Simple Budgeting


Creating a Budgeting | Household Expenses | Debt Payments | Travel Budgeting

As a single income family, I’m often asked how we make ends meet. It must surprise people that we can get by on a single income but it’s not that difficult with a few tips and tricks which I hope to share with you in this guide. I know that there are lots of books on this subject but many are written by someone who really doesn’t have to live month-to-month. I can offer real-world experience and examples and you’ll find many in this guide.


I’ll cover a number of different areas like how to potentially increase your take home pay without asking for a raise, how to put aside some money without even realizing it and how to cut your bills and increase your quality of life at the same time. We’ve done a good job of mitigating our expenses so our monthly non-debt related expenses are under $700 a month. If you add in a mortgage and care payment, our total expenses are just over $2000 a month. This gives us a nice cushion to work with and a way to be able to pay for things when they pop-up (and they always do!).

Lots of times we go through life and just accept how we do things until someone suggests a different way and I’m hoping that my approach will be simpler and allow you to have more money left over in your pocket each month and help you plan so when an unexpected or one of those periodic bills comes along, you don’t have to figure out a way to pay that and your regular bills at the same time. These are just suggestions and examples and you’re welcome to take what you want and ignore the rest.

There are two sides to having a balanced budget – income and expenses. I’ll cover both sides as we walk from your paycheck through your monthly expenses.

One word of caution. I am not a financial expert and I am only sharing real world experience so you should consult with friends or other people that you deem to be experts in a field if something doesn’t seem right to you. What works for me might not work for you but the general advice is sound and I hope you benefit from some of the ideas contained in this book.

Creating a Budgeting | Household Expenses | Debt Payments | Travel Budgeting