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作者雪莉 Budgeting isn’t always easy. It takes some effort to get it set up and a lot of commitment to stick to it and make it work. However, budgeting doesn’t have to be painful and it can really add value to your life. 预算并不总是很容易。这需要一些努力去建立它并坚持下去，使其工作。然而，预算并不仅是痛苦的，它确实能为您的生活增值。 Gwynn and I have tried a number of different budgeting techniques, each with their pros and cons. It took us several years (10 in fact) to come up with a method that works really well for us (another post). Along the way it became apparent that there are a few critical things that make budgeting effective and I’d like to share them with you. 格温和我已经尝试了一些不同的预算编制方法，各有其利弊。我们花了好几年（其实是10年）想出一个方法，对我们真的很有效（另一篇文章）。一路上，很明显，有几个关键的东西，能使预算有效，我想与大家分享他们。 1. Account for all of your income. It’s important to know what your total monthly or bi-weekly income is in order to know what you have to start with. It’s a good idea to mark out on a calendar or spreadsheet the dates you get paid and the total amount. This is a critical first step in setting up an effective budget. 1。知道你所有收入的用途。知道你每月或每两周的总收入是十分重要的，这样才能知道你该怎么开始预算。在日历上或电子表格标示出花销的日期和总金额是一个好主意。建立一个有效的预算这是关键的第一步。 2. Have an accurate list of all expenses. Start with all the necessary expenses such as phone, water, hydro, home insurance, mortgage, car payments, groceries etc. Make this list exhaustive, it won’t help if you cheat and leave out items you need to pay monthly or quarterly. Once you have all the necessary items listed move on to other items such as cell phones, internet, cable, eating out, clothes etc. I can’t stress enough the importance of listing everything here. 2。对所有花销有一个准确的列表。从所有必要的开支列起，如电话，水，水电，房屋保险，抵押贷款，汽车支付，杂货等，尽可能使这个清单详尽，如果你谎报了你需要支付的每月或每季度的开支那么就毫无用处了。一旦你已经列出的所有必要的项目那就移动到其他项目，如手机，互联网，有线电视，外出吃饭，衣服等，我不再强调列出一切项目的重要性。 3. Set up automatic transfers. Take away the urge to spend the money in your account by never letting it get there in the first place. One way to do this is to set up automated transfers for the day you get paid. Set up as many transfers as you need by having the money go directly to your emergency fund, holiday fund or retirement fund etc. We have 4 automated transfers set up so that the day after pay day the money is automatically shuffled off to 4 different accounts, and we don’t even see it. It’s really easy and for the most part it’s set and forget. 3。设置自动转帐。遏制住花费您的帐户中的钱的冲动，从来不要让它摆在首位。做到这一点的方法之一是为你一日的花费设立一个自动转移。为你的需要做出足够的转移，将钱转移到度假基金，紧急基金，基金或退休基金等，我们建立了4个自动转移，在支付后的第二天钱就自动分成4个不同的帐户，我们没有看到它。它真的很简单，在大多数情况下，它被建立后就忘记了。 4. Be realistic. It is important to be realistic with the amounts you set in the budget. Like having an incomplete list of all expenses, being unrealistic with the amounts you allocate to each item will make the budget unreliable and highly ineffective. Some items vary from month to month, like the phone bill for example, so track the amounts for a few months, take an average, and round up to the nearest $10. It may also help to add an additional $10 or $20 to the budgeted amount, if you have enough breathing room, to make sure you are covered each time. 4。必须面对现实。用现实面对预算设置的金额是非常重要的。就像一个不完整的花销清单，分配给每个项目的金额费用是不现实的，那么这个预算是不可靠并且高度无效的。有些项目花销每月不同，例如电话帐单一样，所以综合了数个月的金额，取平均值，并四舍五入到最接近的$ 10。它也可能有助于增加额外的$ 10或者$ 20的预算金额，如果你有足够的喘息空间，请确保你的预算覆盖了所有时间。 5. Use cash. A lot of people swear by using cash and I am certainly one of them. It was VERY difficult initially but it really helps to curb spending. I find it’s a lot harder to part with $80 of physical cash for a pair of jeans when I only have $100 cash a month to spend on clothing. I am a lot more aware of the money I have and what I spend it on. Conversely, I wouldn’t have thought twice of spending $80 on a pair of jeans if I put it on a credit card and I would have been more likely to go over my $100 budget since it’s not as visible. 5。使用现金。很多人发誓使用现金，我当然其中之一。最初这是非常困难，但它确实有助于遏制消费。当我只有100元现金花费在衣服上，我觉得购买一条现金 $80的牛仔裤是很困难的。我很清楚我有多少钱以及我该怎么花。相反，如果有信用卡我会毫不犹豫的买下 $80的牛仔裤，看起来我还没有超出我100美元的预算，因为它是不可见的。 6. Have fun money. This is where budgets get a bad rep. If you budget too tightly and have no money on hand for fun stuff you’re more likely to get frustrated, annoyed and give up on it. Be sure to include things that may seem extravagant or frivolous if you enjoy them. Things like going to the movies or out for dinner, be sure to budget what you can towards them and take the money out in cash. This helps you to spend guilt free (and trust me you will spend it anyway so best to capture it). 6。有娱乐花销。这是预算中一个坏的代表。如果你的预算太紧，你手头上有没有钱去娱乐，你就更有可能会感到沮丧，烦躁，放弃它。确保预算中包括一些你喜欢的似乎有些奢侈或轻浮之类的东西，比如看电影或吃饭，确信你可以这些预算和现金花费有所准备。这有助于减轻你的犯罪感（相信我，无论如何你也会有这笔花销，所以最好保留它）。 7. Align budgeting with your goals. It helps to have an idea of what your long term goals or directions are so you can make your budget work for you, not control you. If your goal is to go overseas for a month but there’s no money left over to allocate to a travel fund your budget is rather ineffective. You could start by taking a look at where your money is going and if there is somewhere you can cut back to make greater headway with your travel goal. 7。对准你的目标预算。它可以帮助你对长期目标或方向有一个想法，这样就可以让你的预算为你工作，而不是控制你。如果你的目标是到海外去一个月，但你的预算中没有分配给旅行的基金，这样同样是没用的。你可以看看你的钱花在哪里了，如果有些地方你可以削减，那样便有助于你的旅行目标有更大的进展。 8. Find a system that works for you. There’s a lot of software available to help with setting up a budget. My advice is to evaluate several and use one that works for you. There is nothing worse than trying to use something when you’re fighting it every step of the way. There are complete software packages available like Quicken and MS Money. There are also online resources such as mint.com and quicken online. We’ve looked at a few different options but none have met our needs 100%. We set up a very detailed budget using a very simple spreadsheet. It works for us because it’s flexible, simple and reports information in a very customizable format. 8。找到适合您的系统。这里有大量的软件去帮助你建立一个预算。我的建议是评估几个然后挑选其一为你工作。没有比当你试图使用什么东西你却要与他每一步的工作方式作斗争更糟糕的了。有完整的软件包，就像Quicken和MS货币。当然也有网上资源如mint.com和加快网。我们看了几个不同的选项，但没有满足我们100％需要的。我们使用非常简单的电子表格设立了非常详细的预算。我们用它工作，因为它灵活，简单和可以以自定义的方式报告信息。 Using these tips you can set up an effective budget for yourself and your household. A budget should be used as a tool to help you align your spending with achieving your goals. Budgeting doesn’t have to be hard or restrictive. If done effectively it can add a great deal of value to your life. 使用这些技巧，你可以为您和您的的家庭设立一个有效的预算。预算应作为一种工具，可以使您的消费和目标保持一致。预算并不难且没有限制性。如果以有效的方式去使用它，将会为你的生活增添巨大的价值。 |
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