{"id":329,"date":"2014-01-13T14:26:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-13T14:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/?p=329"},"modified":"2014-01-13T14:26:23","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T14:26:23","slug":"budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/2014\/01\/13\/budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spending and Savings Plans<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Creating and sticking to a spending and savings plan might not be your idea of\u00a0 fun, but it can help you control your spending so you CAN have fun without getting\u00a0 into money trouble.\u00a0 If you don’t have\u00a0 much money coming in, don’t worry\u2014following a realistic plan CAN still allow you to\u00a0 have some small luxuries, even if it is an occasional soda or movie.<\/p>\n

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  1. The first step towards creating a budget is\u00a0 determining all of your recurring monthly expenses, such as rent, tuition<\/a>, groceries, phone\u00a0 bill, student loan payment<\/a>, car payment, gas, insurance, necessary clothes, and other needs. You may wish to check out\u00a0 the MDHE’s spending and savings plan worksheet<\/a> to help get you started.<\/li>\n
  2. Next total your monthly income including wages\u00a0 from work (not including overtime) and any financial aid funds left\u00a0 over for living expenses after paying your tuition and fees.\u00a0 Calculate the amount of these financial aid funds you should use each month by dividing the\u00a0 amount by the number of months in\u00a0 your semester or term.<\/li>\n
  3. Then, take your overall expenses total and subtract expenses from your income.\u00a0 There may not be anything left over, or it\u00a0 could be a negative number.\u00a0 Based on the\u00a0 results, examine each item in your budget and decide if you could cut back in\u00a0 any areas.\u00a0 Which line items are truly NEEDS and which are actually only the things you WANT? Additionally, if you are paying checking account or credit card fees, learn how to effectively take charge of your finances<\/a> while to eliminate these expenses.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Congratulations, you’ve created a budget and taken the first\u00a0 step to getting control of your money.<\/p>\n

    Now for the tough part\u2014<\/p>\n

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    1. Find out if your actual spending matches your plan.\u00a0 Tracking expenses and comparing them to your\u00a0 plan will allow you to gain control over your monthly spending, allowing you\u00a0 to keep student loan debt<\/a>,\u00a0 as well as other types of debt, at a reasonable level or non-existent,\u00a0 especially while you are in college.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      There are a number of ways to track your spending, such as\u00a0 writing down purchases in a checkbook ledger or using a spreadsheet.\u00a0 If you are comfortable\u00a0 letting technology do some of the work for you, you can use an application like www.mint.com<\/a> or www.buxfer.com<\/a>, which can help you track and analyze your spending habits.<\/p>\n

      If you follow these steps, you should be able to\u00a0 gain control over your money, save money for emergencies, and get out\u00a0 of debt quickly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      http:\/\/www.dhe.mo.gov\/ppc\/studentloans\/budgetplan.php<\/a><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Spending and Savings Plans Creating and sticking to a spending and savings plan might not be your idea of\u00a0 fun, but it can help you control your spending so you CAN have fun without getting\u00a0 into money trouble.\u00a0 If you don’t have\u00a0 much money coming in, don’t worry\u2014following a realistic plan CAN still allow you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,9],"tags":[14,26,27,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-budgeting","7":"category-loans-2","8":"category-money","9":"category-organization","10":"tag-createbudget","11":"tag-loans","12":"tag-money","13":"tag-organization-2","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wp.missouristate.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}