Category: Budgeting

Ready for a cool budgeting tool? Meet the zero based budgeting template!

(I sometimes call it a reality-based budget too, because it helps you manage your money in a way that actually works in the real world. Getting real in a nice way!)

You can get your copy of the printable zero based budgeting form here for free later on in this article. But first I want to talk a little bit about how to budget and — more importantly — why budgeting can change your finances for the better.

(Click here if you already know how zero based budgeting works and just want to jump straight to where you can get the form.)

Let’s start with this: What IS zero based budgeting anyway?

If you’re not already familiar with the term, a zero-based budget is where you account for all of your money each month. The idea is to plan out where your money will go, so that it goes where you want it to.
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This is a post from Charlie Johnson, an online entrepreneur who paid off $25,000 of debt in four months doing things his friends thought were nuts. (Go Charlie!)

I know this sounds crazy.

How can you save money by spending money? If you’re rolling your eyes right now or you think this is a joke – I don’t blame you.

But if you move on before reading this post, you’ll miss out on a POWERFUL method for saving money. I should know.

I used this method to pay off $25,000 of credit card debt in four months.

In order to do this right, you need to understand how spending and saving impact your debt freedom journey.

Let me explain…
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Have you ever gone to a restaurant and ordered everything on the menu? Of course not.

You can’t eat all that food in a single meal, and you know it. Plus, you may not even like everything on the menu. So you don’t waste the time, money, or food. It wouldn’t even occur to you.

Instead, you choose the food that you’re in the mood for, or that you think would take taste the best, or that you’d like to give a try. You choose what you want most.

That’s how budgeting works. Except you create the menu.
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Budgeting isn’t just about the numbers. Learning how to make a monthly budget is fairly simple once you actually sit down and DO it a few times. (Here’s a free budget template if you want one.) Instead, budgeting is about sticking to the plan once you’ve created it.

That’s what’s likely to give folks trouble.

Why? Well, anyone can look at $2500 in monthly take-home pay, for example, and realize that they’ve got a maximum of $2500 a month to spend.

But it’s a lot more difficult to emotionally recognize the financial impact of all the unplanned day-to-day spending on the big picture.
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