Just as you wouldn’t trust your money to be secure in a financial institution that didn’t have a budget, so you shouldn’t trust your future to be secure without a budget of your own.

How do you start? Start now, right where you are. Whether the bills are up to date or past due, NOW is the time to start getting control. Every dollar that you DON’T control is a dollar that isn’t going where you want it to.

The first step is to understand your priorities. Once you have taken the time to set your priorities, you will ALWAYS know what to do if you suddenly lose income or have an unexpected expense.

• If the consequences of spending less on an item are unacceptable to you, that item is a number 1 priority. (Think of a car payment. If the payment is $300, but you decide to pay $200, what happens to the car? Is that okay with you or not?)
• Using the same test, a number 2 priority would be one that, if cut out completely, would be unacceptable to you.
• A number 3 priority could be cut out, but only as a last resort.
• A number 4 priority is something that you like to spend money on, but you could easily cut back or cut out in favor of expenses that are higher on the priority scale.

Next, be honest with yourself about what you are now spending. Fill in a monthly amount for each category in which you spend money. Multiply weekly expenses by 4, and divide yearly expenses by 12.

Now, compare income to expenses. Add all your monthly expenses and subtract them from your monthly take-home income. Is there money left? Is more going out than coming in? The goal is to balance your budget by making spending equal to income.

Time to use those priorities! If you have money left over, plan for it to go into savings and decide how you will use it. If there are more expenses than income, begin to reduce or eliminate expenses. Start with number 4s. Does reducing them do the trick? If not, eliminate them one by one until the budget is balanced. If the budget is still not balanced, continue on to the number 3s. Think about ways you may be able to increase your income. If you find yourself with no alternative but to begin eliminating number 3s, it’s time to call CCCS for some help.

• Call us now at 800-479-6026 or your local CCCS office for an in-person or telephone appointment ,
• Use our One to One free online counseling by clicking the One to One button below.
• Or when One to One is offline, click here to enter information for free debt counseling and a CCCS counselor will email or call you within 48 business hours.

• Divide each expense by the number of paydays in a month (1, 2 or 4).
• Money for things that come up more frequently than monthly should be kept in cash. (Envelopes or jars can help, if you like.)
• Money for things that come up less frequently than monthly should be put in a savings account.
• The money that is left is for the bills—the monthly expenses—and should be put in a checking account. This money is set aside for other people. Think of it as their money, not yours.

If you do this, every payday will be the same. After one month, you should have enough in your checking account to pay all of your bills. After one year, you will have saved enough to cover your yearly, seasonal and irregular expenses.

Are you past due on things? If your budget is balanced, but some things are past due, you may be able to catch up by TEMPORARILY cutting back on less important expenses to pay more each month on the past due bills. If that doesn’t seem possible, contact CCCS. We are here to help you.

• Call us now at 800-479-6026 or your local CCCS office for an in-person or telephone appointment ,
• Use our One to One free online counseling by clicking the One to One button below.
• Or when One to One is offline, click here to enter information for free debt counseling and a CCCS counselor will email or call you within 48 business hours.