Economic Opportunity Website

Teaching you how to create opportunities for you and your dreams!

Introduction: Creating a Budget

A budget. One of the sexiest-sounding things out there. We all have an idea of what a budget is. It’s:

Budg·et
A system of categorizing your expenses allowing you to keep track of your planned and real expenses for a certain amount of time.

You already set your financial goals on Mint.com. Click on the tab Budgets.
There you can manage your budget categories by creating new ones and clicking on the existing ones to edit them.

1. Check your expenses for the last month.
2. Evaluate how much you want to spend on each category and limit it to achieve your financial goals.
3. Check your budget every day on your PC or phone to receive alerts about your spending, to categorize expenses and to be aware of where you can spend and where you can’t.

What should I put in my budget?

Expenses are divided into needs and wants. In order to prioritize and hit your goals, you need to be aware of what is essentially important to you and what is not important. What do you really need? Spending when you are young is more expensive in the long-run. Warren Buffet says that 1$ spent in a young age is worth around 8$ in the future (had it been invested).

• Things I need every month:
• Things that aren’t important and that I can minimize:
• Expenses that I allow myself to have (to have fun, etc.):
• Expenses that are linked to My Goals and Dreams (Savings):