Stop the fighting

Family budgeting tips that actually work

When Tom Snyder coaches people in his church about how to budget, he starts by encouraging them to track their spending.

“If we don’t track, we don’t know when to stop spending,” he says. The retired engineer and financial coach in Grand Rapids, Michigan, adds that it’s easy to be bumped off track by irregular costs, such as vacations.

Successful family budgeting is all about staying flexible. Financial experts like Snyder say that by using creative methods to dial in a budget and trim costs in some areas, you can often still find ways to spend on what is most important to you.

1 Follow your rhythm, not rules

Severine Bryan, a personal finance educator and coach based in Atlanta, says a budget needs to stay flexible and constantly adjust to challenges. One of the biggest mistakes people make, she adds, is thinking they have to follow a set approach, such as the 50/30/20 budget.

Bryan, who holds a doctorate in business administration, likes to track her spending with spreadsheets, but her college-age daughter prefers a more creative approach with visuals and graphs. They each use their preferred method, then communicate about spending when necessary.

2 Factor in variable expenses

“The default view of budgeting is annual, but I think that can be frustrating because it’s really hard to have a perspective on your entire year in one sitting,” says Charlie Bolognino, a certified financial planner in Plymouth, Minnesota. Instead, he suggests starting with a month-by-month approach, then taking time to layer in the less predictable costs such as holiday expenses.

Bolognino adds that while big expenses such as housing are often fixed, other costs, especially food, fluctuate much more. While that means food costs can be high during months you are hosting dinners or going to restaurants, it also means you can trim them with shifts such as planning meals and shopping grocery store discounts.

3 Decide what’s really important

Cara Macksoud, chief executive officer of Money Habitudes, a money personality assessment company, says she, her husband and five children first decide what expenses are “nonnegotiable” together.

From there, Macksoud suggests creatively meeting those needs by choosing less expensive options. If going on vacation is important to you, perhaps what’s most critical is being together somewhere away from everyday demands.

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Want to suggest a personal finance topic that Quick Fix can address? Email apmoney@ap.org