1. Income: record all your sources of income (remember to record what you expected and what you actually got) and calculate your total income
2. Needs: record all you needs (remember to track how much you expect to pay and what you actually pay)
3. Wants: record all your wants (remember to record that you expect to pay and what you actually pay)
4. Expenses: calculate your total expenses
5. Balance: subtract your expenses from your income to determine how much you have left at the end of the month

Use our budget template (PDF or Excel) to record your income, expenses and work out if you have any money left over at the end of the month.

Doing your budget every month might seem like a big chore but a critical component of this process is budgeting and tracking our expenses against our budget, to see if we spent more or less than we planned, and then making adjustments in the future.