Set Up Budgets. If you’ve already set up a budget, that one will appear. You’ll be able to edit it or create a new one. Select Profit and Loss to include all of the previous year’s activity and click Next. On the next screen, you can include criteria, (Customer:Job or Class),so you can budget for individual customers/jobs or classes instead of by account only. Leave this box unchecked for now. Indicate whether you want to start from scratch with your own figures or let QuickBooks pre-populate your budget with last year’s numbers. Click Create budget from scratch then Finish. You can decide if you want to have the same amount for each month, such as rent, or if you want to vary the amount by time of year (income and payroll fluctuate seasonally for many contractors and retailers). While you can’t enter a total and ask QuickBooks to divide it across the months, there are some fast ways to get some numbers entered and QuickBooks will total for you.
Should there be a need to purchase a particular product for which you have a coupon for, you will end up saving a fraction of what you might have had to spend on a regular purchase.Lists whether on a piece of paper, on your cellular phone, or on your personal digital assistant (PDA) will help you keep focused on what you have to buy, and in effect, keep track of the purchases you make. A classic example is your regular grocery trip. Prior to making the trip, plan out the weeks entire menu and identify what food items and materials you need to purchase that are unavailable in your pantry. Then, make a list of other household items that youve run out of (or are eventually going to run out of before you can make the next trip to the grocery). Armed with these lists, you can go to the grocery and know exactly where to go and what youre going to buy. Without these lists, you will walk idly along aisles, and will likely pick up various food items that you wont likely need in the immediate future, or already have at home. A filing system is perhaps one of the best budgeting tools you can have in your home. With simple, labeled file folders, you can put together your bills, your receipts, and whatever bank documents are issued to you when you save or pay. By putting together your bills, your credit card receipts, and the like, you are able to keep track of how much you owe and when your payments are due.Effective budgeting tools are those that best address your needs as a consumer. Create your own budgeting tool or find a program to do it for youjust make sure it suits your lifestyle.
How much you earn does not really matter but rather it is the ability to control your spending that will ensure you attain financial independence. This is the determinate factor that separates between the people who realize their financial dreams to become wealth and those who only dream to become rich. Allow me to state that if you cannot control your expenditure, then you will spend more than you are earning and as a result you may never realize financial freedom. The best way to ensure you become wealthy is by budgeting. For a budget to work you first need to be optimistic and not view it as a chore or as if it’s a sacrifice you are making. Your personal attitude towards budgeting will determine how successful your financial management will be. Pessimists are the ones who do not believe in having a budget. In truth, those individuals who do not believe in budgeting are the same people who mostly love over-spending. If you happen to be one of these individuals you better arrest this mind-set, that if you want to be in control of your money. Realize that planning your finances helps you to live within your means as you hope and trust that you will make more money and therefore afford more. My advice is that when budgeting take into consideration your expected and unexpected income. Unexpected income means things like gift or tips (if you are a waiter you understand.) But all said and done make sure your spending is base only on your expected income.
Learn about every possible grant and loan you may have available to you as well as what better paying part-time jobs you might apply for at home and in your college town. Of course, it is vital to learn about all the tuition, living and student costs for your chosen colleges to plan for your mainline college life expenditures as well. Finally, with the help of a parent or trusted adult its time to research and set up all the bank, debit card and yes, even credit card accounts you will need to go on to school. It’s important to realize the debt plays an important role in financing and managing college, because much, if not most of the money being spent will be borrowed. That means the student must realize that they’ll be paying all that borrowed money back and squandering money is not an option. Armed with this information you will be able to plan your upcoming life transition and make a valid budget for your college career.