Are you one of the many people trying to develop a budget that works. Especially with kids, having a budget is hard work.

Here are the 4 basic steps to start a budget

1. The first thing you want to do is keep track of where all your money is going. You would want to save your receipts. You would want to separate in house, food, eating out, miscellaneous, cigarettes (if you smoke), clothes, kids, electric, and so fourth

2. Then you would want to cut back on the items that you do not need, which is also known as the the latte factor ( For more info see What is Latte factor). What you definitely do not need is cigarettes for example.

3. Stick to it: if it is not in the budget, then do not get it. Make sure you plan ahead. If you want to take a vacation plan for that in each paycheck

4. Use the envelope system instead of using your debit or credit card. What you do is mark the envelopes as rent, groceries, eat out, clothes, etc, then you put a portion of each paycheck into the envelope. Make sure you use cash in the envelope, and make sure nobody can find it, or it is not in plain sight.

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