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How do you balance your budget?
If you find any of your budgets (needs, wants, or savings) having a negative balance, do not panic. There are many different strategies that can help bring your budget from a negative to a positive.
How do I balance a budget?
Having a negative balance in your budget means that the income you brought in was not enough the cover the expenses. To tackle this problem you can either try to increase your income or reduce your expenses. Even better if you can accomplish both.
Increasing your income
Most often people think that the only way to increase an income is to find a better-paying job. That is most certainly the most common way, but other strategies can also help.
Here are some ways to increase your income:
- Ask for a raise or more hours at your current job.
- Look for extra jobs or chores that you can do for money, such as babysitting, mowing lawns, or selling crafts.
- Sell things you don't use or need anymore, such as clothes, books, or toys.
- Save your change and cash it in at a bank or a coin machine.
- Ask for money or gift cards as a gift for your birthday or other occasions.
Decreasing expenses
When it comes to expenses, some expenses are easier to decrease than others. Expenses that are the same every month, such as your rent, car payment, insurance, or cell phone bill, are known as fixed expenses. These expenses are pre-determined by somebody other than yourself, like a bank or a company. Changing these expenses typically involves certain negotiations with the company or bank itself, and not all negotiations result in expense reduction.
Other expenses, such as some utilities, groceries, or shopping can vary from month-to-month, and are called variable expenses. You have a lot more control over these and they are much easier to decrease.
Ways to save
Some ways to save money on expenses are:
- Compare prices and look for discounts or coupons before you buy something.
- Avoid impulse buying, which means buying things you don't need or didn't plan to buy.
- Use less water, electricity, and gas to lower your utility bills.
- Borrow, swap, or reuse items instead of buying new ones.
- Pack your lunch instead of buying it outside.
- Choose free or low-cost activities for fun, such as reading, playing games, or going to the park.
Shifting the funds
A short term fix to a negative budget balance is to simply move funds from the budget balance that was positive into the negative one. For example, if your savings budget balance was negative, but your needs budget balance was positive, you can take the extra money from needs and move it onto savings. Note that this is only a short-term solution, and we should really try and figure out the cause of the negative balance.
Want to join the conversation?
why dont you learn about taxes in school?(59 votes)
In school they don’t teach enough about money, it’s sad(76 votes)
Does 50/30/20 rule apply for high income earners? i.e should someone who has income of $30000 USD per month spend their 50% of their income for needs?(16 votes)
Please note that the numbers can be massaged to fit your situation, whether you earn little or much. These are not mandates, but guidelines. You are not required to spend up to 50% of your income on needs, but when, through the budgeting process, you discover that your spending on needs exceeds that amount, you might consider adjusting how you allocate your resources.(31 votes)
why dont we learn the things we have to learn about?(11 votes)- Sometimes we don't learn because we are thinking about something else rather than listening.
Sometimes we don't learn because we choose to learn something else.
Sometimes we don't learn because we are sick, or tired.
Sometimes we don't learn because we are distracted by drugs.
Sometimes we don't learn because someone wants to keep us ignorant.(19 votes)
- why dont you learn about taxes in school?(12 votes)
- Perhaps you attend a private school which is not supported by tax revenues. Perhaps, even at a public school supported by tax revenues, the teachers would prefer that you didn't know that your parents were paying their salaries. Perhaps, though, the school itself has determined that teaching you about taxes subtracts time from the kinds of learning that produce higher standardized test scores, thus making the school look good.(13 votes)
- hi, should I stop spending some much money on this coffee shop? I go there to study and do homework almost every day? the average matcha there is 6.00 + a 2-dollar tip (8.00).(4 votes)
- Let's see. You have somewhere between $30 and $40 to spend each week to have a place to study and do homework. I'd say, if you could save $30 per week for 36 weeks a year (2 semesters), you'd have $1,080 in your pocket and could take a nice trip. So, try this. Study and do your homework at the library, where it's free.
All that caffiene can't be good for you, either.(21 votes)
- Single parent of 3, What are some ways to save more with only one income?(5 votes)
- Rather than me trying to advise you on any detailed matter, I'd urge you to sit down with a staff member or social worker at your nearby Salvation Army service center (not at the Salvation Army store, but at the social services center). You will find a kind person, ready to listen to you, and a professional presence, able to look at your situation as you set goals and make plans to achieve them.(14 votes)
- 50 30 20 rule is cool(12 votes)
- yay what do you mean(1 vote)
should we learn to avoid taxes? and learn useful tools to get more money(6 votes)
No. Tax on items is inevitable and avoiding it would be pretty useless. Financial literacy isn't about getting more money. It's instead about being able to stay out of debt and keep track of your money; as well as saving for the future so you can retire. Also as the other commenter stated, taxes are used to pay government workers like teachers and first responders. They are also used to pave roads. Taxes commonly end up benefiting us.(8 votes)
Do people in high school have taxes.(6 votes)
If they get a job while in high school, then yes.(9 votes)
what Should you do if most of your income goes to needs and you have only a little bit of money let were should you put it(5 votes)
Needs should include all of the basics — utilities, bills, insurance, food, and some set aside for taxes.
All remaining income should ideally be saved. Start with an emergency fund, and after that start working towards other big goals of yours.(6 votes)
