Basic steps to making a budget

1. Gather information you have regarding sources of income or expense. Statements, bills, student loan assessments and even the money you got from your grandma for your birthday. You need to know what is going out of your pocket and what is coming in. The key for this process is to create a monthly average so the more information you can dig up the better.

2. Record all of your sources of income: self-employed, employments, loans, bursaries, grants, scholarships or have any outside sources of income be sure to record these as well. If your income is in the form of a regular paycheck where taxes are automatically deducted then using the net income, or take home pay, amount is fine. Record this total income as a monthly amount.

3. Create a list of monthly expenses. Write down a list of all the expected expenses you plan on incurring over the course of a month. School fees are not only what you pay for your tuition, but all of the fees you incur so that you can attend school. This includes a rent, transportation, insurance, groceries, junk food, utilities, entertainment, clothes, books, supplies, internet, photocopying, laundry: essentially everything you spend money on.

4. Break expenses into categories: fixed and variable.

Fixed expenses tend to stay the same (or close to the same) from month to month. They include bills such as your rent or mortgage, cable, Internet, utilities, fixed loan repayments and so on. These expenses for the most part are essential yet not likely to change in the budget.

Variable expenses change from month to month. They include things like gas, groceries, your daily coffee, eating out and entertainment to name a