The Budget

So, you always hear that you need a budget to be effective, right? You need to track your money to get control of it so you can plan to spend it the best way so that it doesn't end up just leaving you going to many unknown places.

This is the section where I want to focus on doing a budget update once a month to show you how I'm doing and how I'm growing. I think that showing people that it can be done on a normal income is a huge motivator and will hopefully encourage others to start their own financial journey.

We follow a simple program for money management that includes 7 Baby Steps. Here they are:

Updated 8/30/16: Currently, we are working on Baby Step 3: Saving 3-6 Months of Expenses In Savings again. We actually have 96.5% of this funded at this time. It takes some time to get the money together, but we are working hard and should be able to complete this in a couple months!

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We have been following these Baby Steps since May 24, 2011 and have seen great success. Our net worth has gone from actually being negative to growing more and more positive each month.

I am basically looking to list out our income and our main expenses. I am also going to update with our Net Worth report and will show how we grow it every month. I think that by doing this it will hold me accountable and will show how it's grown in real time.

March 2019 Net Worth Update Growth Chart

Past Monthly Net Worth Updates

March 2018 Net Worth Update – $125,946.87 (+$167.62)

Markets have another downward month. We run into a few emergency fund purchases. Our net worth eeks out a small gain. Find out all about in our March 2018 net worth update and weigh in about how your month went financially.

February 2018 Net Worth Chart

February 2018 – $125,779.25 – Net Worth Update (-$2,566.07)

Markets correct, values of assets drop, February numbers are in! We have the biggest drop in our net worth since April 2017. How do you cope with this kind of downturn? Find out my thoughts on this past month’s numbers here in our February 2018 net worth update.

Are you ready to finally take control of your finances? Let my budgeting spreadsheets help!

Just fill out the form below and I'll send you the link to get the same exact budgeting spreadsheets that I use each month!

Included in the workbook:

monthly-budget-worksheet-screenshots

  • Monthly budget form
  • Breakdown of savings form (for your sinking funds)
  • Overview of your financial plan

I've been using these same forms since August 2011 and have grown my family's net worth 500% tracking our money using these forms!

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4 Comments

  1. I LOVE the graph. How great that you have data from the past 8 years! Seeing your progress motivates me… I want us to have a similar trend.

    • Thanks! Yeah it’s awesome although I wish I had journaled my way through us getting out of debt while we were doing it so I could have captured the emotions we went through! Since we became debt free (other than the house) in 2013, it’s hard to go back to how it felt at that time other than knowing it wasn’t as free as now and that I don’t want to go back!

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