Build a Dead-Simple Budget with a Shoebox

The Simple Dollar personal finance blog delves into household budgeting—something more of us should do, but are kept away from by fear of spreadsheets, math, and undue time commitments. Blogger Trent’s solution is simple and reliable, however, and takes only a willingness to collect paper and toss it in a shoe box. Collect one to three months’ worth of receipts, checks, pay stubs, and other paper records of money in and out, drop them on a floor when you’re done, and then arrange them however you’d like:

You’ll probably find yourself shifting piles around and making new piles throughout this process, as you should. The goal is to find ways to group your spending that’s natural to you. Don’t try to force it to match someone else’s groupings – if a group of receipts or statements feel like a natural group to you, that’s how they should be sorted.

Divide each pile by the number of months you’ve been saving, and you’ll have some hard and fast numbers to work with. Sure beats trying to figure out where a hamburger and coke splurge fits into a ledger. Hit the link for a fuller explanation of a simple budget you can use to plan your spending.