RADIO TRANSCRIPT
December 20, 2022
Brandi Silver

This is Brandi Silver, FCS agent with the N.C. Cooperative Extension, Burke Center.  Our program today is about creating a household budget.

Learning to make a budget gives your money purpose. You are taking control of your finances, letting go of financial stress and making steps toward your money goals!

Before you get started, print off a bank statement or open up your banking app.  This will give you the details needed to begin filling in numbers.

Begin by listing your net income.  This is all of the money you will receive each month from your job, side hustle, garage sale and so forth after taxes, insurance and other costs.

Once you’ve established the money coming in, plan for the money going out. Begin by creating categories to cover the four basics, food, utilities, housing and transportation. Under each category you will list specific expenses. Think of it like this, each basic category is a folder and the specific expenses are files within the folder. Next, add other essentials like insurance, debt and childcare. Then, work in a miscellaneous line and any nonessentials like personal spending, fun money and entertainment.

The 3rd step is to subtract all of your expenses from your income. Give every dollar a job to do, either spending, giving, saving, paying off debt. Put any extra money toward your current money goal.

That’s it for making a budget, the next program will be about sticking to your budget!

This has been Brandi Silver with the N.C. Cooperative Extension, Burke Center. For additional assistance, contact me at 764-9480.