This article is for virtually every human being, whether your currency is apples or the American dollar, every person probably should budget and ration according to their circumstance. Full disclosure, I am not a perfect person who sticks to every single budget, diet, or whatever parameters you set on yourself to whatever you think is improving yourself.

I can say a few things that have helped myself come to this place. We manage our clients accounts receivables, pay our employees, and I manage my personal money enough to be ahead on bills along with living a pretty decent life!

1. LIST ALL OF YOUR BILLS, INCLUDING GROCERIES, GAS, NETFLIX, HULU, AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU HAVE ON AUTOPAY.

The more you build on your fortress, the more you start to see charges coming out. Make sure you keep an eye on these to be able to gauge how much you actually are spending and how much is just normal bills coming out. Example: I didn’t realize I had both ITUNES and YOUTUBE RED coming out of my account each month because they were on my credit card. I cancelled ITUNES(no offence Apple) and saved 10 bones right there).

2. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF: PUT YOUR ACTUAL GAS, ELECTRIC, AND OTHER BILLS TO THE MAX.

People sometimes budget on the minimum that their electric or groceries can be. They budget based on if they use no electricity and eat Ramon Noodles each month (no offence Ramon). If you set your budget to the max of all of these bills, you will likely have $30-50 extra per month left over that will carry on to the next month. Example: Month one my electric is $120, month two my electric is $148, and month three my electric is $125. I am going to set my budget for $148 monthly as it could be that and I would rather be prepared and save extra. DO NOT TAKE THE MEDIUM OF THESE NUMBERS!

3. SEPARATE THE BUDGET!

Whether you are a business owner, employee, work at the farmers market crushing it, or currently living on government assistance, separating your funds is key to being able to manage them. Having everything come out of one account can be very hard or nearly impossible to manage. Setting aside one account for bills, one for play time, an emergency account, or maybe even one for a trip every couple month is clutch, If you do this, you do not have to use a whole paycheck on rent, trips, birthdays, or whatever else is happening at the time.

4. REALIZE YOU DO NOT NEED ANYTHING

Most likely, you have everything you need to survive; and the people in your life to make you happy. There were people living off rice patties and water for hundreds of years and led great lives. There is nothing you truly need except love from your family/friends, a roof over your head, food, a job to support these things. Also (I am religious so God comes first on that list, but to each is own.) Anything else is extra that you have to work, study, or obtain a skill to get. If you do not want to do that, it is ok and life is still GREAT.

I have to take an bit every few months to recalculate the budget because life goes on. If you are constantly wondering what the heck is going on with your money each month, it might be time to take a minute to organize. It is much easier to set a budget into place then try and figure it out as you go.

Hope this helped!!!

–  Mike