Budgeting Basics - Step 4 - Other Expenses

We've figured out how much we have coming in, and we've recorded all our regular bills that we're committed to spending.

Now sit down and think about what else you spend money on regularly. Just make a list of everything you can think of. Don't include monetary amounts, just the label.
- clothes
- groceries
- eating out
- gas
- auto repairs
- school supplies
- Christmas gifts
etc.

You can see some items on the spreadsheet I showed you, just as examples.  You can add your own in place of mine or in addition to mine, if you're using that spreadsheet.

Let's put some numbers into the categories you listed. For some things, you can make a rough estimate. For instance, how often do you fill up your vehicle's tank with gas, in general? How much does that roughly cost? Multiply that out for the year, and put that number down for fuel (or whatever category you are keeping that in).

How many people do you buy Christmas presents for?  How much do you intend to spend for each of them?  What about birthday presents?  How many household members get haircuts for which you must pay?  How often?  How much does that cost each time?  Each of those amounts can go in the Annually column in the appropriate row, unless it's an amount that is spend monthly or even more frequently.

It's probably best to do these as annual amounts for now. Some of these categories are infrequent, so making estimates for the year will be simpler than trying to do them for the month or for a two-week period.

If you aren't sure how to estimate an expense, or if it's pretty flexible (like "gifts" or "clothes"), take a look at this list to get an idea of a reasonable amount to start with as an estimate.

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