Making a budget for home expenses is one of the first steps a new homeowner should take. While the extensive planning and budgeting for closing costs and buying the home might be over, your new financial life at home has just begun.
To help you get started, here is a basic guide to creating a budget for your home expenses:
Make note of any financial goals you hope to achieve and when. For example, you might have a goal of paying off your mortgage early, or financing a major renovation project.
Track your spending for a month to identify the details of your cash outflow. Make sure to include fixed expenses like subscription services and your monthly mortgage payment. Varied expenses, like entertainment, maintenance costs and transportation should also be included at least in estimation.
Find your exact income amount by identifying all possible sources of money. This could include regular employment as well as gains from selling or renting any assets. Use your net monthly income rather than gross monthly income to account for taxes.
To find a basic budget, simply subtract your total monthly expenses from your net income. The formula is: net income - total monthly expenses = budget.
Depending on your results, adjust your goals and habits accordingly. For example, you might want to change your spending habits or put aside more money into savings for an emergency fund.
These are only the basic first steps to creating a household budget. You can use this process as an example for building your own budget and managing your finances in your new dream home.
Nicki has a passion for building relationships and fostering community engagement, honored and enthusiastic about joining the MMFRE team. An Oakland County native, she, along with her three children, make Clarkston their home. Having an in-depth knowledge of the area and all the lakes have to offer, her insightfulness equates to rewards to all that are purchasing (and/or) selling their most valuable asset.
Armed with a Michigan State University (MSU) degree as well as 10 years of business experience in advertising and marketing, Nicki's "silver lining" shines through when it comes to showcasing properties for the "highest" and "best" results in this fast-paced, competitive industry.
She's "people person" at heart and enthusiastic about delivering results, you're sure to get to a successful finish line as my resourceful package of approachability, talent, resourcefulness, creativity, cheery attitude and honest hard work is yours for the asking.