6 Essential Steps To Create A Frugal Budget Plan
Do you have a huge amount of debt that you want to repay fast? A frugal budgeting can help you to repay your outstanding debt amount. It is similar to a basic budget plan, the only difference being that you need to take care of every penny you spend.
Follow these 6 essential steps to create a frugal budget plan:
1. Calculate your monthly income and expenses: It is the first step in each and every budget plan. You need to make a list of your monthly in come and expenses. In order to so, take into account your regular as well as your residual income. Similarly, make a note of all your monthly expenses, however small it might seem to be. Do not forget to include your occasional spending, such as, dining out or watching a movie. Make sure you also include your minimum monthly debt payments.
2. Calculate your savings: The next step in budgeting is to calculate your savings. In this step you come to know whether or not you’re able to save money every month. In order to calculate your savings, just subtract your total monthly expense from your total income every month. This amount will show how much you’re able to save each month.
3. Rework on your budget if needed: If you get a positive figure in the above step, then you’re already saving a certain amount every month. However, if your calculated figure is negative, then you need to work on it again and again till you get a positive number. However, even if you get a positive figure, it doesn’t mean that you’ve created your budget plan.
4. Accumulate money to repay debt: If the primary requirement of your frugal budgeting is to get out of debt, then you should try to save extra money every month. Though you’ve included your monthly debt payments while calculating your expenses, yet you need to save extra amount so that you’re able to pay off your debts completely. Therefore, examine your budget and mark the fields where you can cut your spending.
5. Invest a portion of your income: After you’ve planned to save an amount to pay towards your debts, the next step is to build your savings and investments. At first, ask yourself what type of investment you want. As for instance, you may want to invest in retirement savings or you want to set up an emergency fund. After deciding, assess your budget so as to save the extra money. However, you may skip this process for the time being till you repay your debt completely.
6. Test your budget by following it: This is the most essential step in any budgeting, especially in frugal budgeting. Unless you test your budget, that is, follow it completely, you’ll not be able to know whether or not you’re successful in creating the frugal budget plan. You should also assess your budget to check that you’re following what you’ve planned for yourself. You may need to work harder in order to stick to your budget plan.
It is quite important to reward yourself whenever you’re able to achieve a financial goal through frugal budgeting. As for instance, after you’ve repaid a debt, listen to music or read a book that you’ve always wanted to. However, do not spend money to reward yourself.
Another important fact with frugal budgeting is that you need to assess your budget again and again till you attain your financial goals that you’ve set for yourself.