How to budget your way to debt relief

Finances should have been taught from elementary school to the college levels of education. Seeing how so many people have difficulty with figuring out a budget it's clear that our school system has failed and continues to fail us in education in the ways of money. So I want to share with you what I learned about managing money and having a practical method for budgeting.

1.Where am I now?

I have found that I needed to understand where I am now. How much money do I have access to? How much money do I have coming in? What is my current bank balance? This information is found by looking at your online or paper statements or reviewing your earnings or pay stubs.

2.Savings

Warren Buffet says " Don't save what is left after spending. Spend what is left after saving." What that means is to pay yourself first! I take between 10% and 20% right off the top of my income before doing anything else. I should mention that if I work extra hours that goes into savings as well. My debt footprint is small these days because I have been living a savings lifestyle since 2011. Since you are here for debt relief ideas I would suggest that you save your 10% for a year. Review your bills at the end of the year and pay off the smaller of those bills. Repeat until just your bills are down to necessary for week-to-week living.

3.wash, rinse, repeat

After the bills have been chopped down I would continue to save that 10% to 20%.

4.The remaining 80% to 90%

Now I am down to 80% to 90% of my income left over. Out of that portion I pay for my expenses like rent/ mortgage, groceries, gas, and clothing.

That's my budget and debt relief method in a nutshell. You can't be half hearted with your budget or savings. You have to be faithful to your budget and savings plan.