Creating a Budget   by Debbie Dragon

Setting up a budget is the first step in financial planning and taking control of your money (before it controls you!) While somewhat time consuming, creating a budget is not overly difficult if you have all of your paperwork accessible. If done correctly, sticking to a budget should not be extremely difficult, either- although it may take some getting used to at first.

Before you begin, you will want to gather the following items: pay stubs for 3-6 months, check register, monthly expense statements (mortgage, loans, credit cards), and paperwork for any other sources of income. Armed with these essentials, you can sit down and create a workable budget!

How Much Money Do You Earn?

Determine your average, monthly income. You can add your net pay (money received after taxes and deductions are taken from your paycheck) for three months and divide by three in order to get the monthly average. If you have other sources of income (alimony, child support, business income, etc), be sure to calculate that income as well to get your total monthly income figure.

Create Categories

Next, go through your checkbook register and bills and create categories of expenditures. Typical categories include your mortgage or rent payment, homeowners or renters insurance, property taxes, utilities, credit card and loan payments, food, babysitters, health insurance, fitness clubs, car insurance, gasoline, cable tv, entertainment, etc. At this time, you are just writing down your existing categories, not trying to eliminate or reduce your expenses.

Once you’ve created your categories of typical expenses, go through and fill in what you spend in an average month in each category. Subtract your total expenses from your total income. Is there any money left over? If not, you are living well outside your financial means! If there is a small amount of money left over, we’re going to improve it by creating a budget that helps you have more money left over after expenses to increase the money available for saving.

Set Limits

After you have your expense list of categories created, go through and determine a realistic amount for each category that you think you could stick to. Obviously, some categories are fixed amounts, such as your mortgage or your car insurance, but entertainment, food, and similar categories can probably be reduced with just a little effort.

With your new budgeted amounts for all of your expenses, see if the money you have left over (after subtracting your expenses from your income) has increased at all. This is the amount of money you should be putting into a savings account of some kind for emergencies, unexpected expenses, and even vacations.

Keeping Track

Once you’ve designed your budget, you’ll want to keep track of your monthly expenses and income for a few months, to help keep yourself within your new limits. If you find that you under budgeted for a few categories that you just can’t reduce expenses for, you can make adjustments.

The idea is to quickly move extra cash from a checking account into a savings account, as money in a checking account has a way of being spent fairly quickly!

Change Your Thinking

It’s easy to become stressed over trying to maintain limits at first. If you’re used to spending money on whatever you want as fast as you earn it, then a budget is probably a huge change for you. But instead of thinking of a budget as a diet, and all of the things you can’t have because you are budgeting, think of it as a tool to get you out of debt, keep you out of debt, and save money for the important things you want to have and do in the future.

About the Author

This article has been provided courtesy of DestroyDebt.com, your source for debt help online.

Decorating on a Budget–Great Tips for the Family Room   by Pamela Tice

If our dreams could come true and our budgets limitless, there is no doubt that we would all have a gorgeous family room that would be the envy of family, friends, and guests alike. Sadly, we do have to live in the real world, which is why we need to stick to interior design schemes that are as close to our dreams–and budgets–as possible. But how do you get the most stylistic bang for your decorating dollar?

Painting–An Oldie But a Goodie

Perhaps it is obvious but it is nonetheless true–nothing can breathe new life and energy into a room like a fresh coat of paint. With the right color scheme, you can literally lift years off of your living room and almost make it look like an entirely different space. However, don’t be afraid to venture beyond the confines of “safe” colors like eggshell or sandpaper!

When choosing colors, dare to be bold! You may even try alternating colors on walls–like using a beige and dark maroon–using the maroon as the surface paint on one wall with the beige as the accent or trim color–and then alternate with each wall. It may sound a little wacky–but the right colors can really make this strategy a real show-stopper and make you look like some sort of decorating genius–no kidding!

Just be sure to patch up any cracks and holes in the walls. If spackling or drywall is necessary, be sure to sand the area afterwards with a mild sand paper and then allow to dry for at least 48 hours–no matter what the directions tell you on the product! Far too many good paint jobs are ruined by impatience and not waiting long enough for the spackling to dry!

Finally–masking off the area is vital! How many times have you seen the surface paint on the trim and vice versa! Nothing ruins a great paint job like a rushed masking job! Be sure to wipe the area first with a tack cloth to remove dust and make it easier for the tape to stick.

Light Fixtures to the Rescue

Life really does boil down to the details, which is why you really need to pay attention to the light fixtures in your home. The right fixtures just seem to bring out the natural character of the home and make all experiences more enjoyable. You need to make sure that you include all three of the different types of lighting in your living room: ambient (general illumination usually provided by ceiling fixture like a chandelier, pendant, or flush mount fixture), task lighting (more concentrated illumination that helps brighten one specific area for the completion of a task, such as the light provided by a desk lamp, table lamp, or perhaps a floor lamp), and accent lighting (like track lighting, wall sconces, or those cute accent lamps some people use to illuminate their collectables).

Begin with the ambient lighting first and remember–if you buy a traditional hanging pendant–then you will want to then buy traditional desk lamps and other fixtures in the space. By remaining consistent in design, material, and accent materials and finish–you will make the space more unified and add a subtle sense of sophistication. Be sure to incorporate complementary fixtures to provide track and accent lighting as well–you don’t want any bright or dark spots in the space. The illumination should appear uniform and natural and you will know its right when you see it.

Other than light fixtures and fresh paint, simply decorating the space with some fresh flowers once in awhile is another simple and inexpensive way to liven up the area and continually reinventing the space. Remember, it doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive–just keeping things simple, clean, and unified can have a more dramatic look upon a room than you might think!

About the Author

Pamela Tice,owner of many lighting and home decor websites, offers the best advice on decorating your space as well as finding that perfect Table Lamp to light your home. Her sites also features fabulous new Ceiling Lighting to create that special statement.