{ Budget Budget Budget }

I've talked so much about the systems that we live in and how women and their worth and their valuations have an innate power to shift the economy and that all sounds really good...very academic. I'm not an idiot. I can rattle on and on about economic structures blah blah blah but the day to day reality is this: You can only spend what you have and still be OK financially. (I KNOW there are magic plastic cards in your purse, but I said "and still be OK financially".)

So, friends, today's question is How Much Do You Have? Can't spend it if you don't know. People that tell me they don't have a head for numbers and couldn't possibly do this are taking the easy way out. Add. Subtract. You can do this, really.

How To Build A Budget:

1. Gather all of your income sources - pay stubs, W2's, Investment Dividend Statements, alimony (do people get that anymore?) and child support. Can't find or don't save all that paper? Get the bank statement(s) for every checking/savings account that you have for the last 3 months.

2. Add those up and LOOK AT IT. Does that seem right? Round DOWN if it doesn't. (That way if you're wrong, you're pleasantly surprised.)

3. Compute your expenses - the monthly expenses like mortgage/rent/utilities are the easy ones. They don't change much. Scan your statements (both bank and credit card) for the last three months. Add up the categories you use (like gas, groceries, eating out, house supplies, clothes, travel). Look for the regular expenditures but jot down the not so common ones separately. Round up where you are uncertain. (That way if you're wrong, you're pleasantly surprised.)

4. Figure it out - Subtract your expenses from your income. Hopefully you end up with a positive number. If not, start asking yourself if the overages in the last few months are regular bad spending habits (eating out, eating out and eating out) or if they were one time, couldn't help it emergencies that aren't likely to happen again. EITHER WAY, if your debt outweighs your income you need to begin to cut back. Just like fried food, it'll catch up with you in the end.

5. If the number you have at the end is positive (whew hoo) then the FIRST THING you need to do is pay off any debt. No debt? Save something. Save anything. Every rich person in the world will tell you that they pay themselves first. For years I didn't know what that meant. It means, pick YOU over pretty shoes or eating out.

Like I said, we can pump ourselves up all we want about being empowered women but if you don't know what you make, what you spend and what your life costs to live, then you really have no power at all. Grab those calculators and get busy, girls.