About this video:
Mr. V examines five tips for finding your money drains and improving your financial outlook with a family-friendly budget

1. Calculate All Income

The first thing to do is calculate all sources of income for your household. Put together a chart listing income sources and amounts for the past 30 days. This will give you an idea of how much money is coming into the household, which is the first step to determining how much money is going out.

2. List Your Expenses

List all of your regular monthly expenses such as rent or house payments, car payments, credit card and loan payments, gas, food, utilities, cable, the internet, and others. Try to list exact numbers, or estimate if your expenses vary. This will give you a good idea of what your basic expenses are.

3. Track Every Penny

Spend an entire month tracking every cent that you spend. Write down your beginning balance and then every dollar in and every dollar out. This is the key to determining where you’re losing money.

4. Interpret The Results

Compare how much money you’re bringing into how much you’re spending every month on bills and other expenses.

5. Put this Information To Good Use

Armed with your written guide to your income and expenses, you can control your finances more effectively. Once you have this information laid out in front of you, it will allow you to fine tune your finances little by little until you’re putting more money into savings and less into “money drains” from month to month.