Congratulations on the purchase of the 2018 Financial Planner. Whether you decided on Option 1 or Option 2, I have no doubt that you are about to make some serious changes to your financial future.
I am honestly proud of you for making the decision the take back control of your finances or to stay on the path you already started for yourself! I know that the Financial Planner can be a tool that can launch a financial revolution for those who use it!
I'd like to explain how each and every page can help you tackle your financial dreams.
I am going to walk you through the 2018 Financial Planner. This walk through goes in order of the Financial Planner. Lets begin with the very first pages:
Balanced Budget
Budgets do not and SHOULD not be complicated. If I am being totally honest, even the budget pages I include in Financial Planner are a little over the top - but I think that it is important to at least once a year breakdown your budget line by line. This will allow you to see how much you are spending on every item, so you can see where you can cut back and when you should make calls to see if you can receive a price reduction.
Fill out all of your items, and total up your percentages, to see if you are in line or if you are running a deficit each month.
IF you bought option 2, and are using the EDITABLE Financial Planner, the calculations will be automatic for you!
Paycheck Schedule and payment tracker
Paycheck Schedule:
I go through with a gel highlighter and mark when my husband gets paid, and when any of my automatic payments will be deposited in our account. I like know what months we will have the "extra" payment!
Payment Tracker:
Come back to this page after you fill our the Paycheck Budgeting pages. Once I know what bills are paid with the 1st and 2nd paychecks of the month, I then fill out this sheet with the Bill Payments I make and instead of Due Date, I write P1 or P2 (For paycheck 1 or paycheck 2).
I also like to leave a space between the bills that are P1 or P2. Once I see that the payment has been deducted (NOT when I pay the bill) but when the money has been taken out of our bank account I check the payment off for the month!
Paycheck budgeting
Paycheck Budgeting:
When I started paying our bills on the “Paycheck Schedule” everything changed for me. We never miss a payment – it was easy to setup and organize, and easy to maintain! It made it so we never over spend at the beginning of the month just to find out we don’t have enough to cover all our expenses, once I get around to paying them towards the end of the month.
Here is how it works:
Step 1:
Divide up your bills into two groups. Do not worry about their actual due dates at the moment. You want to divide them up so that the total amount due is as equal as you can get it. These groups are to be thought of as the bills you pay with your 1st paycheck, and the second group will be paid with your 2nd paycheck.
Step 2:
Contact all the companies for Paycheck One and have their due dates moved to the 18th of the month. Why the 18th? Because, if you were paid on the very last day of the month before and are paid every two weeks your first paycheck for this month would come at the very latest on the 14th.
For the Paycheck Two group call those companies and have their due dates moved to the 28th of the month. *You cannot have it on the 30th or 31st, because not every month has those many days.
Step 3:
Pay your bills! Now twice a month (I do it the day after each paycheck hits out bank account) log in and pay the bills associated with that paycheck (Either the 1st of the month or the 2nd paycheck of the month).
Easy as that. All of your bills are paid, on time, and in full. Since we have already considered saving as a “bill” you also automatically transfer your money into the appropriate savings account.
Now instead of thinking about paying bills nearly everyday, it is only twice a month.
BONUS! Twice a year (If you are paid every two weeks) you will get a “bonus” paycheck. With this bill pay system, those two paychecks are yours to do with what you want, instead of paying bills. Can I suggest putting it towards your debt, to have a huge leap in your debt payoff!
Paycheck Tracker AND Irregular Income
Irregular Income Paycheck Tracker:
Whether you have a bunch of side hustles, or you just have a part time job, whose paycheck is not "steady" It is important to track that income, and put it to work for you!
When you get paid from an irregular income sources track it. Write the Date - Amount Paid- Amount you deposit into your checking account - Amount you deposit into your savings account - and amount you put towards debt, and which debt!
Irregular Income:
This sheet tracks what you DO with your irregular income. The previous sheet tracks how much you make, and where you put it - this sheet tells you how to "spend" it. You should be referencing your Full Debt Overview sheet and your Large Expense Tracker as you fill this sheet out. Work your way down the page. The more you make - the more you get to cross off!
** The Income Purpose should be pre-filled out. I fill out down to priority 10, as soon as the Financial Planner is printed and bound. As irregular income comes in, I work down the priority list, "placing" money in the appropriate location. Whether that be a savings account, or towards a debt.
Full Debt Overview
As hard as it can be filling out this page - I absolutely love it. It is empowering when you decided to take control of your finances and become debt free. Laying out all of your debts, balances and associated facts, gives you a clear picture of your financial picture. WHEN you use this in-conjunction with the Debt Snowball Spreadsheet, you can really make a change in your life!
TIP- Use a scrap sheet of paper to write out your bills and balances - then copy that info onto the Full Debt Overview page IN ORDER from Smallest balance to Largest balance!
Debt Priority List AND snowball calculator
Debt Priority List:
Using the Full Debt Overview page, layout the debts you want to payoff and in which order.(I recommend smallest balance to largest balance) unless you have a special circumstance. A special circumstance would be if you have a wage garnish until a debt is repaid. Even if you have another debt that has a smaller balance I would suggest clearing the wage garnish first.
A second special circumstance would be if you have a debt that has such a high interest rate, that it would be nearly impossible to pay off based on the minimum payments. CLEAR that debt right away!
Snowball Calculator:
Now that you know which debts you are going to pay and in which order, take your top debts, and input their information into the Snowball Calculator. Track your snowball payments, and watch as the debt decreases, and is ultimately eliminated.
Yearly Savings Goals and savings tracker
Yearly Savings Goals:
These pages are for you to set some small and large savings goals for yourself. Anything from an Emergency Fund - Christmas Fund - Wedding Fund, etc. Whatever is the most important to you and your family. IF the most important thing to you is to get out of debt than you need to set an emergency fund goal, and then spend the rest of your resources on paying down your debt priority list, as fast as possible.
Savings Tracker:
Having multiple savings accounts (We have 5 ) they are (Emergency Fund, Savings, and then extras for all of our savings goals.) I like to use these pages to track our savings transfers. SO I know where the money came from (source) and which account we have been sending out money to. It is also nice for my husband to see our savings sources at a quick glance.
Large expense planning
This is a simple page, that will allow you to plan for large expense a year at a time. Even though this page does not breakdown actually saving for those goals, it is a nice way to see all of the big ticket "items"/experiences you need to be savings for all year long.
financial breakdown
The last day of every month, sit down and fill out the row associated with that month. This is a great way to have a quick glance at all of your important financial information in one easy to read area.
It is also a great way to see your progress at snowball payments, a growing savings account, as well as tracking your income and monthly expenses.
monthly check-ins
Every month is represented in their own two page spread.
For the Month portion (LEFT SIDE) - you can fill in your paycheck dates and amount. You can also use this for any of your other important financial related information!
Monthly Budget Check-In:
This is where you can sit down and think about what financial goals you'd like to work on for that month, and how you plan on achieving them. It also gives you a place to look back on the month in review and see how you did, and what you can do to improve for the months to come.
So there you go! A walk-through explanation of all the pages in the 2018 Financial Planner.
If you have any questions about how to use a page effectively, please do not hesitate to email me! Lindsay @ onebeautifulhomeblog.com