How to do home bookkeeping: expert advice

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The salary is paid regularly, but there is never any money. Many of our compatriots will agree with this statement. What is the problem - in the low level of wages or in the inability to properly distribute personal funds? We will try to figure out how to do home bookkeeping and learn how to control the finances of your family.

Pros of home financial planning

At first glance, home bookkeeping may seem like a boring and routine duty. Constantly collecting all checks and recording expenses is unusual for those who have never thought about their own spending before. But in fact, financial planning is the key to stability and prosperity. By starting to write down your expenses and income, you can quickly find the answer to the question: “Where does the money go?”. A rational distribution of funds and savings will help you save up for large purchases and get rid of debt. A home budget is a financial planning tool available to everyone. With it, you can learn to save money,refuse spontaneous acquisitions and gain financial independence. How to do home bookkeeping correctly and efficiently?

Common options for organizing a family budget

The most common are three forms of family budgeting. This is a common, partially common or separate budget. The classic version of the distribution of funds in many families of our country is common family money. This system assumes that all the money earned is kept by one of the spouses, he is also responsible for their distribution and spending. Most often, with such an organization of the budget, the wife controls the money. The main disadvantage of this option is the increased liability (for the distribution of funds) of one of the spouses. In this case, most often most of the household duties fall on the shoulders of the one who manages the cash flow. A separate budget is often chosen by young couples. In this case, each of the spouses manages their personal income, while allocating a part for common needs. The option is not bad, but only if both the husband and wife work and have a stable income. The most democratic form of the family budget: partly general. There are two varieties of it. In the first case, most of the money earned by spouses is added to a common piggy bank and spent in accordance with the needs of the family. At the same time, everyone has enough finance in personal management. In the second case, most of the salaries of the spouses are spent on basic household expenses. Money earned by the second of the pair (lower salary)postponed. Both options are a very suitable basis for competent financial planning. How to do home bookkeeping, who should manage money in the family? Each couple must find the answer to this question directly for themselves. All of the home budget options described above are acceptable and have a right to exist.

Home accounting tools

How to do home accounting: in a notebook, in a computer program or in your personal smartphone? It all depends on your lifestyle and personal preferences. The classic format is the ledger. This is a notebook, notepad or barn book, pre-lined for the number of expense items. In this case, the budget is filled in by hand. You will need pens (it is more convenient to use at least 2 colors). It is useful to keep your ledger with a calculator for easy and quick calculations. An alternative option for maintaining a home budget will appeal to lovers of electronic documentation. The well-known Microsoft Office Excel program was created specifically for working with tables. It is not difficult to master it even for an inexperienced PC user. How to do home accounting in Excel, are there any nuances? No, everything is just the same as in a paper notebook - you just need to create a table of the right size. Today, private financial planning is a hot topic. If you wish, it is easy to find special applications for PCs and smartphones, as well as online services designed to manage your home budget. Many users find them incredibly convenient. Often these programsreally have nice additions in the form of shopping lists, reminders, automatic summing up of the month.

Basic rules for keeping a home budget

What do you need to know about accounting to successfully apply its principles in everyday life? The first rule is regularity. Record all expenses regularly. Not all of us have the opportunity to fill out financial spreadsheets on a daily basis. However, this must be done at least once every 2 days. If you write less often, you are likely to forget a significant portion of your petty expenses. Financial planners recommend not to miss a single detail. Often, "small" expenses such as public transport fares, ice cream and coffee on the way home are a significant part of any item of expenditure.

How to fill in the income section correctly?

The first and rather important section of the household budget is family income. All funds received by family members are recorded here. These are salaries, social benefits, interest on investments. Do not forget about one-time income. Bonuses, personal financial gifts, compensation payments must also be recorded. Even if you won the lottery or accidentally found a bill on the street, be sure to record the amount received in the income section. It turns out that all sources of income can be divided into stable and one-time. Of course, financial planning should be based on the firstcategory.

Main expenditure items

The most significant item of expenditure is monthly payments. Each independent person pays monthly bills for utilities, Internet and telephony, education. Usually these are fixed amounts. If we do home accounting, all regular monthly payments can be put in one column. Many modern people spend personal finances on additional education or self-development. Should I enter the cost of a subscription to a fitness center or language courses in the monthly payments section? If there are no more than 3 such expenses, it is logical to write them down in the same section. With a larger number of paid educational services, it makes sense to put them in a separate column. The next large section of the household budget is food. How many columns should be in the table, how to do home accounting correctly? It all depends on the needs and habits of the family. Standard items of expenditure for most: house, clothes, household chemicals, medicines, entertainment, hobbies, gifts. If the family has children or pets, a separate spending section can also be allocated for each of them. How many sections your budget should have, you will understand as soon as you start to manage it. Don't forget to make a "Miscellaneous" column. It will be possible to record all forgotten expenses, as well as expenses that do not lend themselves to the selected classification.

Will the home budget fit?

It is enough to write down your expenses for 1-2 months, andyou will be able to understand where the funds in your family go. Most of our compatriots, unconsciously related to the home economy, can only name the amount of monthly payments with confidence. And this is already important data for analysis. If the cost of utilities and other mandatory monthly contributions exceeds half of the family income, this is an occasion to think about finding a part-time job or changing the main job. In cases where this is not possible, subsidies should be tried. For many categories of beneficiaries, social discounts are provided for utility bills and children's education. Be sure to regularly sum up the results of the budget and analyze the rationality of spending. You already know how to do home bookkeeping. A PC program designed to control personal expenses can read all the entered data in an automated mode. If you keep a home budget in a notebook, you will have to use a calculator.

Principles of sustainable economy

Home bookkeeping will make you more conscious about spending. How to save without sacrificing quality of life? One of the largest items of expenditure is food. You can really save on food if you always draw up an approximate menu and lists of necessary purchases in advance. Compare prices in various stores, make purchases at wholesale bases. You can also save a lot on buying clothes by visiting seasonal sales and giving preference to things from past collections. Try to give upimpulsive shopping, try to plan in advance every trip to the store.

How to do home bookkeeping in a notebook: sample filling

We offer you an approximate template for home bookkeeping in paper form. You can draw the same table in your ledger or modify it a little. According to some experts, it is much more convenient to arrange fixed items of expenditure in the form of vertical columns and fill them in as financial transactions are carried out. This is just one of the options for how to do home accounting in a notebook. The example given at the beginning of this paragraph is best for a young family or sole financial planner. However, if the budget is for spouses with at least one child, the vertical arrangement of the columns is most relevant.

Conclusion

We tried to describe in as much detail as possible what home accounting is. How to conduct, a sample table, options for organizing a family budget - all this is presented in our review. Maybe it's time to start recording all income and expenses today?