I know you’ve heard it time and time again, in order to manage your finances you need a budget. Everybody knows this is true and still not everybody budgets, knows how budget or knows exactly where to start.

First things first, a budget is a tool it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be but the end result is the same. It takes away the guess work, eliminates the worry and puts you in control of your money.

I’ve seen people shudder and sometimes run for the door at the sound of the word Budget and yet their finances are in a shambles. The amount of effort needed to set up and maintain a budget is minimal which is why it is so surprising to see so many people go to great lengths to avoid doing it. Once put into place, the rewards of being able to predict whether or not you can afford your latest desire (without worrying about it after the purchase) are considerable.

The steps to setting up a basic budget are as follows:

Step 1.

Decide which type of budget fits best with your situation.

” Weekly

” Fortnightly

” Monthly

If you receive most of your income on a monthly basis it may be easier to set up a monthly budget. If you receive other income on a weekly/fortnightly basis, you will have to calculate what it would be on a monthly basis in order for the budget to work correctly.
E.g: Weekly amount x 52 / 12 the result is your monthly income from that source.

Step 2

Calculate your Total income from all sources.

Step 3

List all of your expenses (everything that you spend your money on) and total it.

Step 4

Deduct your Expenses from your income, don’t panic! This isn’t the time to go into shock or to tear up the sheet and go into denial; it is time to take action. Think about it you can now see exactly how you stand financially as scary as it may be, all hope is not lost. You have the opportunity to take charge and gain control of your finances possibly for the first time!!

Step 5

Time to be brutally honest:

How many of the things on your list are an absolute necessity?
How many things can be modified?
You don’t need to cut out everything in one fell swoop, that sort of change would be too drastic although in some situations, it could very well be necessary.

This is where you need to take stock of your spending and evaluate the things on your list. See which items could be modified to some degree. It won’t make a noticeable difference to your lifestyle but it can be surprising how even the slightest change could have quite a dramatic effect on your budget.

After a few (hopefully minor) adjustments, you now have your new Budget sitting in front of you, you have worked hard on it and are absolutely astounded by the results of your efforts, you can see that although at the outset, things were looking pretty grim, you now have a plan in place that is workable and accurate. You can see where you are going and how you are going to get there so what’s next?

Step 6

You MUST adhere to it! Update your budget as you spend your money, no matter how small the amount, include it, EVERYTHING needs to be accounted for.

For more information, useful tips and advice go to: Building a Budget

Poster printing in general is designed with 4 basic purposes. One, well designed print posters tell a story. Two, posters provide a brief summary of your project. Three, print posters are great discussion starters. And four, poster printing can be your explanation when you’re not there to provide the details.

When deciding to create your very own poster printing, you might want to try it in PowerPoint. It’s easy and even if you’re not a designer at heart, you’ll have your own print posters without having to spend so much on costs of hiring a poster printing company to do it for you.

Step 1 – Before you begin working on your color posters, sketch out your design draft in a paper. Remember to include only 3 to 4 key points that your poster would have in its overall design. This is to avoid having a cluttered look especially if you want to emphasize a special idea.

Step 2 – Determine your size, background, and the layout of your project. You can choose to have as many sections in your poster as you want. But having a simple design is often better because it makes it easier for your readers to zoom in on the main message of your poster.

Step 3 – Provide the flow in your print poster. Generally, the standard flow is from top left to the bottom right. When there are columns the movement is downwards; for rows, you read along the rows. This is the natural movement of the eye when reading the surface of a material. To make it even easier for your target audience, provide arrows, pointing hands, numbers, and even letters to guide them in the right sequence of your elements.

Step 4 – To setup your poster in PowerPoint, use just one slide.

Step 5 – Choose your poster size. From the FILE menu, select PAGE SETUP. Under SLIDES SIZED FOR: select CUSTOM. Determine your size and set it in PowerPoint. Setting your size this early would make it convenient for you to print the right one after you’ve finished designing your poster. (PowerPoint allows a maximum page size of 56 inches with width of 36 inches.)

Note: Don’t forget to leave a 1-inch margin at the edges of your poster to allow space for cropping.

Step 6 – Provide your title. It should be approximate to the entire width of your poster. Break the main text into columns based on the size of your print poster.

Step 7 – Choose your background in the DESIGN TEMPLATES. You can also utilize other options such as TEXTURE, GRADIENT, COLOR, or IMAGE FILL.

(Select FORMAT>APPLY DESIGN.)

If you want to include text boxes for your paragraphs and borders, all you have to do is to select TEXT BOX from the INSERT menu. You can make your boxes as clear, semi-transparent or color filled.

Step 8 – Choose your fonts. Be sure to use them sparingly. Too many would create clutter in your poster. Adjust the font size based on the amount of text as well as the style you’re going to use in your poster. The title and subtitle are usually bigger in size than the rest of your body. Just be sure to have a standard font size in all your section headers.

To embed the fonts, select SAVE AS from FILE. Click on TOOLS. It’s in the upper right of the dialog box. Scroll down and select EMBED TRUE TYPE FONTS. Now save.

Step 9 – Select your pictures and insert them in the columns of your poster. Remember to use the picture cropping tool to scale the image down to the size you want.

Step 10 – Edit your poster. Then print.

Definition of a Budget

According to Merrium-Webster’s online dictionary, a budget is “a statement of the financial position of an administration for a definite period of time based on estimates of expenditures during the period and proposals for financing them b: a plan for the coordination of resources and expenditures c: the amount of money that is available for, required for, or assigned to a particular purpose”.

That’s a really long sentence to say that a budget is a list of all your incoming and outgoing money. The big question is why should you have a budget and exactly how complicated it is to make a budget. For me, understanding and completing a budget was simple. For my best friend, it was one of the hardest things she has ever done and I ended up sitting down with her and helping her figure it all out.

It surprises me how many adults have no idea what to do with a budget. I’ve heard so many people talk about how hard it is to make a budget or if they have a budget, how hard it is to keep to it. My philosophy is KEEP IT SIMPLE!!! I have read a few articles and even a few books on budgets and they always start off with telling you to keep tract of every dollar you spend for a week or month. Then they tell you that you need to understand how you spend to know how to make your budget. Some tell you that you have to cut back on all the pleasures in life and not spend a dime more than you absolutely have to. I’m not going to do that. Have you ever heard of KISS – Keep It Sweet & Simple? This is my version!

Guidelines of a Budget

There are a few basic steps of making a budget and a couple of intermediate ones. For anything more complicated I suggest finding an accountant as I have no knowledge beyond the basics.

Step 1: Make a list of all your bills

Do you have credit card bills, house payment or rent, car payment, car insurance, cell phone and house phone bills? How much gas do you use in a month? How much do you spend on food at the grocery store, at a restaurant, in fast food? Do you pay for internet or a gaming site? List anything and everything that you pay for every month. This is your monthly bills.

Example: My Monthly Budget

Rent – $635.00, Car Insurance – $90.00, Car Payment – $100.00, Cell Phone – $40.00, Internet/Cable/House Phone – $150.00, Gas – $100.00 —– TOTAL: $1115.00

I’m lucky in the fact that I have a roommate and she pays the electric, water, food (Food Stamps) and part of the rent. Also, I’m buying my truck from my brother, which makes my car payment really low. That being said my bills for the month total $1115.00.

Step 2: Make a list of all your income

How much money do you bring in a month? Do you have a job, food stamps? Make a list of every way you get money on a monthly basis. If it doesn’t come in every month, don’t list it.

Example: My Monthly Income
Paychecks: $1340

I bring home $1340 every month. This reflects my net pay (after taxes and deductions). Make sure you only use your net pay while making your budget or you will run out of money before getting all your bills paid.

Step 3: Retirement/Saving

In step one, I asked you to list all your outgoing expenses. When you made your list, did you think about your savings account and retirement? Even if you are 18 years old, it is never too early to think about your retirement plans. Saving just ten percent of your paycheck, can mean that you can retire on time and without having to have supplement income (another job). Also, in the immediate future, what happens if your car breaks down, do you have enough money to fix it?

Example: My Retirement/Savings

Savings: $50.00

For my retirement, my job has a 401K that I invest in. That money is taken out of my paycheck before my deductions, including my taxes. So, the $1340.00 you see above doesn’t include my retirement plan. As for my savings, I put $50.00 a month into savings. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but in one year, I have $600.00 enough to get a new tire or battery if necessary for my truck.

Step 4: Anything Else

Have you started thinking about a new hobby or want to have money for a current hobby? How about going to the movies or out to eat? There are a lot of little things that we like to do each month that add up to a lot of money. You can easily afford a few of these if you take them into account now. If you find you don’t have enough money for all of them, then make a fun fund. This way you can pick and choose with the limits of your fun fund, which hobby/movie/dinner for that month.

Example: My Hobbies

Fun Fund: $25.00

I love to make chainmail jewelry. It’s an obsession. I can walk into Michael’s and spend $100.00 or more if I’m not paying attention. My fun fund is $25.00 a month. I only make it $25.00 because I know if I have any money left in my budget, I will be adding it to this fund first.
Of course, by this time all my bills are paid and I have money to make it through the end of month. That money is mine to play with anyway.

You ask why make this fund in the first place. That’s easy, that extra money may end up going to something else because something unexpected happened. This way you still have some fun in your life. That is part of being responsible. You have to think about your mental health as well as your monetary health.

Step 5: Mathematics (Adding and Subtracting Only)

Once you have all your expenses, savings, income figures out, now comes the mathematics. Add up everything that is income, then add up everything that is outgoing (including savings/retirement – it is outgoing because you don’t have it available for this month’s bills). This will give you a balance.

Example: My Math
Paychecks: $1340.00 – (Bills: $1115.00 + Savings: $50.00 + Fun Fund: $25.00) = $150.00

That leaves a balance of $150.00 for me to use however I want. If it is a good month and I don’t have anything unexpected come up, I’ll take it to Michael’s or The Ring Lord (my chainmail ring wholesaler).

Last: The Hard Choices

If for some reason your balance is a negative number, you know you need to cut something down or out. Do you really need the mega cable package? Would drinking less beer each month cut down on your grocery bill? Do you really need to spend that much on your hobbies? Is having three MMORPG subscriptions really necessary or will just one due?

If you have cut your budget as much as possible, and you still have a negative balance, maybe a new job or second job is necessary. That is your decision to make.

So, it’s really simple. Add up expenses, including saving, retirement and fun fund. Subtract that amount from how much you bring in each month. Positive number – Have Fun! Negative number -Cut Expenses!

Learning how to budget personal finances is very important. Not only does it help you save up for your future, it also keeps you from incurring any unnecessary expenses.

You know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you? No more wild shopping sprees and wrong purchase decisions.

I know this doesn’t sound like a lot of fun at all, but that’s because you’re used to the old understanding of budgeting. This article will change your old perceptions about money and teach you how to budget personal finances in a fun and creative way.

Step 1: List down expenses.

Learning how to budget personal finances may come naturally to others; but if you’re not used to it, you may want to start with something simple.

That first step involves listing down your expenses every single day. Everything you shelled money out for, you must list down. Did you buy a train ticket today? Write that down. Did you buy yourself a cup of coffee or perhaps paid one of your friends back the money you owe him? Write those down as well.

You may want to reserve a small notebook or organizer for this list. This way, you are 100% aware of where your cash is going. Writing your expenses down also makes your mind more conscious about what you spend your money on.

At the end of the day, you’ll come to a striking realization that you need to cut back on certain things.

Step 2: Save a percentage of your earnings.

Another way on how to budget personal finances is by saving at least 5-10% of what you earn in the bank; or better yet, an investment plan with a higher interest. As soon as payday comes, keep that small percent under lock and key.

It might not seem like much, but you’ll be surprised at how much all those percentage shares add up at the end of the year!

Step 3: Budget online.

These days, there is a bevy of budgeting software available for your own personal use. Applications like Mint.com and Quicken Online help you track your expenses and spending habits down, absolutely free of charge!

These web sites help you understand money and often show you just where your savings are going. They’ll paint you a realistic picture of where your money disappears off to and in which areas you have to cut back.

Of course, these applications are only as secure as your password, so you might want to be doubly careful when logging in and out of them.

Learning how to budget personal finances is quite easy as long as you put your mind to it. Don’t be bogged down by thinking it’s impossible.

Introduction:

There are numerous articles that cover the process of transferring a WordPress blog from one server or host to another but I’ve found that most of them left me asking questions after reading them. I am a very visual person and hope the following article and images (Article with images available: Link is below this article) help you get your WordPress blog transferred successfully. The following article was compiled from firsthand experience of transferring two WordPress blogs from a Godaddy hosting account to my own dedicated linux server.

Step #1 -Backup Your WordPress Database:

Most hosting accounts include PhpMyAdmin which is what you will use to backup the WordPress database. The process really isn’t that difficult. The first thing you’ll need to do is find PhpMyAdmin within your hosts control panel. After you’ve logged into PhpMyAdmin you’ll need to do the following.

Click on the database you need to back up. It will be located on the top left region of the screen. Click on “Export” on the top tool bar of PhpMyAdmin. Complete the following steps. In the Export box make sure all of the tables are highlighted and if they’re not click on “Select All” In the Options box make sure to select the following options in addition to the default settings. 1.) Add DROP TABLE/VIEW/PROCEDURE/FUNCTION 2.) Add AUTO_INCREMENT value 3.) Enclose table and field names with backquotes 4.) Complete inserts 5.) Use Hexadecimal for BLOB Lastly, towards the bottom of the screen make sure you select “Save as file” and then type a file name that correlates to your website and click “Go”. That’s it, your Database should now be backed up on your local drive.

Step #2 Transfer all of your WordPress files to the new server:

For the time being I’m not going to cover this step in extreme detail because there are so many different ways this can be done. I chose to use the FTP client FileZilla to complete this task which is free. If any of you would like me to add additional information on this step of the process please let me know and I’ll add it to this article.

Step #3 Create a new Database on your new server/host.

If you’re using Cpanel this task is extremely simple but should be a very similar process on other control panels.

Click on “MySQL database wizard” Enter a Database name. This could be WordPress or anything else you’d like. Then click “next step”. Enter a Username and Password. Note: The Password must be entered twice and make sure it’s secure. (variation of numbers,letters, and cases) Then click “next step”. Select “All Privileges” and click “next step”. That’s It! Important Note: Make sure you write down the Database Name, Username, and Password or you’ll have to go back and find that information later.

Step #4 Edit the WPCONFIG.php

At this point you should have already copied all of your WordPress files to the new server and we now need to modify the WPCONFIG.php file with the new Database information. Once in Cpanel you need to complete the following steps.

Click on “File Manager”. Select “Web Root” and make sure “show hidden files” is selected(May not be necessary but better safe than sorry). Find WPCONFIG.php within the file manager. Depending on where you copied the WordPress files on the server this file should be located in WordPress’s root directory. (Meaning it’s not located in wpcontent or wpadmin, it’s located in the same directory as all of the WordPress folders) Once you locate WPCONFIG you’ll need to click on the mouses right button and select “Edit”. You now need to alter three (possibly four) different items in the file.
Database Name Username Database Password Database Host (If you’re hosting WordPress on your own server this should be localhost but may vary depending your hosting situation. If you’re unsure you’ll need to contact your administrator) Note on Charset Value: This value must match the value of your old Database. I left it at the default setting and everything worked correctly but I have read that having an incorrect charset can cause compatibility issues within the Database. Save Changes to the file and you’re done.

Step #5 Import your old Database tables into your newly added Database.

This is a step that caused some serious issues for me when I first tried transfering a WordPress blog. Whithout completing this step your new database will not function because it doesn’t contain any of the tables or information from your WordPress powered website. There are a couple of options to complete this task and your choice should very based on the size of your database backup. If you’re database is larger than 10mb in size you’ll likely need to use third party software to complete the task. If you’re Database backup is smaller than 10mb in size you can use PhpMyAdmin to complete the import.

Option #1 Using PhpMyAdmin(Databases under 10mb in size)

Follow these steps when using PhpMyAdmin to complete the import.

Click on PhpMyAdmin within Cpanel and login. Click on the Database you created earlier. This database should have a zero next to it representing that it doesn’t contain and tables. It should in the upper left hand side of the screen. Click on the “Import” tab located on the upper navigation toolbar. Click on “Browse” and find the Database backup that you earlier saved to your local drive. Click “Go” and let PhpMyAdmin handle the rest.

Presuming you’re database backup was less than 10mb in size you should now be ready to roll.

Option #2 Using BigDump(Databases over 10mb in size)

One of the WordPress blogs I transferred required the use of BigDump which is an amazingly useful tool. Don’t be scared to use it, it’s extremely easy to use. Follow these steps if you’re using BigDump to complete the import.

Create a temporary folder on your server using “File Manager” in Cpanel. The recommended name for the folder is “Dump” but it doesn’t really matter. Upload bigdump.php and your database backup(example – WordPress.sql) into the “Dump” temporary” folder. You now need to edit bigdump.php with the same process you used to edit WPCONFIG.php earlier. Use file manager within cpanel, right click on bigdump.php, click “edit”, and then proceed to modify DB host, DB name, Username, and Password. Save changes! You now need to load bigdump.php in your browser. Open your favorite browser and enter the location of bigdump.php (example: http_//www_yourdomain_com/dump/bigdump.php) Once loaded you’ll see the BigDump menu and you should see your database backup listed. Click “Start Import” and let BigDump go to work. You will see an activity page and will see a prompt below the activity page informing you when BigDump has completed the task.

Final Step: Don’t forget about your Nameservers!

Depending on your situation you will likely need to alter your Nameservers with your domain registrar. In some situations you can continue to use the Nameservers provided by the domain registrar as long as you make the necessary modifications on your new server/host. It should be noted that a lot of other people suggest changing Nameservers earlier in the process but I refrain from doing that because of some issues I had with DNS on my server the first time I attempted the transfer.

In Closing:

I hope you found this article helpful and if anyone would like me to add more details on any of steps in the process please let me know. If you found this article helpful I would greatly appreciate you sharing it with others.

If you would like to view this article with images, click here: Article with Images