Budget the Cost of Living

To budget for life, you have to know what life costs. Well, lets start with something smaller and work our way up. What does a penny cost? Well, apparently you can't even buy a penny for a penny these days. It's currently costing the U.S. mint more to make a penny than the value of a penny. How ironic!

I hope this isn't a trend, or soon the cost of living will be more than the value of life itself! Is that possible? I don't think we can put an actual value on life. Most of us hold infinite value in life itself. Why do you suppose then, that we place such little value on planning our life? Isn't something of infinite value surely worth caring for?

Planning for the costs of life is an important part of securing your future life. Treat it with the value and importance that it really holds. If you value your life, you'll make time to plan for it.

Let's face it; goals, wants, and basic needs in life cost money. Money plays an important part in achieving our life's goals. Planning a personal finance budget is essential to meeting those goals. Life costs plenty!

Life needs spending management, a process by which you plan for, track, and control spending for current and future financial needs in life. Plan for marriage, children, education, and retirement. These are all common stages in life that require some type of financial need and commitment. Manage spending to plan for them and keep your future secure. How much does life cost? The answer is different for everyone.

We all have basic needs of housing, transportation, utilities. Even basic needs vary from family to family. Then some of us have special needs related to health or lifestyle. There are standard estimates for basic needs that provide an average money spent guideline. These are useful in determining if you are spending a great deal more in any given area than the average family. A good way to identify overspending and correct it.

Overspending is the number one money waster. Eliminating it will balance the budget and free up money needed to live below your income and meet financial goals. Never spend more money than you have to on anything you do or buy!

Determine what your life costs and plan for it! Use the Household Budgeting Calculator to calculate your income and expenses, and compare your expense costs to average costs.

Manage debt to save money on interest charges, late fees, and penalties. These unnecessary costs drive the cost of living up and serve no purpose except to support the credit card companies. Practice budgeting to live below your means and debt free living will come naturally without much effort.

It's much harder to catch up than to keep up, so don't let debt get out of control. You'll be spending your future earnings instead of planning for future spending. This is poor money management. Including a complete online spending management plan, like Mvelopes Personal, that includes debt management tools, is an effective way to find success with your personal finances.