Budgets and Budgeting

For many people the word "budget" brings mixed emotions and I am one of them.  As a grant writer & program person for over 25 years, budgets were my friend.  They kept me on track so that my spending did not get out of hand and they allowed our funders to know exactly where their money went as far as costs.

Home was an entirely different story.  Why is it that something that made perfect sense at work NEVER worked at home? Am I the only one?  LOL.  Creating a list of expenses and knowing what to pay was the easy part, living within the budget was the tough part.  I made lots of excuses - single mom, didn't make enough and the list goes on.  In reality, I never learned (until recently) how to live within my means.  Credit cards were my friend and I used them a lot while I was a single mom trying to provide for my daughter.  Fast forward - daughter grown, credit card debt still there (not as bad as before, paid a lot off and closed the account) and I am just NOW learning to live within my budget.  See you can teach an old "dog", new tricks.  I mean at age 55, you would think I would know this.  I took Dave Ramsey's financial university class and it was AWESOME when I was working full-time getting a regular paycheck.  I am now adjusting to receiving a commission check from my business instead of the bi-weekly checks.  Not an easy adjustment but this "old dog" is re-learning a new trick!  Mind you, I have a hubby who is debt-free and LIVES by budgets.  We have only been married for 2 years (on May 21st) so I have decided to be solely responsible for any past debt.

As for my business, I am learning how to take the skills that I learned in program budgeting and apply it to my direct sales business.  Here are some tips from Direct Sales Education Foundation on creating a budget for your small business:

• Know your averages: It’s important that you know what the average income you can earn is for each activity in your business, as well as average expenses. 
• Know your fixed and variable costs: Are there things you pay for each month, quarter, or year? 
• Write it all down: It is essential that you keep track of the money coming in and going out from your business. 
• Be conservative in your estimates: It’s important to have some extra income set aside for unanticipated expenses, so you have some flexibility in your business. 

Check out the complete article at: Direct Sales Education Foundation. Don't be afraid to ask for help. There are lots of tools out there that can help you to overcome this hurdle which is one of the top causes for businesses failing.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day.