Money & Career

Family Budgeting Basics

Meets Tuesdays · 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM · on Zoom 19 enrolled Free to audit

This is for households who are tired of guessing where the paycheck went. We'll build a real budget the first night, using your own bills and your own income, not some made-up example, because practice budgets are a waste of everyone's time. You'll learn a way to track your spending by hand, in a notebook, without a spreadsheet that breaks the first time somebody bumps a formula. We'll deal with the leaky categories like groceries and eating out, we'll build in room for the fry sauce so this actually sticks, and we'll go line by line until your numbers balance. You'll leave with a working monthly budget and a system you can run again next month...

What you'll learn

Gather your real income and bill numbers
Build a budget using the legal pad method
Separate fixed bills from ones that change monthly
Set a grocery number and stick to it
Track spending weekly and adjust what didn't work

Materials & tools

What to bring

Your last 2-3 months of bank and credit-card statements (paper or on a laptop) — to see where the money actually goes — $0
A notebook, or a laptop with a spreadsheet, to build the budget in — $0-5
A simple calculator or your phone — $0
A list of your fixed monthly bills and their due dates — rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, subscriptions — $0
A pen and a highlighter for sorting spending into categories — $2-4

Nice to have

A free budgeting spreadsheet template or app (plenty are free) to automate the math — $0
A few envelopes if you want to try the cash method for a category or two — $1-2
Recent pay stubs, to confirm your real take-home (net) income — $0

Lessons

Facing the numbers and what a budget really is
Get honest about your actual income and bills and see a budget as a recipe, not a diet.
Building the budget on a legal pad
Lay out your fixed and changing bills and get your first numbers to balance.
- The legal pad method, start to finish25 min
- Fixed bills: the ones that don't move20 min
- The bills that change every month20 min
- Getting your first numbers to balance25 min
Getting a grip on everyday spending
Plug the small leaks with cash, envelopes, and a grocery number you'll actually keep.
Keeping the plan something you'll stick with
Leave room for guilt-free fun money and a tally habit so the budget never feels like punishment.
- Naming your fry sauce line15 min
- Small fun money without the guilt15 min
- Keeping the plan from feeling like punishment15 min
- How to tally so it sticks20 min
Checking in, fixing leaks, and running it yourself
Catch billing errors and stray subscriptions, do a weekly check-in, and take the budget over on your own.
- The double-billed copay and why you call15 min
- Hunting down forgotten subscriptions15 min
- Your weekly ten-minute check-in15 min
- Writing down what didn't work15 min
- Adjusting the numbers that were off20 min
- Finding room you didn't know you had20 min
- What's not my lane: debt payoff and investing15 min
- Running next month without me15 min

Key terms

Net income: Your take-home pay after taxes and deductions — the number a budget should be built on.
Gross income: Your total pay before taxes and deductions are taken out.
Fixed expenses: Costs that stay about the same each month, like rent or a car payment.
Variable expenses: Costs that change month to month, like groceries, gas, or eating out.
Discretionary spending: Non-essential “wants” you choose to spend on, like entertainment or hobbies.
Emergency fund: Savings set aside for unexpected costs, often a goal of three to six months of expenses.
Zero-based budget: A method where every dollar of income is given a job until income minus expenses equals zero.
50/30/20 rule: A guideline splitting after-tax income into 50% needs, 30% wants, and 20% savings or debt payoff.
Sinking fund: Money saved a little at a time for a known future expense, like the holidays or car registration.
Cash flow: The timing of money coming in versus going out across the month.