First Things First
The first thing to do is get a piece of paper or program on the computer such as Microsoft Office. You need to divide your money into categories that will be what dictates where your money goes. Your budget should not include any miscellaneous category. A rent or house payment should be a category. Utilities should be in their own category with water, cable, and electricity in there. There should also be a category for kids if you have children. The food category should be split into restaurants and a groceries to keep them separate. Always give you and your spouse both your own spending category if you can afford to do so. Have a category for personal items such as toilet paper and soap, and have a category for car stuff as well. These categories will show you exactly where your money is being spent.
Second Thing
Make sure you know what amount is to be put toward bills. In this category you would place things such as phone bills or rent. The rates need to be unchangeable to keep your budget intact. This will show you where to place money in your budget. After having done all that, go through and put in the amounts that you normally would spend in a month on those areas. You will need to record your spending for a month to see where to put your money. Most people are surprised by how much money they spend in certain areas.
In Conclusion
In the end what matters is that your income can cover your budget. Other categories may suffer due to this change. At the end of each month there should be some extra money to put into savings. You must always stick to the budget for it to be effective. Sometimes you may even need to stop going out to eat once the money is gone out of the budget. If you stop getting everything you want then you will be satisfied in the end.
My Short Story
Struggling in college is tough and many have to go through that. I felt there was no way I was going to be able to afford to pay for everything. I had to try and work out how to pay for tuition, rent, the electric bill, the phone bill, health insurance, car insurance, and even my books. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to afford all of that as well as food and personal expenses. In order to be able to afford everything I had to budget out as little money as possible to each category. I decided to start a new program for my money. I learned so many new things through this. The expenses were somehow paid for by my small amount of income. My family still uses this program.
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