Time Management Skills Help Save Family Budgeting

Developing time management skills for family budgeting will not only save you time but also save you money. Many time management principles come down to planning ahead and this is always going to work well for your finances.

1. Set yourself an appointment on pay day to do your budget and plan your week or fortnight’s family budgeting and expenditure. Make it the type of appointment that cannot be postponed or double booked.
2. An effective time management skill is to set certain tasks on auto pilot. With bills you have regularly you can organise direct debits so that it is one more payment you don’t have to organize.
3. Do your family budgeting online. Internet banking has saved me a lot of time. I can check my bank account online, make all my bill payments, transfer my savings and check that I kept on track for the previous fortnight. I rarely have to go anywhere to pay a bill or do anything else with my budget other than right there at my computer.
4. Keep a record of how you organize your budget each week/fortnight. And rather than writing it up each time, keep a document on your computer you fill in or use the budget form in your family planner. You might feel like it takes up your time but in the long run will prevent you from spending money you don’t have and therefore prevent you wasting time worrying about your money!
5. Have a list of all the bills and expenses you incur over the year so that you can plan for them in each pay you receive. It will help you have the money for when bills are due.
6. Include birthdays and other special occasions on your family budgeting list so you can plan for these too and not break your family budget when you have a particularly full party month!
7. Planning ahead also helps you avoid late fees and charges which are unnecessary expenses
8. Use a debit card rather than a credit card. This will allow you the ease and quickness that a credit card provides when shopping from home and with paying bills but makes sure you are only spending money you have.
9. Collect up everyone’s small change at the end of each week and put in a family money jar to go towards special treats on the weekends for the family. It also helps lighten the load in your wallet and make it quicker to find what you need in your purse. It could also be used to go towards rewards from Family Reward Chart.
10. Keep all records that will go toward tax time in one folder or envelope. This should include any tax deductible receipts, receipts from donations you have made, phone/car clothing records or anything else that relates to your form of employment that you need to declare or claim on. Having it all together makes the task a lot easier at that time of year. It also means you have already filed it all away if those records ever need to be looked at or reviewed. Ensure you label each year’s folder with whose tax records they are and what year they are for.

Just remember, some tasks with family budgeting my initially seem time consuming because they are new to you. Once you are doing them regularly they will actually save you time as well as your hard earned money!

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