Calculate Monthly Expenses

Figuring out all of your monthly expenses can be a little overwhelming at first, but if you keep it simple it will not be too stressful. Start by listing the main categories first:

Mortgage/Rent
Auto Payment(s)
Transportaion/Gasoline
Food
Utilities
Insurance
Phone (cell)
School Expenses/Loans
Credit Card Payment(s)

Once you have entered the amount in each of these categories, then you can begin to break down your expenses even more. Let's look at how these main categories can be broken down into multiply sub categories:

Mortgage/Rent

Auto Payment(s)

• Vehicle 1
• Vehicle 2

Transportaion/Gasoline

• Vehicle 1
• Vehicle 2

Food

Utilities

• Cable
• Internet
• Power/Electricity
• Gas

Insurance

• Auto
• Life
• Mortagage

Phone (cell)

• Cell phone 1
• Cell phone 2

School Expenses/Loans

• Student Loan
• Tuition
• Books

Credit Card Payment(s)

• Credit card 1
• Credit card 2

These are the most common categories and sub-categories. You may also want to break it down even further if you have more things that you are paying for on a monthly basis. Listed below are some common monthly expenses that people often overlook when configuring their budget:

Gym Membership
Diapers
House Cleaning
Dining Out
Entertainment
Dry Cleaning
Monthly Online Subscription (such as WeightWatchers, Netflix, etc.)

Remeber to include any recurring monthly expense when calculating your expenditures. Once you have all of your expenses and their monthly amounts calculated you are ready to fill in your budget form. You can do this by hand or store it on your computer using a program like Excel. Either way it needs to be recorded somewhere because you will refer back to it at the beginning of each month. If you would like you can print a sample budget here, and get started with your budget form now.