Creating a Budget

Introduction. Why Do You Need This Book? How to Use This Book. Don't Miss Our Web Site. "You Are Here" in Your Financial Life. Figuring Out What You're Worth. Income. Savings. Other assets. Setting Your Goals. Short-term goals. Mid-term goals. Long-term goals. Determining How Much Your Goals Will Cost. Looking at Where Your Money Goes. Keeping a Spending Diary. Using Other Tools to Track Your Spending. Bank records. Credit card statements. Budgeting software. Evaluating Where Your Money Goes. Identifying Your Money Personality. Creating a Budget. Determining Your Essential Expenses: What You Need. Determining Your Nonessential Expenses: What You Want. Recognizing and Avoiding Hidden Expenses. Bank, ATM, and credit card fees. Gratuities and delivery charges. Sales, luxury, and utility taxes. Factoring in Emergency Expenses. Taking Taxes into Account. Paying Yourself First. Setting Up a Basic Budget. Being Realistic. Sticking to Your Budget. Good Discipline Equals Good Budgeting. Reining In Your Impulse Spending. Recognizing your triggers. Focusing on your goals. Stopping yourself from making a purchase. Rounding Up Your Support Team. Spouse/Significant other. Children. Parents. Friends. Professional and free services. Dealing with Emergency Expenses. If at First You Don't Succeed. Reducing Expenses and Increasing Your Income. Finding Alternatives to Spending. Buy, rent, borrow, or co-own? Spend or barter? Making Over Your Lifestyle. Use coupons rather than pay full price. Live like a Rockefeller on a Rockette's salary. Remember that you don't have to spend a lot to have fun. Spend less and enjoy life more. Living on Less. Hanging onto Your "Found" Money. Earning Additional Income. Tackling Your Debt. Figuring Out How Much You Owe. Reducing Your Consumer Debt. Pay off high-interest-rate credit cards first. Using department store credit cards wisely -- or not at all. Stop using your credit cards. Paying Back Your Loans. Student and educational loans. Car loans. Mortgages. Consolidating Your Bills as a Next-to-Last Resort. Filing Bankruptcy as a Last Resort. Putting Money Away for the Future. Identifying Your Saving and Investing Personality. Understanding Different Savings and Investment Instruments. Savings and money market accounts. Certificates of deposit. 401 (k) and Keogh plans. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Mutual funds. Analyzing Which Instruments Are Best for You. Investing Your Money: The Earlier the Better. Tracking Your Investments. Why you do it. How you do it. Once you've Reached Your First Goal. Enjoying the Fruits of Your Frugality. Rebudgeting for Change. What should I do with that raise? We're having a baby! Let's buy a house! Retaining Your Good Habits. CliffsNotes Review. CliffsNotes Resource Center. Books. Internet. Magazines & Other Media. Send Us Your Favorite Tips. Index.