Family Budget Management Tips ...
Family budget management is critical to know where your money goes and how you spend it. Family budget management defines necessary expenses, discretionary spending and savings. Family budget management allows you to define your monetary goals and meet them.

Write it Down
1. The most important management tool for your family budget is to write it down. This can be in a spiral notebook by hand or with a fancy software program, but you must write it down. You must also update it daily if you want the budget to work for you. By keeping records, you learn where you spend your money as you are spending it, and you become aware of poor spending choices as soon as they happen. This makes it easier to correct these poor choices in a timely fashion. Download a budget worksheet online (see References) so you do not forget any income categories, expense categories or other categories.

Daily Tracking
2. Keeping track of every dollar you spend can be a time-consuming task, but it is a necessary one. If you do not update your budget daily, you run the risk of forgetting where you spent money, how much you spent and how you used the item. Set aside at least 15 minutes every day at the same time of day for updating your family budget for best management results.

Discretionary Spending
3. When you plan your family budget, make sure you allow some money for fun, or you run the risk of blowing your entire budget by splurging on something you don't need but think you want. Some ways to manage this part of your budget include renting movies at home instead of a night out at the movies or joining a movies club. Instead of having fun out with the kids once a week, do it once every other week or once a month. The important thing to remember is to allow for this expense so it is part of the budget. Then, you won't feel guilty about spending bill money on something you really don't need.

Savings
4. Do not forget to allow for savings in your family budget. Most people think they cannot save, but the trick is to take out the saving amount first---before you pay any bills. Even if it is only $5 out of every paycheck, put this amount or whatever you can afford into a savings account that you open just for savings. You will be surprised at how fast even this meager amount accumulates.