Budgeting is more than just managing your money, it is changing the way you think about money, and the beginning of building wealth for the rest of your life. Starting is the hardest part, because there is a certain amount of discipline needed to be successful. However in this system, I have spent years figuring out how to make this as painless as possible. With the ability today to automate almost your entire budget, it has never been easier. The hardest part of creating a successful budget is changing the way you think about money. I am sure you have heard the phrase "pay yourself first". It is one of the most difficult lessons to learn, but also the most important. Your savings account needs to be hard wired into your budget. You have to think of it as a bill, and also think of it as the most important bill you have to pay every single month. To get the best idea of how this system works I recommend that you go to the spreadsheet and try putting in some numbers. This spreadsheet instantly breaks down the numbers and tells you how to split up your money using direct deposit. If you don't have direct deposit the same thing can be accomplished by using automatic transfers from Capital One 360. Go to the budget tools page to use the spreadsheet and other budget calculators. In this system your bill money is completely separated from your spend money and savings. At first it will be hard to save, but as you adjust to the budget you will be able to ignore your savings and get better with living within you means. Having an account just for spend money gives you a clear veiw of what is important, and that is how much money you can freely spend. You can spend all of the money in this account between pay checks, and it will not take money away from your bills or savings. What makes this system so easy is the spreadsheet that does all of the figuring. Make sure that once you complete the sheet that you print it out. The sheet will reset as soon as you leave the page. After setting up this system, you will always know what bills are coming ahead of time. You will be able to balance your check book with ease before paying your bills, and you will not have to worry about envelopes and stamps any longer. You should never spend more than 10 minutes twice a month doing your bills. That's 20 minutes a month to do your bills! If you would like a more detailed description, and some advice for setting up your budget, go to my online book.

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