Will you go over budget this holiday season? How will you know? Learn how to budget for periodic expenses. Learn how to track spending so you know how much you have to spend.

1. SPENDING IN THE
DARK
Bill Taylor
UW Extension
Northeast Area Community Development Educator

2. CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!
How many $$ can you afford?
 How much did you spend last year?
 How much do you have set aside for
Christmas spending?
 How much can you afford to set aside
next year for Christmas spending?


3. OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS

How do you plan spending for:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Birthdays?
Vacations?
Graduation?
Etc.

4. PERIODIC SPENDING

How do you plan for larger expenses
that only happen now and then?
◦ i.e.




Property taxes
Car license
Car and homeowner’s insurance
Major repairs or maintenance

5. LIGHTING UP THE DARK
Unless you use some proven methods,
handling these types of expenses is like
shooting in the dark at a moving target.

7. TRACK YOUR
SPENDING

8. THE DARK
You are spending in the dark until you
know what your NEEDS and WANTS are
costing you

9. THE DAWNING

Track your expenses
◦ Save a receipt for EVERY purchase
◦ For 3 months – for average and accuracy
◦ Every nickel, dime, and dollar
 Write yourself a paper receipt when you don’t
get one from the vending machine, etc.
◦ Every week sit down with your receipts
and record your expenditures on a
spending record, within categories

12. ENTERING EXPENSES
Enter weekly
 Total monthly

◦ Add all the category totals to check your
total spending for the month

14. SET GOALS

15. FINANCIAL GOALS

Determine your major household
financial goals
◦ i.e. – down payment on a home, paying
off debts, new car, etc.
◦ List them
◦ Determine a time line or deadline for each
◦ Determine a cost for each
◦ Prioritize – which comes first?

17. KEY

Key to goal accomplishment:
◦ WRITE THEM DOWN
◦ REVIEW THEM EVERY TIME YOU PAY
BILLS
 They become part of your subconscious
mindset

20. ESTABLISH BUDGET

21. DEVELOPING A BUDGET

Most accurate after 3 months of
tracking expenses
◦ But you don’t have to wait 3 months to
start
List total anticipated income for an
average month
 List anticipated expenses for an
average month

◦ Divide the expenses into groups to help in
deciding how much they will be

22. EXPENSES

Two ways to group
◦ Needs vs. Wants
 Needs – what you have to have to live
 Basic food, rent/mortgage, basic transportation,
minimal clothes, medical, insurance, etc.
 Wants – extras for comfort and enjoyment
 Entertainment, electronics, snacks, knick knacks,
eating out, etc.
 Be careful you don’t justify wants as
needs
 Needs must be paid before wants are
considered

23. EXPENSES (cont.)

Two ways to group (cont.)
◦ Fixed vs. Variable
 Fixed – the same each month
 Few basic bills
 Relatively easy to list
 i.e. rent, housing payment, car payment, insurance,
child care, etc.
 Variable – varies month to month
 i.e. food, clothing, medical, entertainment, gas & oil,
etc.
 Must track over several months to be accurate
 Repeat whenever situation changes or the budget
needs major adjustments

24. PERIODIC EXPENSES

List those periodic expenses we
started the lesson discussing
◦ Determine how much you need or want to
spend on each
 i.e. bi-annual property taxes - $1000, Christmas
gifts - $500

25. PERIODIC EXPENSES (cont.)
◦ Determine how many months you have to
put money away for each and divide that
number into the total amount
 Property tax - $1000 ÷ 6 mo. = $167/mo.
 Christmas gifts
 Saving all year - $500 ÷12 mo. = $42/mo.
 Starting in August - $500 ÷ 4 mo. = $125/mo.

Decide whether the periodic expense
is a fixed or a variable expense and
list the monthly amount in that group

26. BUDGET COMPLETION

List anticipated:
◦ Income
 Total
◦ Fixed Expenses
 Total
◦ Variable Expenses
 Total

Subtract total Fixed & Variable expenses
from total Income
◦ Is there enough income to cover the
expenses?

28. NEGATIVE BALANCE

If final budget figure is a negative, you
MUST change something
◦ Increase income
◦ Decrease expenses
◦ Dip into savings - this can’t continue

29. Next month:
December 5 @ 7:00 p.m.: Communication about Finances and
Estate Planning
by Cole Ehmke, Extension Educator
Go to http://www.uwyo.edu/ces/money/