be a wish, never reality.

 

On to the Budget Binder!

There are 5 main sections to our budget binder:

1. Monthly Budget
2. Weekly Spending Plan
3. Monthly Bill Checklist
4. Debt Repayment Plan
5. Debt free coloring charts (debtfreecharts.blogspot.com)

MONTHLY BUDGET

The purpose of the monthly budget is to get a birds eye view of the month. Planning where you want your money to go before the month starts helps your money to work for you. Instead of stressing out about where you are going to find another dollar.

 

 

WEEKLY SPENDING PLAN

I like using this sheet to track where every dollar is going per paycheck. We get a paycheck every week. This sheet allows me to allocate funds to the different categories weekly. I take the monthly amount that I’ve budgeted and then fill it in, in the weekly sheet.

 

The beauty of the weekly spending plan is that whether you’re paid once a month, twice a month, or weekly, it’s super easy to split your paycheck and get a clear view of where you want your money to go with each pay cycle.

 

MONTHLY BILL CHECKLIST

If you struggle with paying each bill on time or losing track of which bills are paid and which aren’t, then this checklist is for you!

 

DEBT REPAYMENT PLAN

Get out of debt faster using the debt snowball sheet. You can use this sheet to keep track of current payments and how much the accelerated payment should be when you go down the list.

 

 

Grab these exact spreadsheets!

Now you know exactly how to track your budget but I understand if you don’t want to take the time to recreate these printables yourself.

So if you want to save yourself some time (and I’m sure you do!), then you can actually download these exact spreadsheets right now. Just click the button below!

 

 

Now I want to hear from you.

Let me know in the comments below if you’re going to be using a budget binder to organize your finances!