Budgeting can be very complex and detailed by nature. If you have been working with a budget for any length of time, you already know that you have to keep on top of it and tweak regularly, like weeding your garden. But once you have your main budget set up there are three ways you can simplify!

  1. Make sure you have a working budget in place before the month begins. There is nothing worse than having a semi-budget outlined and wondering where all your money went at the end of the month.
  2. Use the envelope system. Keep all money for each category of household spending (utilities, groceries, paper supplies, extracurricular activities, etc) in an envelope. This has a two-fold purpose: 1) You will only be able to spend what is in the envelope and 2) You are training yourself to spend cash only.
  3. Spend 15 minutes at the end of each week balancing your budget. That is really all it should take if you are following your written budget. To make this even simpler, have a small box or drawer to keep your receipts for that week only. Each day, empty out your wallet or handbag of receipts into the box or drawer. You will have everything you need at your fingertips to balance at week’s end. Want to add a little more simplicity to your yearend finances? Tally those receipts and mark with a paper clip. When the week has been balanced you can take this clipped and tallied stack of receipts and place them in a box for your yearend taxes.

These are my thoughts.