I have found that most budget systems are for people already in debt. Be it credit card or student loans.

I don’t know about you, but I was never in debt when I was a low-income living. I had no credit and a low credit score due to no credit, but not in debt.

This is the case for many low-income families. For a long time, I thought that budgets were just for people with money. They followed a budget to help them make more money or keep their money. So why would someone like me have a budget when I had little money coming in?

As I started on my road to becoming a homeowner and making more income, I was depressed when I found out how I could have bettered myself a lot sooner if I had known what I know now about setting and keeping a budget. I thought about all my overspending, just trying to make it daily and paycheck to paycheck. Don’t get me wrong, I have been frugal all my adult life due to my income and being a single mom.

However, there were a lot of bad habits that I had learned and used over the years when it came to money and my family finances. One thing I regret is not knowing how much I was spending. I had this system that every year around tax time, I would pay my bills down to 0. This way, I was all caught up on my bills. Only to be right back in the whole six months later. I went through this cycle for a few years.

It took me moving to Florida and moving into an extended stay where I had to pay rent every week to see that my biggest problem was not paying my bills as soon as I got paid. Another problem I had was too many extra bills that I didn’t need or use. I always own the bank some kind of fee. My grocery bills were crazy and out of control as well. Another big problem not saying No. If my kids said they needed something, I would move mountains to get it; due to not wanting them to feel like they had to do without.

So how did I start budgeting with a low income?

First, I thought about my money habits that worked for me. One habit I had was a bill binder. I learned how to make this binder during a life class. You take all your bills and put them in categories. Examples:

1. Rent
2. electric
3. water/ trash
4. medical
5. car note/ Insurance
6. car maintenance
7. cell phone
8. cable
9. house phone / internet
10. extra

Once a bill was paid, I would staple the money order (this was a long time ago), receipt, or if paid over the phone, I would write the reference number. In the back of the binder, I would have a copy of my annual credit report (this came later). Now, mind you, this was before Everything went digital. Now I pay Everything online, or I autopay most of your bills.

However, you can still use this system if you like. First, you must print out the receipt for all your bills and place them in a binder. This way, you can track what you are paying and when. If you don’t want to use paper, you can open a file on your computer and save your receipt to your files, or if they are email receipts, you can make a folder for the bills in your email to keep organized.

Another good habit was a planner. I started writing my bill due dates in my planner. This was how I tracked my bills every month.

I carried a small planner in my purse, and I used this to write down not just my bills but my everyday task like:

1. doctor appointments
2. kids’ school meetings and activities
3. work schedule
4. grocery shopping trips
5. what I need to buy, for example, kids needed new shoes, etc.

Carrying and keeping planners keep me organized and help me to be more stable.

That was all I had to start with. Then, I began watching Videos on YouTube on how to create a budget. I started and restarted budgets for a while until I came up with a system that worked for me.

I have a budget planner that I use to organize. I started buying budgeting books, but that was just money I didn’t have to spend every year, so I made my own budget binder to replace the templates yearly. It is cost-efficient due to using any binder and free pintables (like the ones I have on this blog). You can be as creative as you like. An alternative to a binder is turning a notebook into a planner. This is very cost-efficient as well.

‘I put most of my bills on auto-pay. This helps my bills get paid on time, not with me doing any work.

I started using the 70% 20% 10% Rule I learned from Fun Cheap or Free on YouTube. However, I do it a little differently than she does instead of using the rule for my total income of the month. I use it check to check, so I split each check into 70% /20% / 10%. As she explains, I use 70% to pay bills and expenses, 20% into savings, and I use 10% for investing.

I started with just tracking my spending for a while and eliminating bills that I didn’t need or didn’t use. When I found money left over, I just put it in my savings. That’s what I did, just work and save tell I had money to put into investments. I didn’t start with a lot of money in assets either. I start with just $5- $10 a month.

So, you see, you can have a budget if you are low-income.

Well, that’s all I have for today; I hope this helps you on your journey.

Thank you for reading Everything Frugal