Written by Adams Home Office Budget Book, Weekly/Monthly Format, 7 x 10 Inches, White (AFR31)
- Budget and track personal or company spending
- Weekly and monthly tracking
- Appendices include areas for recording expenses for tax preparation, investments, insurance and health expenses and building improvement projects
- 7 x 10 inches
- Yearly summary
Adams Business Forms provide the tools to help keep track of messages, finances, transactions, employees, taxes, and customers to businesses throughout the world. These products are the perfect way to create and maintain a professional image for small businesses and service providers. The Adams Home Office Budget Book helps to budget and track personal and/or company spending. This book provides both weekly and monthly tracking, and includes a yearly summary. Appendices include areas for r
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A huge money saver,
If you’ve never kept a budget book recording your income and expenses, then you probably have only a tenuous grasp of how much money you’re wasting every year. It’s easy to keep track of big recurring expenses – mortgage, car payment, insurance premiums, etc. But that’s not what’s breaking your budget. It’s the sneaky little things that don’t cost much or aren’t recurring- that can of soda you purchase on your morning break, that recipe magazine you purchase in the checkout lane, that weekly night out at the movies.
I’ve been using this budgeting book for 30, yes 30, years. I started from desperation. I have always worked in jobs that pay modest incomes and I am the most disorganized person in the world. I’m am, or was in the past, by nature an impulsive spender. I was on the edge of financial disaster all the time. This book reigned in those tendencies. It took a while to get into the habit of recording every single expense, but, with the help of this book, I’ve gotten that so down that at the end of the year, I can compare my expenses to income and come within 25 cents of a match. More than that, by letting me actually see each month where I was wasting money, I am now to the point where I am, on a $38000/yr income, socking away $500 a month in savings/retirement. I am not deprived (check out my reviews of my purchases here on amazon). I have a great wardrobe, a huge collection of books (4500) a nice little house and nice furniture, a 403b retirement plan – and $28000 in a savings account.
The 30 named categories and 3 fill-in-your-own blanks cover just about every area of expense you can think of and include internet costs/cell phones/lawn care/dry cleaning expenses/gifts/entertainment. There are two lines for credit cards (if you’re using more than two – that’s half your problem), two lines for loans. There’s a line for savings, clothing, and dining out and more. My three additional categories are books, gardening and pets.
In the back there are pages that include your net worth statement, various taxes paid, medical expenses and interest payments, donations and gifts, job expenses, various investments, educational expenses, luxury items, insurance, dental and eye care, home improvement, and major purchases.
This book makes you think before you spend. It makes you think ahead – how much do you need to set aside each month for a new pair of shoes for Christmas or a new refrigerator next year. Do you really want to have to record that you ate at McDonald’s again this week? Do you really want to put that item on your credit card and risk paying interest? But it won’t work if you don’t get into the habit of actually recording your income and expenses.
Some tips I have learned to help do that – record expenses as soon as they occur. I take the book with me in the car in case I stop to shop. I immediately record what I just purchased. I take it back in the house and put it on my desk, where I pay my bills and make internet purchases and record them immediately. I look at it constantly to check against my monthly planned budget. It has become almost a satisfying game to me to see how much under my budget I end each month. It’s amazing how well it has worked for me. I’m still disorganized in other aspects of my life – I’m late with work projects, miss appointments, and can’t get my closet organized. But I know exactly where my money is going.
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|This Has It All!,
For household budgeting I highly recommend this Record. It contains simple instructions along with a sample monthly budget. The monthly budget contains nearly every category one can think of. I did have to write in a few of my own on the 3 blank categories provided- Home Security, Additional Mortgage Principal Payment, and Home & Auto Maintenance. There is a “Transportation” category. That became my auto gas category. In addition to a budget ledger for each month, it has a net worth statement and separate ledgers within the Tax Preparation section for- Income, Taxes, Medical/Prescriptions, Interest Paid, Donations/Gifts, Losses, Adjustments/Credits, Job Expenses/Misc. Within the Investments section you will find separate ledgers for- Money Market, Stocks, IRAs, Mutual Funds, CD’s/Bonds, Educational, Misc. Within the Insurance/Health section you will find separate ledgers for- Homeowner’s/Renter’s Insurance, Additional Property, Personal Articles, Luxury Items, Auto Insurance, Health Insurance, Dental/Eye Care, Life Insurance. Within the Home Improvement section you will find separate ledgers for- Home Improvement Project List, Interior projects, Plumbing/Electrical/Heating/AC, Exterior projects, Major Purchases, and Misc. The only improvement I would suggest is adding a “box” on each monthly budget ledger so the name of the month can be written within it. I simply wrote each 3 letter month abbreviation above the number 1, which is the 1st of each month. If Staples is nearby you, you should be able to find it there. That’s where I purchased mine for approximately $10.00. You will be quite satisfied with it!
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|Thoughtful, but cold be better,
While I found this somwhat useful, the boxes are so small that it is hard to keep track of what goes where. The dividing line caused by the spiral makes it sometimes confusing at the end of the month. If it were a little bigger, I could have found better uses for it.
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