A fixed income. A tight budget. Whatever you call it, trying to live within your means isn't always an easy task, especially if your income is small. But there are ways to make it easier.
Creating a budget plan can help you know exactly how much money you have, how much more you need, or how to cut back on non-necessary expenses. You can use a budget to see where you may be unnecessarily spending money, or where you could be saving money by cutting out extra fees and charges for some items. There are lots of helpful budget sheets on the Web. The first step in using any of them is to determine your income. Then you have to list your expenses.
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Managing a budget can be even more crucial for those who are self-employed and do not have a fixed amount of money coming in each month. If your income varies, determine the least amount of money you expect to make in a month. Build your budget around that amount; you can put windfalls from better months into savings, or use them to get ahead on bills.
There are two types of expenses: fixed expenses and non-fixed expenses. In this article, we'll explore fixed expenses. We'll find ways to save money even when you have a lot of fixed expenses to work around.
If you live on a fixed income, it's extremely important to know exactly what expenses you can expect to come out of monthly or weekly paychecks. Fixed expenses are those that you can predict to pay every week, every two weeks, or every month. For example, you know that every month you have to mail a check for your mortgage payment. Mortgage payments, rent and car payments are fixed expenses because you know you'll have to pay them every month, and you know how much they'll cost each time.
Read on to find out how to identify the fixed expenses in your budget.
