After hours and hours in front of my computer prepping and planning and creating the 2018 Budget Binder kit is finally here and I for one couldn’t be more excited!! This years budget binder is packed with everything you need to get your budget lined out and take control of your finances once and for all.
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I’ve created this budget binder around Dave Ramsey’s financial principles. It’s based around the idea of paying off debt, saving money, using a cash system, and sink funding large purchases. It’s a wonderful way to see where your money is going!
In the 2018 budget binder, you’ll find 112 pages for you to use to set up your budget binder in a way that fits your family, your lifestyle, and your finances. This year’s budget planner is very customizable. You have 13 choices of covers to start out your binder.
Financial goals are very important in any financial plan no matter what your income is. I’ve created 3 different financial goals printables that you can use to set goals and create action steps towards reaching those goals.
Want help setting up your budget binder? Check out this post!
Use the yearly bill pay checklist to make sure that you aren’t forgetting bills from month to month.The long term financial planning spread is a new feature in the 2018 budget binder and I’m already loving it! It’s a great way to look into the future to see big events that you need to plan for such as an upcoming wedding, large family trip, or new baby.
You will find Dave Ramsey’s 7 baby steps as a printable this year as well. I think that keeping your goals visible is a great way to see where you’re at as well as where you’re hoping to go in the future. It keeps you motivated and focused.
I also included several spending trackers for you to track how much you are spending in areas such as home maintenance, car maintenance, pet care, and medical expenses. Not only is this a good way for you to know how much to set aside in certain sinking funds, but it can also be very helpful come tax season.
Each month has three spreads that you will use to track your budget. The first spread is a monthly calendar. This is a great place for you to list out your bills and expenses as well as your income. It’s a good visual of what’s coming up soon and what you need to prepare for.
The next page in the 2018 budget binder has your monthly budget form. This is where you will lay out your income and expenses. This form is based off the zero-based budget method which means that you must give every single dollar a name. Your income minus your expenses should equal zero. If not, you will need to make adjustments.
After the budget you will find two very important pages. The first is the sinking funds page. This is where you will put all of your sinking funds for the year. This could include things like Christmas, vacation, clothing, car maintenance, gifts, medical or dental expenses or any other expense you might have throughout the year that you need to prepare for.
This is my absolute favorite form because before we started sinking funds, there was an “emergency” every single month. Someone had a birthday, a friend was getting married, the car would need new tires, we would have to pay for clothes for the boys. Oh and then Christmas was in December…again!! But in reality, these aren’t “emergencies.” We know they are coming so we just need to prepare for them. That’s why this form is so wonderful. It let’s you take how much you need each year for each expense and then divide that by 12. By doing this, you can give yourself 12 months to save a small amount of money to pay for the big expenses we have in life.
The cash envelope page is next. This is where you will list out your expenses that you will use cash for. These will most likely include things like groceries, personal spending money, dining out, allowance, or any other thing that you tend to overspend on throughout the month. Yes, you could probably use your debit card for most of these items. However, I’ve found that when I do that I’m not nearly as strict with myself as when I have cash. Because when cash is gone, it’s gone. You can’t go dipping into the “extra” money in your bank account.
Want help setting up your budget binder? Check out this post!
The final page in the monthly budgeting section is for irregular income. If you have money that comes in that you don’t expect or don’t know what the exact amount is going to be, then you need to be using the irregular income form. We use this form for any overtime my husband makes and extra money I make from blogging. Then we create a prioritized list of things we want to use the money for (right now it’s building up our savings to 3-6 months worth of expenses). Then you fund everything you can until the money runs out.
If you’re interested in finally taking control of your finances and getting your budget on track for 2018, make sure to grab your 2018 budget binder kit here!
Happy Organizing!
Want help setting up your budget binder? Check out this post!
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