Dhan Ki Baat Ep 4: How To Create a Family Budget?

How can a sound family budget actually help you increase savings.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam and Vivek Gupta

Whenever the Union Finance Minister is about to announce the Union budget, the people of the country wait with curiosity. They are eager to know what sort of benefits are about to come their way and how they can avail them.

But most of you don’t pay as much attention in planning the budget of your family. In this episode of ‘Dhan Ki Baat’, financial advisor Gaurav Mashruwala explains how one can create a family budget that will help you save money.

Family Budget is Your Financial Menu

When you go to a restaurant, you don’t order a dish without looking it up in a menu. You check its price, its quantity and then order accordingly. Similarly, you need to treat your family budget as a financial menu.

In this menu, you can create a spending list of your own. To begin with, put all the fixed expenditure that you have every month on this list. This will include your rent, EMI, loan payments and the likes. Such expenditure usually happens on a pre-decided date and the amount is fixed so it’s easier to track them.

Next, allocate the amount of money that you would like to keep for medicine, health and treatment, daily needs, shopping, vacation, and leisure activities. If you have such a list handy, it is easier to manage your money before your next pay check is due.

How Can Family Budget Increase Your Savings?

When you make a spending list in a family budget, it provides you with many cost cutting options. For example, if you realise that you go to a restaurant four times a month once you list it down, you can start saving by cutting down the frequency of your restaurant visits. Or you can still go to restaurants four times but on two occasions, go to low-end restaurants with more affordable fare.

These small steps will help you increase your savings step by step. Through this process, you can collect money to make small investments in Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) and mutual funds.

Note that while earning more gets you some extra bucks, you only stay rich by saving money.