Americans are deeper in debt than ever before. While medical bills account for a significant portion of this debt, much of it is simply the result of spending more than you make. The only way to know how well you are doing is to create and track a budget.

Financial advisors have calculated recommended percentages of income going to different areas. They are:

Charitable gifts 10 - 15%
Savings 5 - 10%
Housing 25 - 30%
Utilities 5 - 10%
Food 5 - 15%
Transportation 10 - 15%
Clothing 2 - 7%
Medical/Health 5 - 10%
Personal 5 - 10%
Recreation 5 - 10%
Debts 5 - 10%

If your income is limited, a higher percentage of the budget will go for necessities like food and housing and less for personal items and recreation.
To determine whether you fall into the recommended budget percentages, you must know where your money goes. If most of your spending is credit card or checks it is easy to go back through statements and check stubs, enter those in a simple bookkeeping program on the computer and print out a report of spending over the past several months.

Be sure to include whatever cash you withdraw in the appropriate budget category. Do you spend cash on meals eaten out? That would go in the food category. Do you spend cash for things like haircuts, dry cleaning or items for your house? If you buy many things with cash keep track of your cash expenditures for a couple of months to determine where the cash goes. Carry a small notebook with you and record each purchase or keep an envelope in your car and put all receipts in it, then enter those in your computer program.

List income from all sources. Be sure to use either your take-home pay or use gross pay but include deductions in the budget. If you routinely get large tax refunds reduce the amount deducted from your pay. Using the IRS as a savings account is not the best way to have extra money to spend.

Once you have determined where your money goes you can decide how you should be spending it. Use your software to make a budget, then track it monthly. Set up credit cards and bank accounts to download automatically to save time tracking your budget, then monitor it weekly. That way when spending in one area gets out of hand you will be able to spot it quickly and make corrections.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to budget for free? Budgeting for free is a great way to start a budget and test how it works for you. Now you can setup your free budget online with a great new budgeting syste. The tool allows you to organize your finances online.

A budget is always great to have. By putting yourself on a budget, you can save money by being careful with your finances, so you are not spending too much. To set up budgets, all you need is to organize your bills and think about your own personal needs and put that information into the budget. The first step to budgeting is finding the difference between a need and a want. By identifying your needs and your wants, you can make a successful budget that will be easy to stick with.

To take advantage of budgeting, as an online tool, all you have to do is log online to a site where you can find a free budget tool. Then you type all the information that you have gathered about your finances and your bills, and you will find that it is that simple. By using the free tool, you will be able to make a budget within just minutes. The budget then not only saves your time, but also money as you learn more about where you are spending your money and where you are getting your money from.

Budgeting comes in handy especially when it comes to your family finances. Family finances can be difficult to deal with because of the amount of bills that can be generated and ‘wants’ of everyone, such as we want toys, we want new clothes and we want new cars. When you set your budget you should set, the minimal amount of money needed and then add some so that you should be comfortable living within your budget plan. When you log online to check your budget plan, you should think about your budget and see if you need to add on it for financial security purposes.

Budgeting should not be hard. It should not take weeks to setup either. By using the free tool, you will find that budgeting is as simple as 1-2-3. This will be a real comfort when it comes to your personal or family finances, as you will not worry about your finances or money when you set budget and you live within that budget. You will love the online free budget because it has so many benefits. You will be able to make a budget that fits your family or personal spending habits in just minutes.