Why do a budget?

A budget is a comprehensive list of income and expenses. Doing a budget can identify:

• Whether the family has enough money to cover their expenses
  
• Where the family’s money goes
  
• How income and expenses are spread across the year.
  
  
  

 Once you have this information, you can assist the family to:

• Work out what to do if their expenses exceed their income
  
• Identify opportunities to save money
  
• Identify strategies for planning ahead to meet expenses
  
• Set goals for managing money without setting the family up to fail.
  
  

Budgets are a good way to start talking about family money management, and to identify issues. They highlight information that can help the family shape the way they spend their money over time. Budgets are hard to stick to, so don’t expect that families will make big changes quickly just because a budget has been drawn up.