{"id":108,"date":"2009-03-02T20:40:55","date_gmt":"2009-03-03T04:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.budgex.net\/blog\/?p=108"},"modified":"2011-05-14T10:24:19","modified_gmt":"2011-05-14T18:24:19","slug":"saving-money-by-starting-at-the-source-your-personal-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.budgex.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/saving-money-by-starting-at-the-source-your-personal-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Money by Starting at the Source: Your Personal Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is common knowledge that when you need to stop an unforeseen incident from getting out of hand, you head to its source.\u00a0 It would be pointless to attempt to stop a breach in a dam by filling buckets with the water and throwing it back over the other side.\u00a0 You stop the water from spraying everywhere by plugging the hole it\u2019s coming out of<\/a>.\u00a0 Makes sense, right?<\/p>\n

Imagine if that water was your money, with the dam as your bank account.\u00a0 For some of you it might not be too hard to imagine.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen how poor financial management can lead to bad decisions<\/a>, so why don\u2019t we take the time to manage our own finances?\u00a0 Even President Obama is revising his budget<\/a> for tough economic times ahead.\u00a0 If you can control how you spend your money, I promise you will end up better off financially, and creating a budget is the first place to start.<\/p>\n

Getting Started with Creating a Budget<\/h3>\n

The first thing you need to understand is that creating a budget is no longer a cumbersome task.\u00a0 There are several tools available to help you, and I highly recommend using BudgeX Personal Budgeting Spreadsheets<\/a> as your all-in-one solution.\u00a0 It allows you to create a personalized budget from scratch in less than 15 minutes, and has built-in functionality for expense tracking.\u00a0 After you create a budget by whatever means you choose, it\u2019s just a matter of staying conscious of your spending.\u00a0 Check out the resources at the end of this post for additional tips for better budgeting.<\/p>\n

What Makes Budget Creation Such a Turn-Off?<\/h3>\n

There are several reasons why someone might not have a budget for themselves: it\u2019s too complicated, it takes too long, they don\u2019t know where to start, they\u2019re too lazy, etc.\u00a0 I am here to tell you that these excuses no longer apply!\u00a0 Not having a budget is like driving a car with a broken fuel gauge: you never know when you\u2019re going to run out of gas.\u00a0 And don\u2019t just take my word \/ simile for it; look at what other professionals say about budgeting:<\/p>\n