![]() ![]() Got money left over? First, throw some confetti and do a celebration dance. Practically no one gets this right the first time. If you don’t hit zero at your first pass, welcome to the majority! Yep, that’s right. When you subtract all those expenses from your income, it should equal zero. Subtract your expenses from your income to equal zero. That way, anything that pops up unexpectedly isn’t a problem-it’s in the budget. Month-specific expenses (Any holidays, celebrations or semiannual expenses due this month?)ĭon’t forget to give yourself a miscellaneous category too so you have a little extra cushion in your spending.Extras (Here’s the fun part: entertainment, fun money, restaurants, etc.).Other essentials (We’re talking about insurance, debt, childcare, etc.).The Four Walls (These are the top bills to cover: food, utilities, shelter and transportation.).Savings (This depends on your Baby Step, which we’ll explain later.).Giving (This should be 10% of your income.).Think of everything you spend money on during the month. You know what’s coming in-now plan for what’s going out. If you want to start on paper to get all these numbers down, and then switch over to EveryDollar, that’s cool too. ![]() Write it all down and add it up! That’s your total monthly income, aka what you’ve got to work with this month. What counts as income? Your regular paychecks and anything extra you plan to bring in during the month (think side hustles or child support). Because the math that’s coming up is way easier with EveryDollar.) You can do this the old-fashioned way with a sheet of paper, or you can use our free budgeting app, EveryDollar. You can also check out these budget percentages and averages. They come in handy when you’re wondering how much you normally make or spend on stuff. Keep yourself a little buffer of $100–300!īefore you start making your zero-based budget, log in to your bank account or grab those bank statements out of your drawer. It just means your income minus all your expenses equals zero. Quick callout: This doesn’t mean you have zero dollars in your bank account. Nothing is left hiding or getting mindlessly spent on fancy coffees or $1 bin deals. Every dollar that comes in has a purpose, a job, a goal. So, if you make $3,000 a month, everything you give, save or spend should add up to $3,000. Zero-based budgeting is when your income minus your expenses equals zero. We will.) But what makes it the best? And how do you make (and keep) a zero-based budget? If you’re in the market for a budgeting method that’s the best for your money, might we suggest the zero-based budget? (We might. ![]()
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