Family budget income expense. Rules for maintaining a family budget

Questions:

Family budget. Sources of family income. Main items of expenditure. Personal disposable income. Real and nominal wages and real and nominal incomes.

Savings of the population. Insurance.

Question 1:

Budget is the structure of all income and expenses for certain period time.

A budget is balanced if income equals expenses.

The lack of budget is deficit and the excess budget is surplus.

Income - it material values or money received in the form of wages, remuneration or gift from the state, enterprise or individual for a job, service or other activity.

Sources of family income:

· remuneration for work for hire;

Income from personal subsidiary farm;

income from individual labor activity;

· cash receipts received in the form of pensions, scholarships and allowances,

income received from the financial and credit system.

Social transfers - this is the income that the family receives from the state; they are not connected with the ownership of property, they are not a payment for the goods or services produced by them.

Costs - these are the costs of purchasing, manufacturing, maintaining, repairing or servicing any products or services.

Main items of expenditure:

for the purchase of food and non-food products,

payment for housing and services for cultural and community purposes, transport,

payment for vouchers to sanatoriums, rest houses,

Expenses in connection with the maintenance of personal subsidiary plots and individual labor activity,

payment of taxes, mandatory payments, contributions, etc.

The costs are divided into:

1. Fixed - these are expenses that can be implemented or planned.

2. Variables are periodic, one-time expenses(seasonal, unforeseen).

Family budget - the balance of the actual income and expenses of the family for a certain period of time (month, quarter or year).

disposable income is the difference between nominal wages and tax deductions and obligatory payments to the state.

Nominal income (cash)- this is the amount of money received at the personal disposal of the recipient.

Nominal income can be fixed, it can decrease and grow.

Real income is determined by the amount of goods and services that can be purchased for the amount of nominal income.

Question 2:

Saving is the future demand for future goods and services.

Savings can be divided into three types:

1. "insurance"- savings in case of unforeseen circumstances;

2. "protective"- depositing savings bank accounts investing in bonds, stocks and others securities in order to protect them from inflationary depreciation;

3. "speculative"- savings are used for games of "exchange nature" (an attempt to win on fluctuations in the market value of securities); in this case, the saved part of the income itself becomes a source of new income.

Of course, the mere desire to save is not enough. For this there must be real opportunity, which is determined by the amount of income.

"savings" = "total income" - "taxes" - "consumer spending".

One form of savings is insurance.

There are various forms of insurance, the main ones are:

1) term insurance;

2) direct insurance,

3) insurance under the deposit system.

Term insurance does not involve any savings for the future, it provides the maximum possible insurance in case of death or illness.

Direct insurance involves a constant annual premium, which initially exceeds the estimated cost of insurance. The difference is invested in securities, due to income from these securities, the company's reserves increase. Later, when the cost of insurance exceeds the amount of premiums, the gradual use of funds previously accumulated by this group of insured begins. The deposit system provides an element of accumulation. After the expiration of the term, the insured person receives the entire accumulated value of the policy, even if nothing happened to him.

The specific forms of insurance that are most often dealt with are life, health, solvency, and property insurance.

Topic 2.2: Rational consumer.

TOPIC: Family budget. Family income and expenses.

Family budget http://*****/anatomiya-semejnogo-byudzheta. html - this is a financial plan for a certain period of time (most often for a month or a year). It is a list of household income and expenses.

The family budget is compiled for:

· family financial control

· achieving financial goals (apartment, car, vacation, education, etc.)

· financial protection of the family (creation of cash savings in the form of a reserve fund, investments and pension savings).

The family budget is needed primarily in order to understand WHERE YOUR MONEY COMES AND WHERE YOU GO. Only having dealt with the movement of money in the family, you will be able to control them and begin to manage them.

The main task in budgeting is to correctly allocate future income to the necessary expense items so that in the end expenses do not exceed income (so that the budget is balanced) and we have enough money to live. To do this, it is necessary to correctly determine the main items of income and expenses in the family.

D exit - it money or wealth received from a business, individual, or activity.

They are more or less clear. There are not many sources of income in the family. First of all, you need to defineWHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM, i.e. how much, where and when do you get. I will give a list of possible sources of income, and you will need to choose from it those articles that are suitable foryour family, write them out and calculate all the income planned for the month for all family members. Then you need to add up all these incomes and you will determinetotal family income for next month.

Cash family incomemay include receipts of money in the form of:

· 1. Wages for work for hire (at the main job, part-time or at your own enterprise)

· 2. Income from self-employment

· 3. Business income

· 4. Dividends on shares

· 5. Interest on bank deposits

· 6. Income from the rental of real estate (apartments, cottages, garages)

· 7. Income from the sale of real estate

· 8. Income from the sale of products from household plots

· 9. Income from the sale of personal items.

10. Scholarships

11. Pensions

· 12. Child benefit

13. Alimony

· 14. Help from relatives and friends

· !five. gifts

· 16. Prizes, winnings

· 17. Tax refund

18. Grants

19. Legacy

So you counted the expectedtotal family income for a month.

In order to draw up a family budget, it is necessary to distribute this money among the items of future expenses. It's already much more difficult. You need to make such a classification of expenses that would cover all family expenses as much as possible.

Family budget expenses

Consumption – these are costs, costs, the consumption of something for certain purposes.

Now you need to defineWHERE DOES THE MONEY GOi.e. what, how much and when will you spend.To do this, you need to make a list of all expected expenses.

In general, all expenses can be classified according to several criteria.

1. By importance

· Expenses may be necessary or mandatory

· This is what we NEED to live. They provide us with what we need in the first place. These are expenses for food, for housing (rent, utilities), for transportation, for necessary clothes and shoes, necessary goods for home and health, for paying debts (for loans, bills and insurance) and, of course, for savings in reserve fund families (at least 10% of income). That is, these are vital expenses that provide a minimum subsistence level for the family. It is recommended that these costs should not exceed 50-60% of the total budget.

· Costs may be desirable . This is what we WANT, but not vital. This is the cost of satisfying our desires and enjoyment. These include: entertainment, the Internet, expensive cosmetics and perfumes, spending on hobbies, fitness, beauty salons, books, trips, etc. things that you can do without in a difficult financial situation, but with sufficient funding they are already "necessary ."

· Expenses can be "status" - spending on goods that correspond to a high position in society and income (expensive - clothes, phones, cars, travel, etc.)

· Expenses may be extra - these are the costs of goods without which we could easily do without, i.e., the costs of things that are completely unnecessary to us, and sometimes even very harmful to us, see. here .

When drawing up a budget, the first thing to do is to start allocating money to necessary expenses. And plan the remaining money for the second and third groups of expenses. Just due to these two groups, it is possible to optimize costs (either to reduce or completely remove some items of expenditure, or to use them more rationally due to savings). But it is urgent to get rid of unnecessary expenses, these are the main enemies of the family budget.

It is important to definitely decide what is a necessary expense for you, and what is just a pleasure that you can refuse for some time or forever. If you constantly follow all your desires and pleasures, you will never be able to break out of the circle. financial problems! Because your desires will grow along with your income, no matter how big they are.

And to understand what you really need, you need to make a list of needs that you are willing to spend your money on. Then you need to select the vital tasks, and arrange the rest in order of priority from the most important to the least important. Perhaps the least important expenses will be completely unnecessary to you.

2. By frequency

· Recurring expenses: expenses that recur regularly. They can be monthly and repeat from month to month (groceries, utilities, transportation, telephone, etc.) or annual (taxes, insurance, tuition, vacation).

· Variable expenses: expenses that are not fixed, are made either as necessary or planned (clothes, shoes, cosmetics, repairs, household appliances, and others).

· Seasonal expenses: preparations for the winter, seasonal clothing, expenses for preparing for school, etc.

· Unforeseen expenses: expenses that arise unexpectedly, unplanned.

When planning a budget, it is better to start with the rarest expenses, that is, first of all, you need to determine the amount of annual and seasonal expenses and gradually set aside money for these expense items throughout the year.

And so we finally got to the classification of expenditure items. This table presents the main categories of family expenses.

If desired, these cost items can be broken down into smaller ones, deepened and detailed. It is worth considering the costs in more detail in case of high costs for any item in order to understand where the money goes, find a reserve for savings and optimize the budget.
For those who do not want to be very detailed and complicate the process of maintaining a family budget, a simpler spending structure can be proposed.

· Housing expenses (rent, taxes, insurance, house maintenance, rent)

· Food expenses (groceries, cafes and restaurants)

· Debts (debts, loans)

· Transportation costs (car, travel public transport, taxi)

· Leisure expenses (holidays, hobbies, cultural activities)

· Personal expenses (clothing, cosmetics, entertainment, books, treatment and wellness)

· Savings (reserve fund, pension savings, investments)

· Other expenses.

Now it is important for you to choose those items of expenditure that are in your family, or you can make your own classification of expenses. Next, you need to roughly calculate how much money is spent on each article. To do this, it is advisable to keep a detailed record of all your expenses for a month (you need to carefully record all your expenses, write them down in a notebook, collect checks, receipts.) For calculation, it is very convenient to use a spreadsheet in Excel or special programs for home accounting. An overview of programs for managing a family budget can be viewed.

Only then will you be able to roughly determine the structure of your expenses, calculate where your money goes and find reserves for savings.

The cost structure is shown very clearly in the diagram. For example on this one.

Today we will take a closer look at what is family income and expenses. We already know what is a financial plan for a certain period of time (most often a month or a year). It is a list of household income and expenses.

The family budget is compiled for:

• family financial control
• achieving financial goals (apartment, car, vacation, education, etc.)
• financial protection of the family (creation of cash savings in the form of a reserve fund, investments and pension savings).

The family budget is needed primarily in order to understand WHERE YOUR MONEY COMES AND WHERE YOU GO.Only having dealt with the movement of money in the family, you will be able to control them and begin to manage them.

The main task in budgeting is to correctly allocate future income to the necessary expense items so that in the end expenses do not exceed income (so that the budget is balanced) and we have enough money to live. To do this, it is necessary to correctly determine the main items of income and expenses in the family.

Family budget income.

D exit - it money or wealth received from a business, individual, or activity.

They are more or less clear. There are not many sources of income in the family. First of all, you need to define WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM, i.e.how much, where and when do you get. I will give a list of possible sources of income, and you will need to choose from it those articles that are suitable for your family , write them out and calculate all the income planned for the month for all family members. Then you need to add up all these incomes and you will determine total family income for next month.

Cash family income may include receipts of money in the form of:

• 1. Wages for work for hire (at the main job, part-time or at your own enterprise)
• 2. Income from self-employment
• 3. Business income
• 4. Dividends on shares
• 5. Interest on bank deposits
• 6. Income from the rental of real estate (apartments, cottages, garages)
• 7. Income from the sale of real estate
• 8. Income from the sale of products from household plots
• 9. Income from the sale of personal items.
• 10. Scholarships
• 11. Pensions
• 12. Child benefit
• 13. Alimony
• 14. Help from relatives and friends
• !five. gifts
• 16. Prizes, winnings
• 17. Tax refund
• 18. Grants
• 19. Legacy

So you counted the expected total family income for a month.

In order to draw up a family budget, it is necessary to distribute this money among the items of future expenses. It's already much more difficult. You need to make such a classification of expenses that would cover all family expenses as much as possible.

Family budget expenses

Consumption – these are costs, costs, the consumption of something for certain purposes.

Now you need to define WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO, i.e.what, how much and when spend. To do this, you need to make a list of all expected expenses.

In general, all expenses can be classified according to several criteria.

1. By importance

• Expenses may be necessary or mandatory
• This is what is vital to us NECESSARY . They provide us with what we need in the first place. These are expenses for food, for housing (rent, utilities), for transport, for necessary clothes and shoes, necessary goods for home and health, for paying debts (for loans, bills and insurance) and, of course, for savings to the reserve fund. families (at least 10% of income). Those. these are vital expenses that provide a minimum subsistence level for the family. It is recommended that these costs should not exceed 50-60% of the total budget.
• Costs may be desirable . This is what we are WANT but not vital. This is the cost of satisfying our desires and enjoyment. These include: entertainment, the Internet, expensive cosmetics and perfumes, spending on hobbies, fitness, beauty salons, books, trips, etc. things that you can do without in a difficult financial situation, but with sufficient funding they are already "necessary."
• Expenses can be "status"- spending on goods that correspond to a high position in society and income (expensive - clothes, phones, cars, travel, etc.)
• Expenses may be extra - these are the costs of goods that we could easily do without, i.e. spending on things that are completely unnecessary to us, and sometimes even very harmful to us, see.

When drawing up a budget, the first thing to do is to start allocating money to necessary expenses. And plan the remaining money for the second and third groups of expenses. Just due to these two groups, it is possible to optimize costs (either to reduce or completely remove some items of expenditure, or to use them more rationally due to savings). But it is urgent to get rid of unnecessary expenses, these are the main enemies of the family budget. How to reduce family expenses read

It is important to definitely decide what is a necessary expense for you, and what is just a pleasure that you can refuse for some time or forever. If you constantly follow all your desires and pleasures, you will never be able to break out of the circle of financial problems! Because your desires will grow along with your income, no matter how big they are.

And to understand what you really need, you need to make a list of needs that you are willing to spend your money on. Then you need to select the vital tasks, and arrange the rest in order of priority from the most important to the least important. Perhaps the least important expenses will be completely unnecessary to you.

2. By frequency

• Recurring expenses: expenses that recur regularly. They can be monthly and repeat from month to month (groceries, utilities, transportation, telephone, etc.) or annual (taxes, insurance, tuition, vacation).
• Variable expenses: expenses that are not fixed, are made either as necessary or planned (clothes, shoes, cosmetics, repairs, household appliances, and others).
• Seasonal expenses: preparations for the winter, seasonal clothing, expenses for preparing for school, etc.
• Unforeseen expenses: expenses that arise unexpectedly, unplanned.

When planning a budget for a year, it is better to start with the rarest expenses, that is, first of all, you need to determine the size of annual and seasonal expenses and gradually set aside money for these expense items throughout the year.

Types of family budget expenses.

And so we finally got to the classification of expenditure items. This table presents the main categories of family expenses.

If desired, these cost items can be broken down into smaller ones, deepened and detailed. It is worth considering the costs in more detail in case of high costs for any item in order to understand where the money goes, find a reserve for savings and optimize the budget.
For those who do not want to be very detailed and complicate the process of maintaining a family budget, a simpler spending structure can be proposed.

• Housing expenses (rent, taxes, insurance, house maintenance, rent)
• Food expenses (groceries, cafes and restaurants)
• Debts (debts, loans)
• Transportation costs (car, public transport, taxi)
• Leisure expenses (holidays, hobbies, cultural activities)
• Personal expenses (clothing, cosmetics, entertainment, books, treatment and wellness)
• Savings (reserve fund, pension savings, investments)
• Other expenses.

Now it is important for you to choose those items of expenditure that are in your family, or you can make your own classification of expenses. Next, you need to roughly calculate how much money is spent on each article. To do this, it is advisable to keep a detailed record of all your expenses for a month (you need to carefully record all your expenses, write them down in a notebook, collect checks, receipts.) It is very convenient to use a spreadsheet in Excel or special programs for home accounting to calculate. An overview of programs for managing a family budget can be viewed

The family budget is the structure of all planned and actual income and expenses of the family. Most often, such a budget is drawn up for a period of one month in order to trace the trend of waste, learn how to save cash, to enable all family members to set a specific goal and help in achieving it. Each budget table will contain exclusively individual numerical data of a particular family. And for the correct planning and budgeting, you need to know some of the nuances.

Why keep a budget

There are 3 main reasons for budgeting:

• The flow of life in a given direction- if you set long-term goals for yourself and your family and go towards their fulfillment without spending all your income on trifles, then you can go on a long-awaited vacation, buy transport, buy real estate, and so on.
• Reassessing spontaneous buying habits- if the house already has 5 approximately identical paintings with a landscape in a golden frame, then there is no point in buying 2 or 3 more, because in fact they are not needed at all. The table of family budget expenses will help to prioritize and reorient family members to achieve their goals, reduce spontaneous spending.
• Mandatory family reserve- it is never possible to foresee illness, job loss, divorce and even the death of loved ones. In such cases, serious financial crisis in the family, which will require large financial costs. That is why the family budget must have a column "savings" or "reserve fund".

Budget allocation rules

The principles and rules of family budgeting will be the starting point for making decisions on current problems.

50/20/30

This rule is first mentioned in the literary creation of the authors Elizabeth and Amelia Warren "All your wealth: the main money plan for life."

A simple and effective way of compiling a family budget is to divide it into 3 main components:

• 50% of the total income is funds that must cover all the current expenses of the family: paying for services and housing, paying taxes, buying the necessary products and means, clothes for a normal existence for one month.
• 20% of all income - optional expenses - spending on personal purposes, entertainment.
• 30% of the total income - payment of current debts (credit, debt), saving money to the family reserve fund.

80/20

• 20% of total income - payment of current debts and the formation of a reserve.
• 80% of all income is the payment of all obligatory family expenses and the spending of funds for personal purposes of each family member.

3-6 months

For your own insurance, it is recommended to have a reserve deposit in the bank - an account of funds to cover a possible financial family crisis in unforeseen situations. It is best to form an account gradually, without the need to withdraw funds so that they can be enough for the family to live for 3-6 months. Usually, such a reinsurance amount will keep the family from desperate decisions and will provide an opportunity to find ways out of this situation.

Goal setting

There are 3 main types of goals:

• Short term- imply personal goals for buying an inexpensive electronic device, fashionable clothes, paying off small loans, debts, and so on.
• medium-term- imply the purchase of vehicles, visits to museums and galleries, a trip to inexpensive places of interest.
• Long term- most often, the goals imply buying a home, paying off a mortgage, retiring, traveling on long expensive trips, financial assistance to children, education, and so on.

Goals should not be overestimated, you need to act on the basis of your own capabilities and income level.

These calculations are examples shown for clarity. Everyone can have their own goals.

Short term goals (approximately 1 year)

Medium-term goals (approximately 5 years)

Long-term goals (for 10-15 years or more)

Determination of income and expenses

To correctly draw up a family budget, you need to carefully calculate all sources of income and expenses for the family.

In the distribution of all budget items, it is necessary to take into account the size of the family, living conditions; desires and goals of all family members.

When filling out the income column, it is necessary to enter the following data into the budget:

• salary of the head of the family (husband);
• family adviser salary (wife);
• receipt of all% on bank deposits;
• social benefits;
• pensions;
• side job income.

When filling out the expense graph, you need to enter the following data in the budget:

• taxes;
• housing and communal fees;
• payment for the Internet and television;
• home insurance, motor transport, health;
• Food;
• clothes;
• medical service;
• pocket money for personal expenses of all family members;
• seasonal spending on gifts;
• expenses for children;
• various contributions and fees to kindergartens and schools;
• entertainment.

All of the proposed figures for budgeting are approximate.

When building a budget, you need to independently supplement it or specify it based on your own capabilities.

Monthly cost tracking

To take and immediately draw up a clear table on the income and expenses of the family, which can be used constantly, no one will succeed. To ensure that the family budget clearly reflects the family financial position You need to track where and how the money is spent.

For a complete understanding, it is worth tracking the trend of income and expenses for 1-2 months, each time adjusting the table for your family.

Needs and desires

It is important to draw a line between needs and desires, to convey this understanding to all family members.

Before you make a rash purchase of some thing, you need to consider whether there is an exceptional need to purchase it. It is worth making such a purchase only if further life is difficult due to the lack of the desired item or service.

At the initial stage of budget planning, it is necessary to abandon all card payments, and use only available cash. Thus, it will be easier to calculate where and how much has already been spent, where else and how much to spend, and how much can remain. Here, from the residual amount, you can form a reserve and leave a little to satisfy desires.

Budget with irregular income

Building a budget in the event that a family receives irregular income is somewhat more difficult. Budget planning should be approached more responsibly and planned in more detail. There are three main strategies to help the planner:

• We need to calculate the average irregular income families over the past few years and take advantage of this figure in planning.
• Allocate from the income received for a certain period to each family member a clearly established monthly wages. Form a reserve or a bank insurance account from the residual funds. In difficult periods, the account will empty exactly by the established salary, but the standard of living and the budget table will remain unchanged. In profitable months, do not forget to replenish the reserve.
• Double budget planning. Maintain two tables. One table will be responsible for profitable months, and the second for less profitable ones. Such a trend will teach the family to save in difficult times, and not to show off in a period of prosperity, in order to form some kind of savings.

Budget table

This table is just an example of how you can keep a family budget based on the family income indicated in it.

Hello, friends!

I am an economist by education, at the university I introduce students to the basics of economics. Including with such concepts as income and expenses of the enterprise. Complete clarity in light but far from real economy young minds, comes when we analyze these terms on everyday examples. For example, on a family - this is the same enterprise, only a small one. And the family budget plays no less important role than the budget of a firm or a country.

A family budget is a plan of family income and expenses for a certain time period (month or year).

It is more important, in my opinion, to decide on the question of why it is necessary to conduct it. Let's try to highlight the most important reasons.

• Accounting for real income

Without knowing all your income and all sources of funds, it is impossible to plan expenses and set achievable goals for the future.

• Cost control

If you've ever wondered where all the money went, spending control will give you the answer. We often do not notice how small expenses on snacks eat up our budget. But they can be completely painlessly abandoned.

• Cost planning

Once you have control, the next step is planning. Most of our expenses are permanent. For example, paying for gasoline or public transport, utility bills, children's clubs and sections, going to the store, etc. Knowing all the upcoming expenses in next month, it's easy to schedule something more serious.

• Accumulation

For some, this is the most pleasant bonus from maintaining a family budget. For example, in my family, the lion's share of income is spent on travel. Very expensive events, you can not do without savings. Therefore, it is very important to know how much I can put aside per month without harming the interests of the family. Read my article about ways to save money.

• Creation of an “airbag”

So far, for many, including me, emergency supplies for a “rainy day” is an unattainable dream. But we must understand that for the family this goal is one of the most important. Agree that few people want to end up in poverty in the event of a job loss or unforeseen large expenses. In these cases, you need a "airbag".

• Peace and tranquility in the family

How often do you hear from a husband that a wife spends too much money on clothes and coffee with her girlfriends. And from the wife constant reproaches that the husband allows himself weekly trips to the bar, bowling, fishing, etc. Familiar? Maintaining a family budget will allow you to sort out income and expenses, teach you how to save and always have money for what your soul asks for. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a new dress or a fancy fishing rod.

Types of family budget

At the very beginning of family life, the question inevitably arises of who will be in charge of distributing finances, or, more simply, who will manage the family budget. And better solution this issue should not be shelved, because the well-being of the family, I will not be afraid of this word, depends on it.

What are the types of family budgets?

Joint

All the money earned by a husband and wife is put in one place, for example, in an envelope or a box. Each family member has the right to take the amount he needs for urgent needs. As a rule, large purchases are discussed at the family council and are made together.

It should be noted that today the management of such a budget has become more complicated due to the widespread bank cards. I felt it myself, because my family's budget is a common wallet. Therefore, now we are forced to move to a different look, which I don’t really like.

Based on the existing long-term (more than 18 years) experience in maintaining a joint budget, I will tell you about the basic principles on which it is built:

• a greater degree of responsibility of both spouses in matters of spending;
• absolute trust in each other;
• constant control of expenses so as not to end up with an empty bark ... an envelope;
• obligatory discussion of large purchases;
• an atmosphere of mutual understanding and kindness, when neither spouse allows himself to reproach the other for the amount of earnings.

If at least one of the principles is violated, then this type financial control not for you.

Separated

This type of budgeting, in my opinion, is most common between people who have paired up already being held in financial plan. For example, remarriage or marriage at an older age. The peculiarity of this type is that each spouse has his own wallet. Husband and wife are in complete control of their personal finances. Often spouses do not even know about the real amount of each other's income.

How, then, is the issue of payment resolved, for example, a joint trip to a restaurant or a trip on vacation, utility bills and child support? As a rule, the costs for these items are divided in half.

Principles of building a separate budget:

• spouses are only responsible for their part of the budget;
• the ability to resolve possible conflicts in matters of payment of common expenses;
• greater independence than with a joint budget in matters of control and accumulation;
• more freedom of action in matters of gifts and surprises for your soulmate.

sole proprietorship

A type of budgeting in which all money is concentrated in the hands of one person. He takes full responsibility for the control of income and expenses. This practice is suitable for families in which one of the spouses often succumbs to the temptation of spontaneous purchases, does not keep track of expenses and gets into debt.

Principles sole proprietorship and money management

• one of the spouses bears moral and material responsibility not only for himself, but also for all family members;
• the second principle emerges from the first, it must be as organized and financially literate as possible;
• it is important to maintain a balance in relationships so as not to constantly remind your soulmate of her position in the family.

Shared or separate, or maybe sole? Advice in resolving this issue can only do harm. Answer it in the way that is best only for you, and not for your advisers.

Stages of maintaining a family budget

In the 1st section, I answered the question of why you need to keep a family budget. And if I was able to convince you of the need to maintain it, now it's time to move on to the question of how to budget correctly.

I have identified 6 main steps:

Stage 1. Preparatory.

Before starting the planning and savings process, you should track all family income and expenses for several months. This can be done in a notebook, in an Excel spreadsheet, in special computer programs or in mobile application. We will talk about budgeting methods a little later. The main principles to be followed at this stage are:

• daily record of all receipts and expenditures;
• allocation of costs to categories and subcategories;
• calculation at the end of the month of the results for all sections in order to identify the most costly items;
• we make a table on income, do not forget about accounting for all sources of income.

How to allocate expenses and income? For example, in the table I divided my family's expenses into categories: communal payments, education, food + manufactured goods, transport, health, leisure, clothing, large purchases and others. Within each category there are also subcategories.

Stage 2. Analysis of the collected data.

After 2 - 3 months of collecting the initial data, analyze them. Is that what you collected them for? What expenses are obligatory for your family, and which ones can you refuse forever (for example, smoking) or temporarily (for example, buying a new blouse every month)?

The more detailed you entered the expenses made in the table, the more accurate the analysis will be. This is necessary so that you reveal the hidden reserves of your family budget. Those starting points from which you will build on the next step.

Stage 3. Goal setting.

After you have analyzed and identified reserves, you need to determine what you want to achieve in the near or long term. Goals can be very different. For example:

• saving money for holidays
• buying a new refrigerator
• preparation for a comfortable retirement, etc.

Stage 4. Development of strategy and tactics.

Perhaps the most difficult and responsible stage. On it, you must develop a strategy and tactics for maintaining a family budget that will help you achieve your goals.

Here you should clearly state, in as much detail as possible, your actions. For example, there is a goal - to save money for a vacation in the amount of 70,000 rubles. He has 7 months left. So every month you have to save 10,000 rubles.

You don't have to set unattainable goals. Buy a secluded island in the ocean with an average monthly income of 50,000 rubles. - you are unlikely to be able to. But to go there on vacation is quite.

I am often asked by colleagues at work, how can I go on vacation abroad 2 times a year with the same income as them? They cannot afford this. I have already stopped explaining anything to them, they do not hear and do not want to hear. And here I will answer.

Yes I love to travel. This is the passion of my life, and I have infected my whole family with it. Therefore, we have one goal for the year - to conquer the next route. Neither my husband nor I have expensive cars, phones, fur coats and jewelry. For me, all this is an empty phrase. From each amount we earn, we save for the only thing that is of value to us - vivid emotions and impressions from trips, from getting to know a foreign culture, people, language. Keeping a family budget helps a lot.

If you want to increase your income, cut your expenses. In my article on savings, I go into more detail about ways to reduce costs.

Stage 5. Planning a family budget for a month.

Here again you need a table, but in a more complicated version. Income and expenses should be additionally divided into columns “Plan” and “Fact”. Remember the example of a goal - to accumulate 70,000 rubles. on vacation? We make our contributions of 10,000 rubles. and all other mandatory expenses in the "Plan" column. We put down the actual values ​​and display the deviations.

Monthly table example

The numbers in the table are conditional, for example. The result of our planning is that we saved 14,200 rubles.

Stage 6. Analysis of the results.

At the end of the month, we should sum up. Compare planned and actual amounts. On what items it was possible to save, and on what the overspending was formed.

In our conditional example, at the end of the month we saved 14,200 rubles. Further, it is logical to resolve the issue with this “extra” money. What to do with them? Each family decides this differently. Someone will spend on the purchase of the necessary (or not so) things. Someone put it on deposit. Someone walks in a restaurant. In any case, the choice is yours. No advice is relevant here.

And then you need to make a new table for the next month. And our stages are repeated, except for the 1st and 2nd. Stage 3 can also be excluded if the goal was set long-term and is not achieved in one month.

Ways to manage a family budget

Until now, we have talked with you about accounting for income and expenses in tabular form. Where and how to compile such tables will be discussed in this section.

Accounting on paper

Get a notebook or notebook, take a pen or pencil. This is the whole stationery set for budgeting. You will need a calculator at the end of the month. I started leading home bookkeeping in this way, so I’ll tell you about its pros and cons from my own experience.

1. Free. Your costs are only paper and pen.
2. Available to all family members. Children or elderly people who are not computer literate can easily cope with tables on paper. At the end of the day, each family member can enter their expenses in a notebook.
3. Use anywhere. The table can be practiced in the car, on the bus on the way to work, on the plane, on the train, on a picnic. No computer needed, no internet needed.

1. All totals will have to be calculated manually. It takes a very long time.
2. It is very easy to miscalculate. And you may not find the error. They pressed the wrong number on the calculator and that's it ...

For example, I only had enough for 1 month of such budgeting. Since we recorded all expenses in detail, by the end of the reporting period we had 7 pages of A4 format filled out.

Tables in Excel

This is the way to which sooner or later you will come anyway. A month later I transferred all my family accounting in Excel.

1. Beautiful decoration. You can highlight income and expenses in different colors, fill the entire table or individual cells.
2. Automatic calculation of totals. Customize everything necessary formulas so that when the next amount is deposited, the totals are recalculated.
3. Graphic analytics. Excel has many options for building pie and column charts. You can visually see which expenses in your budget have the largest share, and you can make adjustments for the next month.
4. Internet access is not required.

1. Computer skills in general and Excel in particular are required. This may not be possible for older people or people who do not deal with computer programs and they don't want to learn.
2. The ability to maintain a budget only if you have access to a computer. If you are afraid to forget about the expenses made during the day, it is convenient to write them down in a notebook or phone. In the evening, transfer all records to a computer.

Google Sheets

Another great way to manage your budget is Google Sheets. If you are familiar with Excel, it will not be difficult for you to deal with these tables. The feature set and interface are very similar. But there are a number of undeniable advantages:

• filling tables online, no need to save anything, everything happens automatically;
• in the event of a computer breakdown, all tables will be saved, and you can easily access them;
• All family members can take part in filling out the tables from any device and at any time convenient for them.

For now, I decided to stick with this method. It is necessary to fill your own hand and teach family members to take into account their expenses and incomes on a daily basis. In a couple of months I will move on to the next method - special programs and mobile applications.

Special programs and applications for family accounting

While collecting material for writing this article, I was so carried away by the topic that I immediately caught fire to keep a budget in a special program on a computer and in a mobile application. And here a surprise awaited me. There were not many of them, but very many. Which one to choose? So far, this process is at my testing stage, but I have already identified some main principles:

1. It should be a program adapted for both the computer and the phone. In this case, you can do bookkeeping anywhere.
2. Synchronization between desktop and mobile versions.
3. Free or shareware. If you do not need many of the features offered by the developers, then there is no point in overpaying.
4. Clear interface.

But I will tell you about the most popular programs. In my opinion, it is important to be able to use the same program on both a smartphone and a computer (or tablet). This increases mobility - you can fill out tables, plan and view reports at home, in the car or on vacation.

Let's see what the developers offer us:

1. Alzex Finance (previously called Personal Finances).

Peculiarities:

• income and expenses are divided into categories;
• multicurrency (all world currencies) + precious metals;
• generating reports;
• the program is easy to learn for beginners;
• free and paid versions.

2. DrebeDengi.

Peculiarities:

• there is a demo version to get acquainted with the program;
• the ability to conduct offline and synchronize with applications for iPhone, Android, Windows OS;
• the possibility of maintaining a family budget by several family members;
• data export to Excel;
• formation of expenses plan/actual;
• generating reports;
• processing SMS from banks, taking photos of checks and saving them to the phone;
• free and paid versions.

3. Zen money.

Peculiarities:

• there is a demo version and a presentation to familiarize beginners;
• synchronization between a Windows computer and a mobile version (Android and iOS);
• income and expense planning;
• the possibility of maintaining a family budget by several family members;
• recognition of SMS from the bank;
• generation of reports in the form of tables and graphs;
• free and paid versions.

4.EasyFinance.

Peculiarities:

• synchronization between a Windows computer and Android and iOS phones;
• fixing income and expenses, grouping into categories and subcategories;
• creation of templates for the most frequent operations;
• overrun alarm;
• planning income and expenses using forecasts and the planning wizard;
• the possibility of maintaining a family budget by several family members;
• loading operations on bank cards;
• building charts for financial analysis;
• free and paid versions.

5. Online service Home budget.

Peculiarities:

• works both on a home computer and on a mobile;
• accounting in any currency of the world;
• breakdown of expenses by categories and subcategories;
• planning, recording and analysis of income and expenses in the form of graphs and reports;
• the presence of a scheduler with a reminder function.

1. You do not need to independently compile analytical tables, enter formulas and build graphs. The developers have already taken care of this.
2. From the variety of programs, you can choose the one that will suit you in all respects.
3. You can choose a free option.

1. In many popular programs, some of the functions are available for an additional fee.
2. Internet access may be required.
3. If your phone is lost or your computer breaks down, all data may be lost.

Conclusion

The topic covered in this article is very important and interesting. I discovered many new things for myself. I am sure that an enterprise without competent planning, organization, management and control will not be able to function effectively. At the beginning of the article, we found out that the family is a small business. Therefore, the same principles apply to it as to any other enterprise.

You don't have to be an economist or financier to learn how to keep a family budget. This is quite an exciting activity, which also has practical benefits. We raise financial literacy learning to save and save. Agree that a few minutes every day are worth putting things in order once and for all in your wallet and in your head.

I also invite you, and you will regularly receive copyrighted, useful articles in which we will discuss issues relating to each of us.