Money Management for Families: How to Make a Family Budget — Debt.com

Family money management isn’t too different from managing a budget as a single person or even as a couple. The biggest thing you need to think about is where your expenses are, and if you need to rethink your spending. After all, kids are expensive. One estimate shows that the cost of raising one child to age 18 is almost a quarter of a million dollars! So, you need a family budget to ensure you can maintain financial stability as you raise your kids.

According to the Consumer Expenditure Survey created from BLS data, in 2016 the average annual income before taxes was $74,664. Unfortunately, annual expenditures made up almost 80 percent of that number ($57,311) which doesn’t give families much wiggle room if something unexpected pops up.

The areas that take up the most of a family budget are housing, transportation and food. Depending on the cost of living in your specific city, it could vary, but these are the big three areas where families should concentrate the most when creating a household budget.

The best tip for family money management is to be detailed when creating your monthly budget.

Basic Family Budget Template

Debt.com offers a free family budget planner worksheet that can help you start…