Starting Out

If you are just starting out the first thing that you need to develop is a budget. Almost everyone knows what a budget is and how it works. In order for a budget to work you have make one that you can live with. My suggestion would be to track your expenses. I do monthly budgets but if weekly or bi weekly work better than do that. Keep all of your receipts for that period of time. Using credit and debit cards I know you can see where you purchased things but keeping the receipt will tell you what you purchased.

After you have finished collecting your receipts gather all of your bills and statements. Find out how much you are spending on grocery, clothes, utilities, phone, rent, entertainment, and so on.

Once you have figured out how much you are spending in each category you are able to have a better idea how much money to set aside for each category.

You are now ready to start create you budget. Because you have collected all of the receipts you will know what you are willing to cut back on and what you all think you can live with out. On the next post I will share more on creating a budget, and show some examples.

Saving Money

Due to the economy and everything that we have been through Michael and I have been talking about starting a blog to give money saving tips, share good deals, and giving budgeting advice. We thought it would be a great place to have everyone comment and share their ideas and the good deals that are around.