Tag Archives: budgets

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Spring Cleaning Your Budget 101

Maybe you’ve started a budget but have found it complicated, time-consuming and not worth it. In the spirit of springtime, consider cleaning up your budget and starting fresh. A new season means a new and improved budget!

Find A Purpose

What’s the reason you started a budget? Maybe you are saving for your wedding, or possibly wanting to reduce your debt. Whatever the purpose is, make it clear and remind yourself of the reason you started. This will give you motivation to continue sticking to your budget!

Establish Your Priorities

What’s your main finance priority right now? Two of the most important concerns should usually be building an emergency fund and repaying debt. Keep these things in mind and be sure to incorporate them into your budget.

Write Everything Down

Sometimes the best way to clearly see the problems in your budget and spending is to put everything on paper. One idea is to keep a pen-and-paper list of every single thing you spend for an entire month. Look over the list at the end of the month, and you’d be surprised at the changes you could make to your budget. 

Learn From Your Past

If you’ve tried budgeting before, you probably know a little about what works for you and what doesn’t. For example, let’s say you went way over budget in the month of December because of Christmas. Try adjusting your budget in other months to give yourself more leeway in December. Take what you’ve learned into account and make alterations to your budget based on them.

Plan For The Unexpected

Maybe in the past you stuck to your budget, but out of nowhere, something threw a wrench in your plans. You could lose your job, have car problems, need maintenance on your house… the list goes on. This is where your emergency fund comes in; having a backup plan relieves a lot of stress!

Be Proud of Your Progress

Whether you’ve saved thousands of dollars already or just recently decided to start budgeting, you’ve made important progress. Take a moment to gain motivation by looking at how far you’ve come!

Budgeting can seem scary and complicated at first, but sometimes you just need to take a step back and plan your next steps. This spring is the perfect time to start fresh with your budget! Open up an account with us to store your savings this year.

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Member FDIC

Equal Housing Lender

Budgeting 101: Personal Finances for Young Adults

personal finances

You’ve taken all the tests, memorized all the vocabulary, and made your way across the stage. But what comes next? After graduation there are many questions that come with your diploma. Things like, how am I going to pay for rent? Or, how much should I budget each month for food? Not everything in life is as simple as A, B, C, or D. That’s why Peoples Bank & Trust is excited to help young adults with the complex questions of budgeting and personal finance. Find the answers to your financial curiosities with our handy Budgeting 101 study guide!

  1. Identify money coming in. Look past the salary or hourly rate on your contract and focus on take-home pay. How much will you bring in after taxes? When do you see this pay-off – weekly, biweekly, or monthly? Factor in other sources of cash flow too, like earned interest or paychecks from a part-time job. Understanding what you own dictates how you spend.
  2. Establish money going out. Divide monthly expenses into three major categories: fixed costs, savings, and discretionary. Rent, utilities, food, gas, and debt comprise the fixed costs and determine funds for the remaining categories. Savings should include an emergency fund as well as allocation for retirement or down payments on vehicles or homes. Discretionary – the Fun Fund – is the most flexible and can ebb and flow with changes in income and expenses.
  3. Balance steps 1 & 2. The purpose of budgeting is to provide control over your financials. That means ensuring that money going out doesn’t exceed money coming in to keep your head above the debt line. If you find your listed expenses exceed your income, pick one of two options: seek ways to boost income or scale back expenses.
  4. Pick a management system. Armed with a financial plan, equip yourself with tools to help you stick to it. Traditional but trusted, the envelope method helps you keep funds in physically separated expense categories. Once money runs out from that month’s envelope, it’s gone unless funds can shift from other envelopes. A number of free or low-priced mobile apps can give you even tighter control of your budgeting, providing real-time updates of spending and handy visuals of your progress.
  5. Track progress. A long-term financial plan is simply a series of short-term goals. Monthly check-ups help you gauge success from the month, making sure you stayed on target. You can adjust funds as income or expenses fluctuate and spot ways to economize your budget.

Want to take your budgeting up a notch? Meet with one of our new account representative to determine which type of bank account can help you optimize your budgeting and saving plans.

 

Peoples Bank & Trust Co.

Equal Housing Lender

Member FDIC