1.Think of a budget as a useful tool—a written financial plan that helps you set goals and measure progress.
2.Start by coming up with a sales revenue target. Make it your best estimate.
3.Based on past experience, estimate your cost of goods sold (e.g., 70 percent of sales) and subtract it from the sales revenue to come up with your estimated gross margin.
4.Forecast variable expenses (items such as travel and commissions that vary according to the level of sales) and fixed expenses (items like taxes and rent that stay the same, regardless of sales). Subtract these expenses from your gross margin to arrive at your estimated net income (before federal taxes).
5.Break your annual budget into quarters and monitor your progress every three months to detect problems and make corrections.

Tips On Budgeting:

Budgeting Tip 1: Get the whole picture. Start by collecting all checking account and credit card statements for the last year. Collect all cash receipts for the last month (or next month if you don't do this). Don't forget cash spent on co-payments, mocha's, haircuts, etc. Now collect all receipts for financial contributions to charity, including Girl Scout cookies, etc. Collect all pay stubs, deposit receipts, etc.

Budgeting Tip 2: Record the whole picture. Use all the stuff you collected to record a 'picture' of what you spent last year (use a pencil and have a big eraser on hand. You can print and use our Family Budget Worksheet to make this job easier. Don't be surprised if this takes a lot of time with a calculator and scratch paper.

Budgeting Tip 3: Check off the lines on your documents as you account for them in a budget item. That way you don't put the same thing in more than one item and you don't forget anything.

Budgeting Tip 4: Formulas:
Convert regular weekly pay to monthly: Weekly Pay x 4.333 = Monthly Pay
Convert bi-weekly pay to monthly: Bi-Weekly Pay x 2.167 = Monthly Pay
Convert annual totals to monthly amounts by dividing the total by 12.

Budgeting Tip 5: The Family Bills For Monthly Expenses part of the Worksheet is just for regular monthly bills, savings and investment. If insurance, for instance, is billed monthly, it would go here.

Budgeting Tip 6: If the insurance, however, is billed less often than monthly, the total annual amount would be divided by 12, and that number would be listed in the Impound Budget For Non-Monthly Expenses. Don't forget to list the month it's due to be paid. This 'Impound' section is a powerful and unique tool to save monthly for all your annual expenses and avoid those nasty surprises.

Budgeting Tip 7: Include everything you regularly pay cash for in the Cash Budget-Monthly section.

Budgeting Tip 8: After you total everything, you may be surprised to discover your expenses are larger than your income. This is normal, I'm sad to say. The amount your expenses exceed your income is the amount you add to your credit cards and other consumer credit balances every month. Note: When I did this the first time I discovered I was spending $ 250 more than my income each month. If your income is larger than your expenses, the difference is the amount you can add to savings, etc.

Budgeting Tip 9: Review your budget worksheet to see if you can spot any errors, to try and find areas where you feel your spending is excessive, and to consider if any expenses (maintenance, insurance, taxes, etc.) will increase over the next year...make necessary adjustments and re-total.

Budgeting Tip 10: Make sure you keep a savings balance for a "rainy day" that matches 6 months of your net income. After you've accumulated that, you can begin investing and buying some of those things you just want.

Budgeting Tip 11: Giving or donating is as important as paying a bill. Give this a try! You should have an amount designated on your family budget for giving. Even if you don't take part in a regular charity or church giving program, make giving part of your budget. There is a great deal of evidence, from 2,900 years ago right up to the present, that what you give comes back to you multiplied. Do it for a year and see what happens.