Some families have budgets and some do not. Those families with budgets can better manage their money than those who do not. I would recommend any family with children to have a budget. Here are a few steps for planning a budget. 1. Get a list of all your bills that are due each month. Also get the dates that each bill is due on. It is always best to plan your budget by the month. 2. Organize those bills by the date that they are due on. Ex. Electric bill due on the 2nd, the phone bill due on the 7th, and the cable bill due on the 17th. And so on. 3. See how many pay days are in the month that you are planning for. Then figure how much money you will make on each pay day and times it by the number of pay days. Ex. 4 pay days times $500.00 per pay day equals $2000.00 4. Figure up how much your bills are all together. Divide that by the number of pay days that you have for that month. This will give you an idea of what you are going to have to pay each week. If there is going to be a week where you won't have to pay put that much take it out anyway and put it into your savings. That way if something comes up and I promise you one time or another something unexpected will come up. If you put money back when you have it extra you can be prepared for those unexpected moments without having to charge your credit cards. 5. Write down each pay day and the bills that you will be paying on that particular day. That way you will know exactly what will need to be paid and when. Place it where ever you pay your bills. Or if you don't have a specific place you do your bills place it on the refrigerator. 6. Stick to your budget no matter what. Do not stray from your budget. Each pay day have those bills made out and ready to send off. I know that it can be easy to think I will just pay this one next week, but once you get behind it is too hard to catch back up. So by all means stick to your budget. If you have a budget that works for you and your family you will have more money left over each month to do something special with your family. My family makes it a point to do something special each month as a family. If we did not have a budget we would not be able to do that special something together. There is nothing like spending time and getting to do something special with your family.

About the author:

Shannon Miller is the mom of 5 children. Be sure and stop by her sites for free information and advice on parenting. www.parentingfroma-z.com and www.asthmainfosite.com