Budgeting Worksheet

For those who have suddenly woken up to the need of budgeting their finances, here's a Basic Budget Worksheet from www.About.com You can work on a Excel sheet and edit it according to your needs.

Here are percentages of major spending categories from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2003) Consumer Expenditure Survey. May not apply to you and me but it's an interesting statistic anyway. Gives you an idea where you stand and where you can increase/decrease your expenses.

• Food at home 7.7%
• Food away from home 5.4%
• Alcoholic beverages 1.0%
• Total food and drink 14.1%
• Housing 32.9%
• Apparel and services 4.0%
• Vehicles 9.1%
• Gasoline and motor oil 3.3%
• Other transportation 6.7%
• Healthcare 5.9%
• Entertainment 5.0%
• Personal care products and services 1.3%
• Reading .3%
• Education 1.9%
• Tobacco products and smoking supplies .7%
• Miscellaneous 1.5%
• Cash contributions 3.4%
• Personal insurance and pensions 9.9%

Work on your Budget sheet for two hours and it'll tell you a lot about yourself. Look at it as a personality test.!!