Have you ever sat down at the end of the month and thought “Where did all of our money go!?!?!?” Then maybe panic sets in a little bit. Was our account hacked? How am I going to cover all of our bills now?

Once you dig further into the numbers you realize you’ve spent $450 on eating out, $200 dollars more than you had budgeted for in gas, and $150 dollars more than what you budgeted for in groceries…. oh, that is where our money went…

Well, if that has ever happened to you OR if you think it could possibly happen but you and your family have just been lucky so far, this workbook is for you!

Hopefully you are already using the Soon-To-Be Debt Free workbook, AND the only bill pay worksheet, you’ll ever need!

My new workbook a Month-to-Month Budget Tracker, is an add on to the other budget workbooks I’ve created.

Its purpose is to ensure that you and your spouse are on the same financial page and that when you sit down to pay your bills the amount of money you are expecting to have, is the same number that is sitting in your bank account.

{ Month-to-Month Budget Tracker }

Download your Month-to-Month Budget Tracker HERE!

Like I said earlier, this workbook is for you and your spouse / significant other to work on together. It will ensure you keep your budgets in check. In addition, the two of you will be setting and working towards (together) personal and financial goals!

Each month is comprised of two pages.

Your first page is your Budget Check-In. This is where you’ll sit down every week and plug in your financial numbers.

Here is how it works:

• You write the month on the line in the upper left.

• You and your spouse / significant other each set a goal for the month. IT CAN BE ANYTHING. This does not have to be related to finances. Just a goal each.

• Underneath groceries fill in your weekly categories. Ours look like this:
  • Groceries
  • Scott’s Lunch
  • Equinox Gas
  • Sonata Gas
  • Entertainment

• Every week write in the amount you spent for each category in the corresponding column. At the bottom you total your amount and you’ll see if you are over or under for the week. You’ll be shocked at how quickly you can go significantly over budget if you are not constantly tracking your spending. This will ensure that at the end of the month you’ll have MORE MONEY than you do month!

The second page is your goal page.

Here is how it works:

• Sit down with your spouse / significant other and come up with three goals for the month

• The first goal is a financial goal. Some examples:
  • Get our emergency fund up to 1,000 dollars
  • Pay of XXX Debt
  • Save $500.00 for new car tires
  • Work XX number of overtime hours to equal an additional $750.00

• The second goal is a family goal. Some examples:
  • Eat out only 1 time this month
  • Play more games together!
  • Watch less television
  • Go on 3 walks together a week

• The third goal is a long-term one. Some examples:
  • Save $500 towards a Disney vacation in June 2015

• To the right of each goal you’ll fill in:
  • Why? – Why is this your goal. You need to have a legitimate reason otherwise you will not stay motivated to complete it.
  • Total cost. For the Disney vacation lets say it will cost 7,000 to take your family there. $7,000 is your total cost of the goal.
  • Progress to Date- How much progress have you made towards your goal already? Have you already saved $4,000 to go to Disney? Have you already paid $2,000 off that credit card? Put that figure here!
  • Date to complete the goal by. You need a firm date to strive towards. I’ve found that without a date you’ll be more likely to cheat your budget.

That is it! It is so simple but it makes a world of difference!! Make sure that once  you’ve put the hard work into evaluating and creating a family budget, that you work just as hard to stick to it. This Budget Tracker is an excellent resource to do just that.

To assemble just print your pages and “bind them” you can use a 3-ring binder or you can get the workbook “bound” at an office supply store. I used my Fellows Binding Machine. <—- still love this thing more than words. It may be even better than my laminator. Maybe. 

Make sure you check out my other financial workbooks, to get and keep your finances in order!

Soon-To-Be Debt Free

Bill Pay Workbook

Budget Tracker *This post!*