Create a monthly budget that rocks in 8 easy steps. Step 3: Find the Difference.
Because you are now more organized, you can move forward with confidence.
You know how you have been spending your money (step 1). You have a new plan to spend your money in a way that you can feel better about (step 2). Finding the difference between the two is the key to unlocking the power of the monthly budget. This information will help you start making awesome spending and savings adjustments. If you haven’t yet, download the monthly budget excel file.
Step 3: Find the Difference
- Subtract the amount in the actual column from the amount in the budgeted column. This lets you know how far off your spending is from your budgeted goals.
- Study any differences there are between the two columns in each category.
- Realize that those differences are your targets and goals for the next month. The differences will tell you what needs to change. Perhaps you need to decrease your restaurant spending by $100 and increase your savings by $100. Now you know where to make changes.
This is the third post of an eight-part series on monthly budgeting. I invite you to subscribe to the blog-RSS feed so that you get each post emailed directly to you. Follow this 8-part series and you will have a budget that r.o.c.k.s! Here are the 8 steps:
- Bank Statement
- Take Charge
- Find The Difference
- New Budget
- Cash Only
- Monthly Cash Savings Goals
- Debt – Assets = Net Worth
- Summary
-Derek
In 2010, I was trucking along in life, earning a steady, decent-sized paycheck and had managed to save up a small pile of beans. My net worth was approaching six figures and I was only 30. Debt free and loving it I had a comfortable and reliable financial buffer between myself and the Bad Things in Life. As if there is such a thing as a financial buffer between ones self and the bad things in life.