• About
  • Work with Me
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop
  • Read the Blog
  • Watch my Youtube Channel
  • Mobile Menu Widgets

    Search

Nakisha Wynn

Nakisha Wynn | Helping Ambitious Moms Build an Online Business

  • Blog
  • Guides
    • Start a Blog
    • Start a Youtube Channel
    • Side Hustle Ideas
    • Work at Home Jobs
  • Free Ebook
  • Courses
  • Shop

How to Create a Budget That Works To Reach Your Financial Goals

July 9, 2020 · In: Family Finances

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will receive a commission if you purchases through my links, at no extra cost to you. Read full disclosure here.

Financial freedom, getting ahead, and building wealth, all start with one key component; knowing your finances. Understanding how much money is coming in and how much you’re spending help you determine how much you’re able to save. This is imperative when building wealth and getting ahead. The following tips will help you create a budget that works. A budget that makes sense for you can assist you in creating positive habits around money. This will help you to reach your financial goals more quickly and live a better quality of life.

Knowing Your Numbers is Key to Creating a Budget That Works

It is not as difficult as you thing to create a financial budget that works for your needs. Ideally, it makes sense to first figure out how much, overall, you owe. People who are successful with their finances are familiar with their net worth. This is simply an at-a-glance look at all of your assets and liabilities. Having this information is helpful because it lets you work from a concrete number that’s based on reality. If you only have a general idea of how much you own on your mortgage or your credit cards, it will be difficult to create a budget going forward. You don’t necessarily have to own property or investments to do this. Include expenses like car notes, or that Disney Visa card in your net worth statement so you have a clear and concise sense of your finances.

Assets to include 

  • Cash available in Checking or Savings Accounts
  • Investment accounts like mutual funds or CDs
  • Property that you own to include real estate, vehicles or jewelry
  • Retirement accounts or 401K plans

Liabilities to include

  • Mortgage
  • Car loans
  • Credit card debt
  • Student or other loans

How to Create A Monthly Budget that Works

Determine Your Monthly Income

When working to create a budget that works toward helping you reach your financial goals, including all of your income, is the first step. This will include your monthly household salary. If you receive regular consistent additional income from child support or other means, include that income here as well. Getting a clear picture of all of the income coming into your home will help you lay the groundwork for a simple budget that you can stick to on a regular basis. Add all of your income together and you’ve got your total monthly income.

The template I’ve provided is designed to help you work through your income and expenses and figure out a budget that works for your household. You can use it as a means to get your numbers down on paper and then transfer them to a spreadsheet or work directly from the template if that works better for you.

Include Your Fixed Monthly Expenses in Your Budget

Fixed expenses are those that don’t change from month to month. Creating a budget that works means accounting for these expenses before other expenses to ensure an accurate budget you can work with. Your mortgage or rent and car loan are fixed expenses to include when creating your monthly budget. Additionally, you’ll want to add in health insurance charges as well as car insurance, your cable, phone, and internet service as well as your water and utility bills.

What are Your Discretionary Expenses?

For the purposes of a household budget, discretionary expenses are expenses that can vary month-to-month. Often they include wants over needs, but for items like child-care, can also be considered needs as well. When people start working to pare down their spending and create a budget that works, they usually will see how they can cut their discretionary expenses. These are usually the ones that allow for the most leeway. Grocery spending for example is one of the biggest variable expenses families have. Similarly, expenses for child care, school supplies, and household items are necessary for many households. While you can shop around and reduce spending in these areas, they still make up a big part of your monthly budget.

Expenses that you have more control over like entertainment, dining out and travel are also lumped into discretionary expenses. Be sure to include items like gas for your vehicle, medical expenses, household, and vehicle repairs.

How to Create a Budget That Works for You

Once you have all of your numbers laid out in the included budget template, simply add your fixed expenses and your discretionary expenses together. This number becomes your total monthly expenses.  At this point, it’s wise to account for how much you want to add to your savings.

You could include savings in your discretionary expenses or if you’re more disciplined, add it to your fixed expenses. If your finances vary greatly from month-to-month, often your surplus (the amount left over after you’ve subtracted your total expenses from your income) can determine the amount you’ll allocate to savings. So, to determine your surplus or ‘extra’ money, simply subtract your total expenses and from your income.

However you decide to work the numbers, creating a budget that works will help you move forward to financial independence, work toward money goals, and get your spending under control. Having a set budget can also help you better plan for the future or see where you can cut back. It’s also a great gauge to use when you’ve built up some savings to determine where you can afford to splurge a little and take that once-in-a-lifetime family vacation you’ve been dreaming about.

The most challenging aspect of creating a budget that works is ensuring that you’re including all of your monthly expenses in your spending. Often smaller bills like monthly streaming memberships, online photo-editing services, or cloud data-storage fees are forgotten. It can be helpful to scroll through your online banking account to make sure you’re accounting for all of your monthly expenses.

This is also a good time to double-check that you’re still finding these services and memberships useful. Budgeting doesn’t have to be stressful or difficult. The key factors are knowing how much you make, how much you owe, and where your money is going each month. Once you have a handle on these three things, sticking to a budget becomes second nature and you’re on the path toward your financial goals and dreams.

OTHER MONEY POSTS

How to Buy a Home as a Single Mom
10 Ways to Reduce your Household Expenses
How to Create a Budget that Works to Reach your Financial Goals
15 Side Hustle Ideas for Moms

create a budget that works

By: Nakisha Wynn · In: Family Finances

you’ll also love

20 Tips To Manage Your Money Like a Boss
christmas on a budgetDon’t Go Broke Buying Christmas Gifts: The Gift Giving Rule of 4
5 Powerful Money Goals for Single Moms

Get on the List

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Next Post >

5 Ways to Find a Work from Home Job

Primary Sidebar

Meet Nakisha

Meet Nakisha
Heyyy!

I'm Nakisha. Welcome to my online home. I share glimpses of my life as a mompreneur and tips to help you build a thriving online business too.

Read More

Let's Connect

how to write an ebook and make money

Featured Posts

youtube channel ideas

21 Youtube Channel Ideas without showing your Face

how to start a blog

How to Start a Blog in 2023: Step by Step Blog Setup for Beginners

21 Best Stay at Home Mom Jobs that ACTUALLY Pay Well

Get on the List

how to start a blog ebook

Let’s Connect

Sick day self care is essential & this time of yea Sick day self care is essential & this time of year it’s top priority. I make sure to keep the house stocked with everything I need to keep my family healthy during flu season. Walmart is my one stop shop to get everything conveniently and at an affordable price. Not to mention, you can use your health care spending account online and in-store. Now that’s a plus!

@walmart #walmartPartner #walmartwellness @shopt.ltk #liketkit https://liketk.it/4n9Ke
Over the last few months self care and wellness ha Over the last few months self care and wellness have been my priority. In addition to eating better, I try to get outside, breathe the fresh air and move my body daily. It’s been the best!

Now that after school activities have picked up and we’re heading into flu season I’m stepping up my game.

Walmart has everything, from groceries, household essentials and even the flu vaccine. They offer a variety of supplements, OTC medicine and healthcare screenings too. No need for time consuming appointments at the doctor’s office, or running around to different stores,  it can all be done at Walmart. That’s convenience and I love that for me! 

@walmart #walmartpartner #walmartwellness 
@Shop.LTK #liketkit https://liketk.it/4jjoH
After quitting social media for nearly 2 years her After quitting social media for nearly 2 years here’s how I continued to make money from my content….

I created an ebook that solved a problem for my audience.

I then drove traffic to my offer using search based platforms that marketed my ebook organically.

My posting schedule looked something like this:

Blog: 1-2 times a month
Youtube: 1-2 times a week
Pinterest: daily-ish

This content was batched once a month and I was able take the time I needed away from social media.

But here’s the tea, in addition to the ebook sales, I made money from each of those platforms just for posting content.

🚀The Ebook Bootcamp is my exact step by step process of how to write, launch and automate an ebook that makes passive income daily.

Comment “BLUEPRINT” to learn more about the bootcamp 💸 If you take action today you could be making ebook sales in the next 30 days. 🔥
.
.
.
#digitalproductstosellonline #digitalproductideas #howtoselldigitalproducts
I quit social media….

I needed to focus on me…and what a time it’s been! Life is good, the babies are thriving and I’m more renewed than ever. 

No long speech just…

How y’all been? Ya girl is back.
First off, forget them people! Respectfully… Bu First off, forget them people! Respectfully…

But, I get it!  Most times we lack confidence worrying about other people’s opinion on this or that, but… 

- Stop trying to prove people wrong and prove yourself right! This is about you. You overcoming your fears. You finding the audacity to be great. You pursuing YOUR best life.

- Surround yourself with people that pour into you. Having the right support system is essential. It helps you ignore the noise around you. Join an online group, meetup with positive people local to you.

- Figure out the area you lack confidence in and build yourself up in that area.

- Feel the fear and do it anyway! You gotta just push through. Keep working. Keep showing up. Keep building.

Save this post and reference it when you feel self doubt creeping in.

#internationalwomensmonth #confidence #confident #becomingher #thatgirl #happyinternationalwomensday

Footer

Shop

  • Courses
  • eBooks & templates
  • Amazon Store

Info

  • About
  • Contact
This website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to help sites earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Copyright© 2023 Nakisha Wynn · Theme by 17th Avenue