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FCS5228 Family Financial Statement: The Family Budget1 Josephine Turner2 1. This document is FCS5228, one of a series of the Family, Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date March 5, 2002. Revised: December 19, 2005. Visit the EDIS Web Site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu. 2. Jo Turner, PhD, CFP, professor, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, University of Florida, UF/IFAS, Gainesville, 32611 The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean Budgeting is planning your expenses. And this simple concept proves a challenging task for most of us. This publication should help you make a plan for your money. What Can Family Budgeting Do? Budgeting helps you save for the things you want. Budgets allow you to live within your income and know where your money is going. Budgets involve a system of record keeping. This can help you keep an annual record of all tax-deductible expenses. How to Start: Categorize Budgeting helps you save for the things you want. Budgets allow you to live within your income and know where your money is going. Budgets involve a system of record keeping. This can help you keep an annual record of all tax-deductible expenses. It is easier to plan a budget if you break down your spending for the past year. General categories such as food, clothing, personal care, entertainment, transportation, and shelter make this easier. The list below contains examples of these expense groupings from successful budgets. Use these as a guide for setting up your own expense categories. You can combine categories such as putting all housing-related costs in one budget category. Some categories may not pertain to you at all. An example of this is the tax category. You should include taxes only if you usually pay more than is withheld from your paycheck. You can use this money to pay the quarterly payments for the excess amount. You should also include a savings and investment category. It is difficult to save without putting it in your budget plan. Saving takes discipline. This is true no matter whether you are saving for a new rug or your childrens' college educations. Failure to save leads to doing without or borrowing money and making interest payments that cut into money that you want to spend on other things. Tried-and-True Guidelines Regardless of how you classify your expenses you should observe a few basic guidelines:

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Family Financial Statement: The Family Budget 2 Keep similar expenses in the same category. Set up enough different categories so that you have a meaningful record of your expenses. Do not group too many different expenses into catchall categories. Keep the number of categories small enough to make bookkeeping simple. Useful Family Budget Categories 1. Food Food eaten at home Food away from home Snacks, coffee breaks School lunches Home food production 2. Housing Rent or mortgage payment 3. Housing Utilities Gas and electricity Garbage pickup Water, telephone Cable, Internet connection 4. Housing Operation Laundry supplies Storage rental Paper goods, stationery Postage Hired help Cleaning supplies Pest control Repairs for house Safe deposit box rent Household property insurance Property taxes Yard improvement & supplies Home preservation supplies 5. Equipment and Furnishings Furniture, rugs, curtains Pictures, vases, mirrors Appliances, kitchen utensils Bedding, linens China, silver, glassware Equipment repair 6. Transportation Car purchase Car expenses: gas, oil, repairs, tires Licenses, insurance, maintenance, taxes Parking fees Bus, airline tickets, train Taxi, car rental 7. Clothing Ready-to-wear Footwear Cleaning and repair Sewing supplies Accessories Alterations 8. Personal

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Family Financial Statement: The Family Budget 3 Haircuts Beauty shop Allowances Cosmetics Toiletries Shaving supplies 9. Health Medical and hospital costs Insurance premiums Doctor, dentist Medicine, drugs Eyeglasses, hearing aids First aid supplies Treatment or therapy 10. Education School supplies Books and supplies Magazines, newspapers Music and dancing lessons 11. Business-Related Expenses Union membership Professional dues Business licenses Business Insurance Tools required for job 12. Recreation Social club dues Sports admission Sports equipment Movies Vacations Recorded music Events Tobacco, liquor Hobby supplies Cable television Pets and supplies Sports licenses Veterinarian fees for pets 13. Gifts, Contributions Gifts for people outside the family Marriage, birth gifts Cards, wrapping paper Flowers Charitable donations and contributions Church organizations 14. Miscellaneous Legal fees Income tax Sales tax 15. Credit Cost Interest charged on any Credit purchases 16. Life and Disability Insurance premiums 17. Emergency Fund

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Family Financial Statement: The Family Budget 4 Savings accounts Investments 18. Child Care Babysitters Daycare Reference Turner, Josephine. 1989. Family Business: Setting up a Budget. Leaflet. Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Auburn University, AL 36849