Budget, money, and more month left than money; are all things that are on top of people’s concerns but often do not know how to address them. In order to budget your money and assuring you are spending it effectively you need to know where it goes. Over the next month save receipts for EVERYTHING so that you can check against the list your make today and see where you need to adjust. This list may also show you how much it ends up costing to own a home, have cars and just the amount of different insurances you need.

I’m going to share our list as I need a readjustment as we have changed so much since I began Coupon Nannie. We have added a home, cars, trucks, kids, pets, and a lot. I will try to keep things in categories to try to keep it organized but you can be sure I will miss categories. We live in a 4 bedroom bungalow with 3 kids, one being a teenager. 4 Giant breed dogs, a cat, a mini poodle and chickens. I’ll put notes in that could be helpful.

The list is quite long and for some of them, it doesn’t matter how you write your budget, it is a number that is not going to change, regardless of how much you want it to. Make your list, and check it against your bank statement to see what other charges or fees you have paid. These do not include vacations, holidays, etc. In order to figure out where you can cut costs, you need to know where your cost is!

Write down your list, and add your costs beside each one, then add up your total expenses for the month. You should probably sit down! Take this amount and subtract it from how much your household brings in. Fighting isn’t it. I can guarantee it doesn’t matter how much money you make, the number is still shocking.

Once you know where you stand financially. You can start figuring out where you can start saving more money and spending less money. There are many of these things we can change but there are some things we cannot change, such as property taxes. During February we will see how to bring down these costs drastically. We always welcome comments below on your suggestions and input.