新年6大省钱计划-5

5. Make, and stick to, a budget

　　制定预算并坚持执行

　　Budgets are the first steps to gaining some financial order in your home. Stanley Kershman, an author, lawyer, and creator of the website www.debtonadiet.com, has a six-step plan to accomplishing just that:

　　预算是保证家庭财务有序进行的第一步。身兼作家、律师和理财网站（www.debtonadiet.com）创办人三职的斯坦利·科什曼，提供了一个六步走计划：

　　(1) Don't attempt to do your entire budget in one sitting. Take a few days, breaking the work down into manageable pieces.

　　不要试图一次就想搞定你全部的预算计划。花几天时间，把这个工作分成可以控制的几个部分。

　　(2) Gather up all of your income information, including salaries, interest, and gifts.

　　汇总你的所有收入，包括工资，利息和礼物赠品。

　　(3) Next, gather up all of your expense information. Do this thoroughly, even if it takes three days, a week, or a month. Make sure you're not missing anything.

　　下一步，汇总你的所有开销。做这一步，要全面彻底，即使它要花费你三天、一个星期或是一个月时间。确保你没有任何遗漏。

　　(4) Using a budget worksheet add up all of the totals for the income and outflow.

　　使用预算表，在表里填上所有收入和支出的项目。

　　(5) Figure out where you can do some fine-tuning, either to pay down your debt or increase your savings goals. However, above all, make sure you're making as much money as you're spending. Stay out of the red.

　　想一想你在哪些方面可以做细微的调整，比如在可以支付你的债务或是能提高你的储蓄金额方面。但首当其冲的是，确信你赚到的至少要比你花费的多。远离赤字。

　　(6) Redo the budget with the new totals, and post it around your house, lest you forget you are now living within the cozy confines of a household budget.

　　根据新的总额重做一份预算，张贴在家里，提醒自己，现在过的是有家庭预算控制的舒坦生活。