Be Prepared!!!!

Week 4: Spices and Herbs: Buy the ones you use most often, pepper, cinnamon, bouillon, oregano, etc. (remember, they can be used for Medicinal purposes too.)

Week 5: Make up week, Get Back on Track!!!

Keep your receipts, and write on your budget tracking worksheet all your expenses. Don't forget to also track all purchases made with cash, including small items. These will be more difficult to track (if you don't get a receipt), but try to write down as much as you can with a paper and pencil. You may want to keep a little notebook with you to write down expenses as they occur.

Also, at the end of the week, you should try to estimate any payments with cash that you made, that you did not write down that week. If you are not good at tracking your cash expenses, at least keep track of how much cash you put in your wallet, so you know how much you are spending. Then add that amount to your budget tracking worksheet.


TYPES OF EXPENSES
As you start to track your expenses, it is helpful to break your spending into different categories. There are two main categories of expenses: essential and non-essential expenses. Essential expenses are expenses that are required for living. Non-essential expenses are the extra things you spend your money on. In addition, essential expenses may be broken down into fixed expenses and variable expenses.


ESSENTIAL EXPENSES - FIXED AND VARIABLE
FIXED EXPENSES
Fixed expenses are expenses that are the same each month. Examples include rent or mortgage, car payments, car insurance, property taxes, home insurance, and school loans.

VARIABLE EXPENSES
Variable expenses are expenses that vary each month. Examples include car maintenance, gasoline, food, electricity, heating gas, phone, etc.
One good way to create a budget is to track your income and expenses for one month, by keeping track of each type of expense and if that expense is a fixed expense or variable expense. For the month, Caleb earned $594 and tracked expenses for the month to help create a monthly budget. Fill out the table below using the expenses Caleb tracked. Then total fixed and variable expenses. Also calculate total expenses. Was income greater than or less than expenses for the month?

Expenses: Donations $20, Going to a show $22, New shoes $30, Tax on earnings $222, Food shopping $59, House Mortgage payment $144, Phone bill $49, Music CDs $30

Week 3: Mixes: Cake, Pancake, muffin, Bisquick, etc.

Be Prepared!!!!

GET ON BOARD Taylor 9th Ward!
It wasn't Raining........ when Noah built the ark.

Yearly Food Storage Plan:
Each week buy the items listed and store them. Buy the largest quantity you can buy, that makes sense for your family, and that you can sensibly afford and store.

If you miss a week, skip it and go on; don't get behind.
Replace the items as you use them.

March:
Week 2: More first aid products:gauze, patches, swabs, cotton balls, tape, peroxide, bandaids, antibiotic cream etc.

Financial Plan:
Simple weekly financial lessons and assignments to help you become financially stable this year!

Managing Resources Wisely and Staying Out of Debt
Ensign, February 2010

Managing Resources"'Provident living' . . . implies the [conserving] of our resources, the wise planning of financial matters, full provision for personal health, and adequate preparation for education and career development, giving appropriate attention to home production and storage as well as the development of emotional resiliency. . . . If we live wisely and providently, we will be as safe as in the palm of His hand."
President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985).

"What skills do we need to help us become self-reliant? . . . In the early days of the Church, Brigham Young pled with the sisters to learn to prevent illness in families, establish home industries, and learn accounting and bookkeeping and other practical skills. Those principles still apply today. Education continues to be vitally important. . . .
"I asked several bishops what self-reliance skills the sisters in their wards needed most, and they said budgeting. Women need to understand the implications of buying on credit and not living within a budget. The second skill bishops listed was cooking. Meals prepared and eaten at home generally cost less, are healthier, and contribute to stronger family relationships."
Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president.

Avoiding Debt"May I suggest five key steps to financial freedom. . . .
"First, pay your tithing. . . .
"Second, spend less than you earn. . . .
"Third, learn to save. . . .
"Fourth, honor your financial obligations. . . .
"Fifth, teach your children to follow your example."
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

"When we go into debt, we give away some of our precious, priceless agency and place ourselves in self-imposed servitude. We obligate our time, energy, and means to repay what we have borrowed—resources that could have been used to help ourselves, our families, and others. . . .
"To pay our debts now and to avoid future debt require us to exercise faith in the Savior—not just to do better but to be better. It takes great faith to utter those simple words, 'We can't afford it.' It takes faith to trust that life will be better as we sacrifice our wants in order to meet our own and others' needs."
Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

March ~Week 1: Juices: frozen and bottled or canned

STEP TWO:
CREATE A MONTHLY OR WEEKLY BUDGET:
Use the following budget worksheet to help create a monthly or weekly budget. Once you have an estimate of how much you earn or spend in each of the categories listed (or create your own budget categories), try to create a monthly budget using the worksheets. Then during the month, track the items and see where you come in over or under budget.

This worksheet includes two sections: one for income and one for expenses. Income includes wages and interest income. Expenses include taxes, rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries, clothing, entertainment, transportation, savings, donations, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Either use the worksheet with categories listed, or choose a worksheet for you to fill in your own categories. You will need to be able to categorize each source of income and expense into one of the categories. Then, estimate projected expenses for the month from your actual expenses. If you used the tracking worksheet above, you will have an idea of how much these items will be in a given month. If an item only occurs annually, then divide the amount by twelve and include it on your monthly worksheet.

Budget

Category: ~Budget ~Amount~Actual Amount~Difference
INCOME:
Wages/Income
Interest Income
INCOME SUBTOTAL
EXPENSES:
Taxes
Rent/Mortgage
Utilities
Groceries/Food
Clothing
Shopping
Entertainment
Transportation
Long-Term Savings
Emergency Savings
Donations
Miscellaneous/Other
EXPENSES SUBTOTAL
NET INCOME (Income - Expenses)