Step 3- Your Budget: Variable Expenses

So far, you’ve got your income and your fixed costs for every month logged.  The next step in our beginning a budget process is the variable costs.  These include things such as gas, groceries, electricity, water, etc.  Basically, any cost which you do not know how much it will be each month.  There will be lots of these, that’s to be expected.  So for today and the weekend, go ahead and start thinking about these.  By Sunday evening, you’ll need to have compiled everything, your income, your fixed expenses, and your variable expenses.  Enter each of these into a spreadsheet.  I’ll try to post an example of what works best for me over the weekend, so you can see how I do it.  At first, it may not look pretty, but we’ll start amending the numbers in your budget next week, so we can make it work.  Our end goal is for you to be able to see how much you are making, how much you are spending, and last but not least, how much you are saving.