Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the Money Course.

Simple definition of a budget

“A budget is just planned spending: telling your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went!” – Rick Warren

It doesn’t have to be daunting or complicated – it’s get making a bit of a plan about how we want to spend our money.

So let’s get started on what a budget is.

Very simply – it’s what comes in and what goes out.

A few things to know about it:

• It’s a lot of work, it will take time (If this is daunting why not ask a friend to help you and work through it together)
• Be specific about what you spend – deal with specifics, not vague generalities. Go through records of your actual spending.
• Don’t forget to add smaller things, such as bread and milk, newspapers.
• People also often forget habits they wish could change, like cigarettes and alcohol, but it only works if you are honest with yourself.
• There is no average month. Look at all the spending all year i.e. shopping, large items, bank statement, credit cards etc.
• Don’t forget the big things e.g. Christmas – the run up to Christmas is the busiest time for taking out loans and after Christmas is the busiest time for seeking debt help.

Question: Gather all the resources that you’ll use to build your budget, and find a friend to share this course with who can help keep you honest.