The Budget – The Ultimate Financial Management Tool

Habakkuk 2:2 "Write the vision and make it plain..."

My Husband had to help me with this one... Just bringing myself around to doing this was very difficult. But I put myself on lock down and committed to doing a budget. I am glad I did.

A carpenter uses a set of house plans to build a house. Rocket Scientists would never begin construction on a new booster rocket without a detailed set of design specifications. Yet most of us go blindly out into the world without an inkling of an idea about finances and without any plan at all. Not very smart of us, is it? A money plan is called a budget and it is crucial to get us to our desired financial goals.Without a plan we will drift without direction and end up marooned on a distant financial reef.

If you have a spouse or a significant other, you should make this budget together. Sit down and figure out what your joint financial goals are…long term and short term. Then plan your route to get to those goals. Every journey begins with one step and the first step to attaining your goals is to make a realistic budget that both of you can live with.

A budget should never be a financial starvation diet. That won’t work for the long haul. Make reasonable allocations for food, clothing, shelter, utilities and insurance and set aside a reasonable amount for entertainment and the occasional luxury item. Savings should always come first before any spending.

Here's a free copy of a budget template from Dave Ramsey: http://www.daveramsey.com/media/pdf/fpu_qbudget.pdf.