The first thing you can do to start getting your finances organized is to create a budget – basically a spending plan based on your income and expenses.

Start by determining how much income you receive (or estimating it as best you can if you don’t have a steady income stream), and then organize your expenses into three categories: needs, wants, and savings. Needs are things you can’t do without – housing, basic utilities, transportation, groceries, insurance, child care, etc. You should commit 50% of your income to needs. Wants are less essential things – dining out, traveling, entertainment, etc. Leave 30% of your income for wants, and commit the remaining 20% into savings or paying off existing debts.

By following the 50/30/20 rule as a budget framework, you can help organize your spending and determine what you need to adjust to best fit your available resources and lifestyle.

If this seems daunting, it doesn’t need to be – Kirtland CU offers Money Management in our online banking suite for free, and this includes budgeting solutions, tracking spending across multiple accounts, trends from the past 12 months, and more! Click on Manage Money in Online Banking and choose Money Management to get started, or learn more at KirtlandCU.org/money.