Welcome back! Now that we’ve estimated our income and expenses, it’s time to start creating the rough draft of our budget. This may seem overwhelming, but don’t worry if you’re not sure where to start. We’ve got some resources to help.
Now, we’ve written a few rough drafts in our lives. Mostly when we were in high school. The rough draft always came before the finished paper. We’d edit and edit and edit the draft until we were happy. Then, we’d turn it in and that would be it! We couldn’t edit it any more.
That’s where our budget rough drafts differ from the ones we wrote back then. We don’t have to turn in our budgets, so we can continue working on them forever. That might sound daunting, but it’s truly freeing! This gives us the opportunity to experiment and make adjustments to our budgets as we figure out what works and what doesn’t. Our budgets can always change because we ourselves are always growing and changing.
Today’s Assignment
- Look over the three sample budgets where you’ll see a list of different budget categories. We call these Envelopes in Goodbudget.
- Look back at the expenses you pulled up yesterday. When you think about your real expenses, which sample budget fits you best? Or might you want to mix and match? Remember to make room for giving — in week 3, we’ll do a giving experiment. Also think about what you might want to save for: that might be an emergency fund, or a big purchase like new tires.
- Sign up for the Goodbudget app, if you haven’t already. We recommend using the Goodbudget app for the next step.
- Add Envelope names for things you’d like to track using the sample budget as a guide. Head to the Edit Envelopes page in Goodbudget to add those Envelopes. For now, just put 0 for the amounts; you’ll work on those later. Be sure to save your changes when you’re done. Note: If you’re planning to track loans or other debts you’re working to pay off, be sure to add categories for those too, and we’ll show you how to hook those up to Goodbudget’s debt features later on.
- Share with the community of budgeters in the comments below: What did it feel like to write a rough draft of your budget? What did it make you think about?
Note for couples: Make sure that the Envelope names make sense to both people. You can also start talking about who’s responsible for which Envelopes. For example, one person might do all the grocery shopping, while the other pays the electric bill. Each person will have certain Envelopes where they have freedom to spend, as well as some where they have to stay on budget. And there might be some for shared spending, and therefore shared responsibility.
Happy budgeting,
-The Goodbudget Team
172 thoughts on “Create Your Rough Draft”
I really have to get more income coming in.Goodbudget is great and helping alot
Detailed workd great for me. I have 40 envelopes to fill! Love that my debt is separated.
Got a message that I’m going to fast on my comments so I better explain. I switched over to a new computer with a more secure email/password and changed my username. I finished all 6 assignments and I thought I left a comment on each but maybe it was confusing with email address change. Anyway, I just love this!! I am doing well with it on my own, but am anxious to move on to the 2nd week to see if I am doing it correctly. One big question I have is that I used my credit cards a lot. If I charge food at a grocery store and put it as a debt new charge ,then how does that reduce my envelope that I set for food? Guess I will learn that later. Thanks so much for helping me dig out of my debt hole!
Thanks for your question! Adding a new charge to your Debt Account won’t impact your Envelope Balances by default. If you’d like it to, try following Option 1 of Method 2 in this ‘Using Your Card While You Pay It Off‘ Help Article. Hope that helps!
If I use my Credit card, I immediately move what I spent from one envelope to my credit card envelope. So if my food budget was 50 for the week, and I spent 25 of the 50 for food, I would move the 25$ from my food envelope to my Credit card. That way I never get into more debt with my credit cards. I treat my credit card like a debit card, and only using it if I have money in an envelope to spend, such as food or utilities etc…
Writing a rough draft was helpful, I was able to see how much money I can save though it’s rough I want to improve my spending habits. I’m trying to learn budget making as a skill development.