How to Estimate a Personal Budget
Estimating a personal budget allows you to determine whether or not, based on income and expense predictions, your budget will balance at the end of the month. If estimates indicate that your budget could end in the red, you may choose to cut back on a personal expense or earn additional income in order to make all of your necessary payments. Conversely, if your budget predicts a surplus, you may need to plan for a savings account contribution, a larger payment on an existing debt or an additional expenditure.
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Instructions
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Make an estimate for your total property expenses minus utilities. The total should include the cost of your rent or mortgage, property taxes owed and renter or homeowner insurance fees.
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Specify each utility bill's estimated cost separately on your estimated budget unless your monthly expenses for electricity, water and gas are unfailingly consistent. If your gas bill increases in the winter for heating while your electric bill rises in the summer for cooling costs, an itemization helps properly allocate and estimate costs based on your average bill amount for certain times of year.
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List your communication cost estimates together or separately, depending upon their status as monthly flat-fee or variable charges. For example, cell phone plans and landlines paid for at a flat rate per month, can be listed together while plans with additional charges for texts or long distance calls should be listed separately. This allows for more accurate comparison at the end of the month when you check actual funds spent against your estimates.
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Specify an estimate for any additional monthly payments, such as credit card or personal loan payments.
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Estimate all of your flat-fee transportation expenses, such as a car and insurance payments, together. Variable expenses such as toll charges, bus fares, gas costs and vehicle maintenance fees should be estimated individually and listed separately.
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List an estimate for monthly funds spent on groceries and other shopping necessities such as soap, toilet paper and other commonly used dry goods. One way to estimate this expense is to take the average amount spent per grocery trip, round it up to the next dollar and multiply it by the number of grocery trips made per month. For example, if you visit the grocery store every Friday and spend $97.59, multiply $98.00 by the number of Fridays in the month and arrive at your estimated grocery expense.
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Make an estimate for the amount of your monthly budget applied to miscellaneous purchases such as clothing, grooming, movie tickets, music downloads and fast food. These are purchases you typically make within a month, but not on a regular schedule. Referring to receipts or debit card transactions for the prior month may be necessary if you feel that your initial estimate is either too high or low.
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Estimate your monthly income and include this in an additional column. If you are paid a salary or earn roughly the same amount of money in wages every week, list your income as a lump sum. If you depend on contract work or a personal business, estimate and list your income from each revenue stream separately.
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Tips & Warnings
Round up to the next full dollar at all times when estimating your budget. This allows you a slightly larger cushion should some expenses be a minor amount more than expected.
Utility bills from some providers display a bar graph displaying 12 months of historic usage. The graph demonstrates how much your gas, electric or water consumption increases and decreases at certain times of year. Referring to the graph on your current bill helps you make a better estimate of energy costs for the next month. If the graph shows a historic spike in electric usage for the next calendar month, estimate your expense for the next month taking into account a potential increase in electricity consumption.
