IG LIVE: HOW TO CLOSE OUT YOUR BUDGET | Budget Tips

Back on March 1st, I did an Instagram Live all about closing out your budget.

This step and my "Where Did My Money Go?" Worksheets are the two things I get the MOST questions about.

What do you do with your budget after the month is over, and you’re ready to begin a new month? Most people don’t realize it, but your spending throughout the month gives you some incredibly helpful information.

One of the first steps to creating and sticking to a realistic budget is tracking your expenses. Your spending is the underlying foundation for creating a budget and ensuring that your budgets in the future are successful.

If you are not aware of where your money is going, you can’t make the best decisions for your dollars.

ABOUT ME

Kumiko Love is a single mom who empowers women everywhere to regain control of their financial lives. An Accredited Financial Counselor with over nine years of experience in the finance industry, she founded The Budget Mom, a community of millions of women on a path to financial fulfillment.

She's also the creator of the wildly popular Live Rich Planner® and Budget by Paycheck® Workbook. Love has been featured on Good Morning America, the Today show, CNN, CBS, ABC and in USA Today, US News, World Report, Huffington Post, Money Magazine, Parents Magazine, the Washington Post, and Real Simple. She lives in Spokane Valley, Washington.

YOU CAN FIND ME AT:

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[va]

I stopped using Instagram, thank you for uploading on YouTube

[justwendy]

Thank you so much! I don't do IG, so it was really nice to see this on YT. Please consider saving and sharing more of these things over here! Greatly appreciated! :)

[cecilialozano]

"Your expense trackers are NOT going to match your budget" Thank you for this☝️😊

[dragonmomandahamster]

when Miko basically said "when we have a plan we try to stick ourselves into that plan, rather than fitting our budget around what is actually happening, we are lying to ourselves!" - GOSH I needed to hear that! THAT is what I've been trying to do for years with our budget, vs. tracking what is actually happening and making a roadmap to reflect the reality. (side note, just got my BBP cheetah set in this week, and I'm it!)

[applemarie]

Thank you so much for hearing feedback and adapting to share on YT as well! You, your team and all the effort you put into sharing this knowledge is invaluable❤

[jomar]

I had bought your budget by paycheck book a few years ago.

but I never use that. I would make photocopies and then I stopped using that layout because basically my money now comes monthly.

So I held on to it still in the original box was shipped in and this week I gifted it to a young single mother.

[Am-ktml]

I’d love to see a budget for small business owners. Ex- how much to take out for taxes, how mich to keep in your business to use for materials and how much to pay yourself that you can then use for personal income. My husband and I started a small Amazon FBA business and we’re not having a difficult time splitting up the money to put back into the business and what to use for living cost.

[ashnichole]

I miss Ryan!! Love both of you so much! Thanks for all you do!

[JBG]

I am new to TBM and really love this so exited to start my journey with you❤ Thank you for sharing on YouTube I also don’t use Instagram frequently.

[katandmoonbudgets]

12:33 I created a save category for transferring money to a savings account, and then created a SF USED category for when I use my savings because it really helped my brain to understand the process

[emmyorzi]

I always learn something new from your videos. Thank you!

[lyndajordan]

This video helped sooo much. Thank you for posting on YouTube as I don’t utilize any social media platform except this. I was struggling with the tracking transfers and I get my check deposited in one account and pay bills out of one and variable spending out of the other and my account was always off. I also struggled with trying to make my expense tracker match my budget sheet and once you said it isn’t gonna match it was an “ah ha” moment 😊

[docdoctme]

Thanks for adding this on YT, I don’t have an instagram account. You are a great teacher!

[kirmizi]

I am so glad you shared IG live, I do not have IG so very appreciated

[jharvs]

"Do you need all these accounts?" It's like you read my mind Kimiko! Curious if in the future you can explain how you have your accounts organized. Love watching your videos! Thanks for posting on YouTube!❤

[evelinacosta]

Thankful that you are putting it on YouTube ❤

[shashakeit]

Thank you much for uploading this here!!!

[m.m.]

I think a major confusion on closing out budget is when you pay next month's bills in the current month. If you're trying to track expenses based on dates when funds clear the account, then it can get confusing. For example, I track what bills get paid with each paycheck, but close out my budget monthly, for simplicity. I pay the first week of the next month bills the last week of the current month. So the transactions clear the bank in the current month, even though they are for the following month. I treat part of the last paycheck as roll over and track it for the next month on my bills only. Variable spending I track for current month to the last day of the month.

[ginwilcox]

❤ THANK YOU for posting this on YouTube! I'm not a big fan of Instagram because of the exact reasons you listed at the start of this amazing session. I watch these at least twice and when I'm doing my planning sessions I have listen to these. It's like getting extra encouragement for me. 😊

[susanwhitbeck]

This was a great one to watch. I have been using your bill tracker sheet. I like how you have the buffer and how you explain ability not doing the percentages. Every time I don’t meet the requirements I feel like a failure. This video really put me at ease and gave me the courage to start again. Thanks for the great video.