Never go into the red again: this template will put your finances in order

Maybe you’ve just cashed your first pay check, or you’ve been receiving a salary for a while. Now life and its many adventures await: festivals, fun and friends, not to mention vacations and travel. Of course these things don’t come for free. It makes sense to record all your income and expenses in a financial plan and make informed decisions. Doesn’t this spoil all the fun? This budget planning template will make your life easier.

It’s always helpful to take a closer look at your budget. Firstly, enter your fixed costs in the table. Sum everything up and subtract the total amount from your income.

After deducting your fixed costs, you should still have enough money left over for variable costs, e.g., for going out, hobbies, the gym or eating out.

Write down everything you spent in the last month. After deducting this amount from your salary, you can see how much you have left over. This breakdown will show you which expenses are eating up your money. Are all these things really important to you? You can start by looking at where you could spend less.

This includes recurring costs such as insurance, groceries, transport passes or fuel costs for your car.

It’s important to avoid accumulating debt, as this prevents you from saving. The trick: when your salary comes in, pay part of it directly into your savings account by direct debit. Then you can’t spend this money by accident. If you can set aside one or two months’ salary as a buffer, you can cushion yourself against any unexpected expenses.

Caution is recommended with buy now, pay later offersArticle five tips to avoid falling into debt. With these, you don’t need to pay for your online purchases right away, which gives you the impression you haven’t spent the money at all when you look at your account.

Start planning for retirement early? Boring, right? But it’s a clever idea to pay some of your money into pillar three early on and save on taxesInformation about Pillar 3a retirement savings account, which reduces your fixed costs. And it’s also important to treat yourself from time to time if you have the money.