The Money Life Network bloggers are working on a Jumpstart Your Economy Series.

Bible Money Matters’ contribution was Doing your first budget.

A snippet:

A lot of people don’t ever get started on a budget because they don’t think they’ll be able to get it right, or that they won’t like what they find.  The truth is you WON’T get it right at first, on average it will take 90-120 days to get your family budget where it needs to be.   Even then it will still be in a constant state of small revisions and updates through monthly budget meetings.

And yes, an accurate annual family budget that accounts for all “unexpected” things such as car repairs, kids’ sports expenses, take-out dinners, etc., will probably require cutting back on expenses somewhere. That’s often why people don’t want to even look at the numbers.

But if you are among those families whose income has been cut back recently for any reason – layoff, unemployment, furlough, pay cut, downsizing, early retirement – you’ve got to at least start tracking your actual expenses and comparing them to what is realistic for your situation.

Do you have a better alternative?