Given the state of the economy, it is more important than ever to start a personal budget in order to get your finances under control. For most people the first step is to make realistic monthly budgets. While it isn’t hard, there are several things you will need to keep in mind when you go through this process.

Here are some ideas to get you started on your budget:

1. Set aside a block of time and a quiet place to work. Gather all your bills such as utility, grocery, insurance, and loans. Also gather up your latest check stubs (include the check stubs from your spouse too if they have one). If your check amount varies quite a bit you might want to take the check stubs from a few months and average them to get a more realistic monthly income.

2. The next thing you will want to do is to make a list of your ‘non- bill’ expenditures such as dry cleaning expenses, money for lunch, gas for your car, prescriptions, etc. The point is to get an accurate idea of what you spend every month. Another way to make sure you don’t miss anything is to look back over your checkbook register for the last 2 or 3 months for miscellaneous expenses that tend to show up fairly often.

3. Once you’ve got your income, your fixed bills, and your non-fixed bills you can calculate exactly how much you can spend every month and how much you can save. You can use some computer software for this process if you want, or you can just write it all down in several columns. It doesn’t matter as long as you include everything that you spend on a regular basis and that it makes sense to you.

4. After you have your ongoing expenses covered you will be able to see in black and white how much money you have left over every month to put into a savings account and for personal discretionary spending. If, you find that you don’t have enough money for a savings account, or if you find that you’re not paying all your bills every month because you don’t have enough money, it may be time to look over your list of expenditures more carefully to see if there are things you can be cut out of your budget.

Most of us ‘waste’ money on things that we really don’t need. If you find that your current spending habit doesn’t allow you any extra wiggle room, you may want to change some of your spending habits so you can put at least a little money in a savings account every month.

5. You may find after a month or so that you forgot to put some things in your budget or that you over or under estimated some aspect of your budget, all you have to do is tweak it and make the appropriate changes. Remember, once you’ve got a realistic budget in place you need to stick to it, but in order to be able to do that your budget has to be realistic first.

Personal budgets are the only way you can accurately keep track of your financial situation. If you don’t keep an eye on where your money is going you may waste a lot of it. Take control of your money and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much more of it you’ll have.

For more resources see:

• Top things to know
• How to build your first budget

YouTube

5 Tips for Starting a Personal Budget

The ways to earn extra money for children are many. What you have to do is take their maturity and age into consideration. All children this age can have a few chores at home that they do, just for the betterment of the family. They should not get paid for these chores, just like Mom and Dad do not get paid to do the dishes or mow the lawn. It is just stuff that needs to be done. However, they can earn extra cash by taking on a few more age appropriate chores as extras on top of what they already do for the family. Don’t make them too hard, and don’t pay too much.

Children around eight years old can help load and unload laundry, fold some laundry items, clear the table and fill the dishwasher, and they can also pick up their own room. Depending on how mature they are, they can do some sweeping and dusting too. Look for ways to earn extra money for them above the few chores they already do well. You can see if they can handle vacuuming some rooms in the house, doing some light mopping, and walking the dogs, if you have any. They could also be responsible for feeding other pets twice a day.

Children older than eight or ten can do even more chores. Make sure the amount of chores they do for free is not overwhelming for them. Add things as ways to earn extra money on top of the usual, just as with younger children. They can do more complex things, again, depending on maturity. They can mop all floors, sweep, vacuum, empty and fill the dishwasher and/or do dishes. They can also help with lawn chores like raking and picking up trash. Perhaps you can also pay them for things like washing the car once in a while, or helping you clean up and sort out things in the garage, attic, or extra storage room.

Paying children can be tricky. If you try to give them ten cents for mopping the kitchen, they are going to lose interest. However, if you pay them ten dollars to do it, they are going to think all effort get extraordinary returns. That is not always the case in life. Perhaps you can pay them a dollar each time they do it upon your request. Finding ways to earn extra money helps them learn to pay for their own things, but also shows them that work is rewarded, and experience may bring more money. Pay them accordingly and they will learn a lot and get a few new much-wanted items in return.

Once children get a bit older, they may seek out ways to earn extra cash outside the home. You can find some ideas and suggestions that go beyond the traditional paper route and lemonade stand in the articles and video below.

• Ways for Kids to Earn Money
• How Children Can Make Money

Find more ideas in the video below.

YouTube

How Children Can Earn Extra Money

Financial expert Suze Orman talked about steps people must take in our worsening U.S. economy on the Today Show on November 21, 2008. Foremost, we must stop spending and, if in debt, we must get out of debt.

Update: In a recent article, she discussed nine small money steps that can make a difference. Here is an excerpt:

I get so frustrated when people tell me it’s unrealistic to create an eight-month emergency savings fund, or have money saved for a home down payment, or pay off their $5,000 credit card balance. I am not suggesting that you can snap your fingers and have everything taken care of.

What I’m telling you is to move toward your goals in steps. Rather than get lost in the big picture — “Eight months? Are you crazy, Suze? I can never do that!” — focus on what is within your power: the sums you can sock away every week or month to get closer to what you’re trying to achieve.

Put $50 a week into a bank savings account earning 2 percent interest, and in three years you will have saved more than $8,000.

The article continues here: 9 small money steps that pay off big