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One of the best ways to keep your finances organized for your home, is to make a budget binder.
A budget binder is easy to create, and will save you a lot of time later once it’s set up and ready to go.
You can use your budget binder at your monthly budget meeting with your spouse, track your spending, keep account information safe, or keep track of which bills you have paid each month.
How to Make a Budget Binder (with Free Printables!)
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Grab your free Budget Binder Printables by filling out the form below:
Monthly Budget Printable
The first thing you need in your budget binder is a place to keep your BUDGET!
A budgethelps you to tell your money where to go each month, instead of struggling to figure out how to pay your bills at the end of each month, and desperately waiting for that next pay check.
I recommend a zero based budget, which allows you to allocate every single dollar to an expense or spending category.
Payments Due Calendar
A payments due calendar can be really helpful in deciding when you should pay bills so that you can make sure you have enough money in your budget, and avoid costly late fees.
I recommend sitting down to pay bills twice a month, based on a business budgeting book that I recently read called “Profit First“. It focuses on money management for business owners, but it has some really great little pearls for keeping your finances organized.
Paying bills twice a month helps you to stay organized, and feel less overwhelmed by payments.
Spending Log
A lot of people forgo balancing their check book or keeping a log of their spending because of the ease of online banking.
Checking your bank account to see how much money is in there from day to day, is not a good way to manage your accounts because it does not give you a realistic picture of your spending.
I like to use the spending log to keep track of any checks that are out and have not yet cleared, or to log my spending for my cash envelopes so I’m not having to recount the money each time I use them.
Debt Snowball Tracker
If you have debt, the debt snowball method is an effective way to pay off debt fast.
The debt snowball requires you to list your debts from smallest to largest, and pay all of the minimum payments as usual.
After you do your monthly budget, you will assign any and all extra cash to your smallest debt, and attack that debt with everything you’ve got!
Once the smallest debt is paid in full, you will take the minimum payment that you were paying on it, and roll it to the next smallest debt, and repeat the process.
The reason the debt snowball works so well, is because it gives you “quick” wins, and keeps you motivated as you gain momentum.
You can keep track of your debt snowball with the printable debt snowball sheet in my budget planner.
Bill Checklist
Is there anything more satisfying than checking things off of your to do list?
If you love to check off bills as they are paid, then you will love keeping a bill checklist in your budget binder.
This bill checklist allows you to check off each bill each month, so you know it’s paid, avoiding late fees or missed payments.
Keeping it All Together
You now have all of the printables you need for a well organized budget binder, but now you need to print it out, and keep it all together.
I use HP Instant Ink as an affordable way to print all of my budget and debt payoff printables each month.
I use this printer, which I got on Amazon, and the quality and price are great!
The printer is connected to the HP Instant Ink service, and knows when I’m running out of ink. You don’t get charged until they ship you a replacement pack, and for the plan I use, it’s less than $12 each time they ship me a new ink pack (color and black and white!)
I used to spend hundreds on ink, so I was very excited to find this service!
You’ll also want a place to keep your printables once they are printed off.
You can use any traditional three ring binder. I love to get office supplies at The Dollar Tree. You can’t beat a three ring binder for only a buck!
Another fun way to keep your printables collated is to use a discbound hole punch and binder.
The discbound punch and binder keep your printables together in more of a notebook or planner type format.
I have used both methods, and they both work great for keeping your budget binder together.
Do whatever works best for you!
Congrats! Now you know how to make a budget binder, and set it up for budgeting success.
Now you need to start using your budget binder so you can organize your finances and change your financial future.
Grab the free budgeting printables in my budget planner here, and create your budget binder today!
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