9 Ways to Create a Monthly Budget if You Don’t Have One

5) Set Goals

Once you’ve organized all your expenses, it’s time to set some goals. These can be long or short term. Short-term goals should be planned to be accomplished in a year’s time. Long term goals can include things like retirement savings, planning for your child’s college education, or buying a bigger house. Your goals need not necessarily be lofty. They also don’t need to be cut in stone. For example, you may have the goal to reduce your credit card debt. Here’s where you can take some of your variable expense money and add a little each month to your credit card payment. This will help to reduce the principal as well as the interest in the long-term. This can be applied to any installment bill you’d like to pay off sooner.