Step-by-Step Guide to Filling Out Booth Corp’s Monthly
Budget Planner with True Average Numbers for Expenses and Income. (Expenses
Paid for with Net Income Money)
To qualify for the Home Ownership Program, it is crucial to
provide an accurate and detailed account of your spending habits for the past
12 months. We ask our candidates to acquire those True Average Numbers,
accounting for how much has been made and where it has been spent each month,
as well as ON AVERAGE.
Follow these steps to create an accurate accounting of these
numbers.
Step 1: Gather Your Financial Records
Collect your bank statements, credit card statements, bills,
receipts, and any other “paper trails” from the past 12 months. This will help
you determine average expenses, income, and savings.
Step 2: Define and Record Your Income Streams
Include any and all money coming in for the past 12 months:
full-time jobs, side jobs, self-employed work, tax returns, inheritance,
settlements, and/or even assistance from a private or government agency.
Step 3: Categorize Your Expenses
Use the categories outlined on the budget, such as housing,
transportation, groceries, utilities, entertainment, and debt payments. If
there is not a category that you spend money on, fill in the “other” with that
name.
Step 4: Determine “Once a year” Expenses
Identify any “once a year” expense, such as insurance
premiums, dues and memberships, or car registration. Take that amount and
divide it by 12 to get a monthly average.
Step 5: Calculate True Average Numbers for Common and
Uncommon Expenses and Incomes
(Use your memory as little as possible) Use your paper trail
to review your monthly income and expenses. Place all expenses into some
category until you have categorized every expense. Subtotal all the categories
for that month.
Go to your following month's paper trail and do the same… So
on and so forth for the past 12 months of your paper trail. Once you have 12
months of each expenditure, add each category up to get a total, divide this
number by 12, and you will then have a TRUE AVERAGE NUMBER for each expense and
income.
*Please DON’T forget; vacations, only several times a year
expenses, one-time huge expenses, and small expenses, as everything needs to be
included.
Step 6: Review and Adjust
After creating your budget, review it carefully for
accuracy. Make sure it accounts for all your financial commitments,
discretionary expenditures, and anything you spend your money on. Remember,
MOST of these numbers should not be “round” numbers. We expect these
numbers to be “to the nearest penny.”
Step 7: Income – Expenses
The result should represent what you should have saved
and/or had left over each month, on average during the last 12 months.
Step 1: If this result does not make sense or seems to be
too low or too high, you might have forgotten an expense somewhere.
Step 2: If you can’t identify the missing expense, no
problem. Put the leftover amount into the “Cash/I Don’t know” category until
your budget accurately reflects your current financial savings.
The goal is to ensure your budget correctly mirrors your
financial reality, helping you prepare for homeownership and/or other financial
objectives. Remember, an accurate monthly budget planner is a key component of
demonstrating your financial readiness for homeownership. By following these
steps and being meticulous with your calculations, you'll provide a
comprehensive and precise report of your spending habits, which can help you
qualify for our Home Ownership Program!
We are not looking for a perfect budget from anyone, just
for someone who has choices for where they want to spend their money!
