How to set up a Household Budget by Jake Littlewood

How to set up a Household Budget by Jake Littlewood

INTRODUCTION
"The average family exists only on paper and its average budget is a fiction, invented by 
statisticians for the convenience of statisticians." 
Sylvia Porter 
Unlike the quote provided above, seemingly reflective of general opinion on family budgets 
today, we will attempt to take a much more positive approach to budgeting, as a family 
oriented, user-friendly, financial management and planning tool and life-enabler. 
However, when reflecting on family budgeting and inquiring as to why not more families are 
actually using it, it becomes self-evident that similar skepticism runs rampant and deep in reality 
and society, even globally so. 
Once you start probing family budgets, expending time and energy researching the subject in-

depth, it becomes quite clear, that most families are caught in a vicious, almost never-ending 
cycle of “What comes in must go out.” 
Most families might feel that budgeting is a futile effort, unnecessarily burdening them with 
thoughts and ways, to go broke methodically and slowly, without the creature comforts and 
indulgences of our human modern-day society. 
Others might voice that they feel as if they are merely throwing money away, in a never-ending 
and dizzying spiral of spend, spend, spend. People are getting deeper and deeper into debt, no 
matter how hard they try to get out of it. Questions are then raised : How do we stop these 
courses of action? How do we change the thinking around family fiscal discipline? 
Put simply, in “How to set up a Family Budget”, we focus in on how to empower families to set 
up better, more realistic budgets, stick to them and celebrate their successes (and learn from their 
failures!) 
Families eventually do have a monthly surplus, see their savings start to grow, consolidate their 
debt, set aside discretionary funds and personal allowances, build their wealth and become more

aware of their pro-active involvement and responsibility regarding their lives and finances. This 
is when excitement builds and fundamental thought patters as well as spending attitudes are 
changed. 
Budgeting is seen as an accurate measurement of success when significant behavioral 
transformation is taking place on the landscape of the family budget, spending habits and 
financial patterns we observe over time! 
Do you ever feel that you do not have enough cash at the end of the month to pay bills, buy 
necessities of life? Are you barely making a dent in your credit card debt balance, no matter how 
hard you try? 
Here is a reality check for all of us: if we choose to spend it, it is gone for good. We cannot 
spend it on anything else. Are you perhaps worried about a nest egg for your golden years or 
savings for early retirement? Then you have arrived at a source that can provide some prudent 
tips on how to start, finish, implement, stick to, revise and refine a family budget. 
The family budget is a dynamic process, even more so than a mere static work-product, result, 
process-outcome or document. It will, can and should change over time. It becomes a barometer 
of a family’s fiscal circumstance, resources and health. 
Maybe budgeting is not as much about reflecting on what you cannot have, but more about 
thoughts on how to stretch, invest and spend your earned dollars more wisely. In short, it is about 
making your money going further. 
This quick-reference how-to guide was developed to assist you with setting up your own 
personal, household and family budget, to help you with all of the above and more! 
A couple of general money-savings will also be provided in these pages. There are also thoughts 
and spending patterns that need to change, in order to become fiscally more disciplined and 
many techniques, attitudes, habitual behaviors that we need to un-earth, evaluate and possibly 
change, before you even start budgeting. 

How to set up a Household Budget by Jake Littlewood