Step Three: Get to work.
Once you have all of your information together, start filling out your monthly expense for each item. It's okay if you don't know the exact amount of some of your smaller expenses at this time, which is likely if you haven't been keeping records. For now, you may need to make "best-guess" estimates. As we'll see later on, you'll want to track these smaller expenditures more precisely.
It is recommended that each of the major categories introduced on the previous page should take up a certain percentage of your income. These percentages are as follows:
| 1. Home: | 35% |
| 2. Travel: | 15% |
| 3. Debt: | 15% |
| 4. Savings: | 10% |
| 5. Other: | 25% |
To determine the percentage you're currently spending for each category, divide the TOTAL from that category by the Total Available Monthly Income, and then multiply that number by 100.
For example, if your total for the Home category is $600, and your Total Available Monthly Income is $2,000:
600 ÷ 2000 = 0.3
To get a percentage, multiply 0.3 x 100. This would be 30%.