strong>It is time to establish a family budget for 2018. Also it is time to determine how you are going to have your 2017 tax return filed. I use Turbo Tax myself. An automated system like Turbo Tax is quite easy to follow and can save your family a considerable amount of money compared to having a tax preparation service or CPA prepare your return. January 1st is the best time to start a new check register if you are keeping it on your computer so income and expense information is kept separate by year.
Information Needed To Prepare Your Family Budget (Use an Excel spreadsheet to list these items) (1) Amounts of your net income items by month after taxes and other deductions, in other words your net take home pay by month (2) Information for the other income items by the dates they will be received. (3) Interest and Dividend information by the anticipated dates they are to be received. After you have all of the income items broken down by month on the Excel spreadsheet, total the income by month.
Next prepare the monthly family Expense Budget.
Some suggested items in the expense budget are: (1) House payment or rent (2) Car Payments (3)Electric bill (4) Heating cost (5) Utilities (6)Insurance-home (7)Insurance-auto (8)gasoline (9)Auto expenses (10) Medical Insurance (11) Medical Expenses (12)TV and internet Expense (13) Computer supplies (14) Telephone Expense (15)Pet Expenses (16)Home maintenance (17)Food (18)Meals out expense (18)Clothing expense (19)Personal items (20)Entertainment expense (21)Credit card payments (22)Loan payments (22)Dues and memberships (Add any other expense categories you have.
Total all of the EXPENSE CATEGORIES by month.
DEDUCT THE TOTAL EXPENSES BY MONTH FROM THE TOTAL INCOME BY MONTH. If the total expenses in a particular month exceed the total income than you will need to see what expense items you can cut to stay at or below the income total for that month. If your expenses are less than the income than determine where you want to put the excess funds. Savings , vacation funds, entertainment funds, new furniture, save for a car , education fund, are some common purposes.
Each family has their own unique set of circumstances. If you need to see actual budget forms before you prepare yours or if you want to pattern your forms after some that are in use, there are numerous free budget framework items included if you search on the internet for personal budget forms.
Having a family budget can be fun and will help put your mind at ease as 2018 progresses.