One of the most common problems that newly married women encounter is planning the home`s budget in order to cover all the married couple’s newfound expenses until the end of the month without having to borrow, cancel, or delay other necessities.
Daily News Egypt provides newly married women with some tips in order to help them plan their homes’ budgets.
Track your expenses for a month
The best way to know where you spend your income is to track all your expenses for a month, writing every pound that you spend in a notebook.
During this month, you’ll pay your usual bills such as water, electricity, phone bills, as well as unique expenses such as unexpected vacation expenses, dinner packages, or even the purchase of some clothes in addition to your personal expenses. At the end of this month, sit down and review all these expenditures.
Prioritise your spending
After tracking all the expenses, you will be able to divide them into two categories, fixed expenses and luxury expenses. This second step, where you have to determine your immutable or fixed expenses, such as rent, car expenses, transportation, electricity, etc.
After knowing the priorities in your spending, calculate the total of the fixed expenses subtracting it from you total monthly income.
Determine your debts and monthly installments
It`s essential to determine your monthly debts and installments. Bearing in mind that debt is not only the money borrowed from a friend or a colleague, but debt also means credit cards, bank loans, and installments for cars or any device at home.
Subsequently, collect the amount of your debts and monthly installments and subtract from the total income.
Determine the variable expenses
Every time you go out for a romantic dinner, or any trip, write down its expenses. Thus over time, you will be able to define a sub-budget for luxury.
Put a realistic budget plan for the rest of the income
After subtracting both the fixed expenses and the debts pending from the total income, you should sit with your partner to put a realistic plan for the rest of the money to be used for other needs including food, luxury trips, personal clothes, etc. You both also should commit to the budget.
Review and update your priorities every 3 months
You should start breaking up your long-term arrangements into phases, taking the time to sit down every three months with your partners to think and update your priorities depending on the prices, and current living situation at that phase.
