During our childhood and adolescence we did not thinkabout where parents get money for all the necessary family needs, everything seemed self-evident. But time does not stand still, everything changes, and now we start families, become parents, and planning a family budget becomes our pressing problem. And we solve the seemingly insoluble problem of “smart” spending of earned money, so as not to be left with a handful of change in our pocket by the end of the month. Quite often, both husband and wife work in the family, receive a pretty good salary, but do not have the opportunity to afford pleasant excesses. That is why, at the earliest stage of life together, it is necessary to agree with your partner on the issue of planning a family budget, so that it does not become “painfully painful” later. In general, planning a family budget is a purely individual thing and is formed in each family differently. But if you take into account that it (planning), in essence, consists of income and expenses, then it becomes clear how to manage it. You just need to assess the task correctly and look at it objectively.
We look at the problem
Previously, you had to rely only onyourself. But it would seem that your husband's salary has been added to your own, but for some reason there is not enough money. Why? In general, women tend to spend their own money on themselves (perfumes, cosmetics, clothes, jewelry), and they also like to give gifts to their family and friends. Men spend a lot of money on their own hobbies and will never deny themselves tasty and satisfying food. Before disputes and disagreements arise on this issue, it is necessary to immediately dot all the i's and cross the t's and decide for what purposes it is necessary to plan the family budget, and how to do it correctly. Perhaps the husband did not even imagine how much money is spent on buying washing powder or other necessary little things for the kitchen. And the wife does not understand why so much money is needed to maintain the "iron horse". And yet, how to plan a family budget? Anyone with a basic understanding of addition and subtraction can cope with this. For competent planning, you need data on family expenses for the last six months. But even if there is no such data, and you have no idea what you spent your last salary on, don’t be upset! The main thing is to have the desire and aspiration. True, then at first you will have to keep financial statistics yourself.
Methods of planning the family budget
There are two of them:or we try to increase income, or we try to reduce expenses. Then "debit and credit" will converge. But there is also a golden mean: an accurate calculation of the correspondence of income and expenses. First of all, you should determine the main items of family income. They consist of the salaries of the husband and wife, bonuses, scholarships, any social payments. If you are a far-sighted person, then we also add interest on deposits, dividend income, cash gifts, and sometimes even part-time work. In the case when the income part decreases, you can come up with various ways to earn extra money. The determining factors here are the desire and resourcefulness of the spouses. In the absence of these, scandals and misunderstandings inevitably arise due to lack of money. With the expenditure part, things are more complicated. Each family individually determines its standard of living (sometimes exorbitantly in relation to income). But the costs of utilities or rent, food, shoes and clothing, as well as expenses for the education and development of children remain mandatory for everyone. Here you can also mention current expenses, such as transportation, mobile phone services, as well as expenses for vacations, gifts to friends (as always, unexpected), guests and home holidays. To calculate daily expenses, you can divide the amount you have set aside for this by the number of days (weekly, monthly). If on any of the days the amount exceeds the expected expenses, then the next day you need to "tighten your belt".
Optimizing costs
How to plan a family budget, optimizingexpenses? You can always painlessly reduce at least one of the expense items. For example, psychologists do not recommend going shopping on the first day of receiving your salary. On this day, every person is in euphoria from the fact that he is rich, even if not for long. Therefore, “thoughtless” spending is most likely. You can reduce food expenses if you do not buy everything on the way home from work, but, having made a list of the necessary products for the week, go with it to the market on Saturday or Sunday. At work, you can eat food taken from home, and not leave your money in nearby cafes. Moreover, the quality of the food prepared in them leaves much to be desired. However, there is one “but”. You should not save on vital products such as milk, cottage cheese, eggs, fruits, vegetables, juices (natural), meat. Treatment for a lack of vitamins and minerals can be much more expensive. You can get yourself a separate purse for change and put all the small coins there. At the end of the month, you will be surprised how much money has accumulated in this “home deposit”. Don’t buy into advertising like “every little thing for just 100 rubles”; little things can add up to a large sum that you didn’t plan to spend. Credits, loans, bank loans, as well as bank cards, checks, insurance policies can turn into a serious debt hole. Don’t be shy about asking bank employees about the total amount of payments that you will need to make. Otherwise, seemingly “favorable” conditions can become very burdensome for the family budget. A study of family budget planning showed that, ideally, half of the family’s income should be spent on essential needs, 30% of the budget can be given to things that you would like to buy, but could easily do without, and the remaining 20% can be put aside. Savings can be needed for a “rainy day” or become a kind of emergency reserve that will help you in case of unforeseen expenses. It will be much more effective to put money aside in your bank account, making it work for you, rather than lying dead weight "in a stocking". Having received the first interest, you can already feel the income from the deposit. And one more thing. Both spouses need to leave some money for personal expenses. And do not scrupulously count every penny that your dear half spends. At best, this will lead to misunderstanding, and at worst - to nervousness and rejection. Personal money will allow you to make pleasant surprises with or without reason. As for children, psychologists give an unambiguous answer: "Give money for personal expenses." Let it be an insignificant amount, but it will also cultivate a sense of independence in them, and later the children themselves will be able to plan their own expenses.
Conclusion
From time to time you will have to sit down at the tablewith a pen and a notebook (or even a computer, if you don’t want to bother yourself with writing), and analyze your family expenses. In a couple of months, you will have a more or less clear idea of where your money goes. If possible, you will identify any mistakes or, on the contrary, identify profitable solutions. We hope that our advice will help you understand how to plan your family budget correctly and why it is necessary at all. Over time, you will develop your own individual approach to solving this problem. Allow yourself to live, controlling your income and expenses and not allowing them to control your life. And for the future. Carry with you only the amount that you expect to spend today, so that you are not tempted to spend everything. We recommend reading:
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