Budgeting for Beginners; 9 Reasons Why You Should Be Budgeting If you’re new to budgeting, it’s important to understand what a budget is and how it helps you examine what you earn and how you are spending that income. A budget is a financial plan that takes income and expenses into account and provides estimates for how much you make and spend over a given period of time. Budgeting Basics Fixed expenses are expenses that stay the same from month to month, such as rent payments. Flexible expenses are expenses that change from month to month, such as how much you spend on utilities Total expenses are the combined amount of your fixed and flexible expenses. Total monthly income is the income from your job or other resources including investment dividends, pensions, Social Security benefits, rental income and more. Disposable income is the money you have left over after you subtract your income taxes from your income.   If you find you are not able to stick to your budget, it may mean you are spending beyond your means or that your budget is not flexible enough. Take the time to review and readjust your budget monthly until you find a plan that works for you.     Here are 9 good reasons you should be budgeting your expenses    1. You will find you have more money than you thought  Now that you have a budget and all your money is already spent on paper you will find that it can stretch alot further than you thought. You finally have enough money to pay extra on your credit card bills or put into savings.   2. It can help you get out of debt faster Having extra money to budget into outgoing you now have more option to pay off debt. It’s up to you and your goals,  but if you want to make the sacrifice to take extra leisure money and put it towards debt you will find that those total remaining balances go down alot quicker. This can give an immense sense of relief every time you see them   3. It ensures that you will always have enough money for the things you need Laying out your incoming and outgoing finances will shed new light on your money situation. Now you will know if you have enough money to make...