One of the reasons we overspend is because we don’t set reasonable limits on spending. Most of us just keep spending and find there is more month than money. A budget can save you from this problem.

First of all, “budget” is not a swear word, and we should not cower when we hear it. Get comfortable with it and your budget will be one of your greatest friends!

Take a look at the spending you’ve been tracking and start categorizing all your purchases into categories such as phone, auto, home, etc. A good number of categories is around 12 or so. Then, set a monthly amount for each of these categories. Your goal will be to not spend more than you’ve budgeted for in that category. When you spend your budget in “Eating out”, you simply don’t eat out anymore until next month.

During the first few months, you’ll probably need to make some adjustments to your category budgets, and as you keep up with tracking your spending, these budgets will help guide your spending and put you in total control of your spending.

In CalendarBudget you can set budgets for your spending categories. Use the toolbar and go into Setup -> Category Setup, where you can set your budget amounts. The amount remaining in each budget show in the category sidebar.

I look forward to communicating with you again soon.