* On average women earn about 74 cents to a man’s dollar.

* Women pay $1.00 or $2.00 more than men to have a white, cotton shirt dry cleaned.

* In general, women are charged higher prices for used cars than men.

Knowing how to play the budgeting game is key to winning it! Neither age nor budgeting experience matter, what does matter is that you keep learning how to get the most for your money.

As women we need to be smart spenders, learned investors, and successful at saving. The fact is 85 out of every 100 U.S. women, 32 and older, will find themselves on their own financially at some point.

* 6 of the 85 will never get married.

* 33 out of the 85 will see divorce.

* 46 will outlive their mates.

We must know more about keeping and controlling our money. Taking the time to learn more now, may mean having more money later.

Start by taking a good hard look at your current spending habits and work to establish a balanced budget. Good money management is spending what you have wisely.

Putting a budget together doesn’t have to be a dreaded thing. You make the rules because it’s your money! If you want a new wardrobe, budget for it. Want to take a vacation? Simply budget for it. You can have the things you want so long as you budget for them. Remember budgeting is simply a systematic way to control what you spend, save money, and get yourself out of debt!

Here is a simple budget to get you going. It is set up to budget monthly expenses as a percentage of what your gross monthly income is.

My Budget:

________% IRA/401K/403B/SEP
________% Federal Taxes
________% Taxes (Other)
0-10% insurance
25% Home
5-10% Additional Savings
5% or more Groceries (5% per person per month)
5% Clothing
10% Utilities
10% Transportation
0-5% Entertainment
0-5% Household goods, appliances, repairs
0-5% Miscellaneous
_______% Liquid Emergency Fund

Remember, this is just a guideline. Work with your family and budget, make any adjustments you need to. If you find your figures exceed the above guidelines by more than 10%, that could possibly mean you are spending too much. Customize your budget to fit your needs.

IRA/401K/403B/SEP:
Contribute to some sort of retirement plan. Money in the plan will not be taxed while it earns dividends, interest, or capital gains. If you join via your employer, money is deducted from your paycheck before you can spend it! Some employers match a percentage of what you put into your plan. Yes, you can withdraw early if needed, there will be a financial penalty applied and you will have to pay tax on your withdrawal.

Insurance:
Life, disability, medical, dental. Insurance is designed to protect you against loss of life, income or Health. Don’t use insurance for your investment needs because most likely you will end up paying far too much for the insurance. Keep them separate (insurance and investments) to get the best return.

Savings:
Be sure to pay YOURSELF first! Save as much as you can. 5-10% is the guideline. Save what you can save. Have a disciplined routine in place. Save at least 6 months worth of living expense. Some recommend putting this into an interest bearing checking, savings, or money-market account.

That is fine if that is what you want to do. It is MY opinion that we should also stockpile a liquid emergency fund. Something we can put our hands on right away without having to wait for any banking system to issue it to us. It can be kept hidden in our homes, I suggest investing in a lockbox (fire/waterproof box), or a small safe. Stockpile whatever money you can.

Ways to stockpile money:

* Round off your budget items to the next highest dollar amount and stockpile the change.

* Pick a certain bill to stockpile weekly (example: stockpile a $10.00 bill every week)

* Set aside a dollar a day

* If a bill or category in your budgeted expenses is less than what you have anticipated for in any particular month, stockpile the balance.

Whatever you do just DO IT and if you aren’t already then start this week. Don’t dip into it! It is for the utmost emergency situation ONLY! Be committed to putting it aside each and every week no matter what.

Home:
Include mortgage, rent, property taxes, and homeowners insurance here.

Transportation:
Car payments, gasoline, auto insurance, repairs, maintenance, license fees, parking fees, mass transportation costs are all included in this category.

Groceries:
This will vary depending on the number of people in your family. Figure about 5% per each adult monthly. To see exactly how much you are spending on groceries, keep track of your receipts for one month. You can cut costs by utilizing grocery store ads and sales, creating a weekly menu plan and sticking to it (base your grocery list on your menu plan), use coupons (most stores now offer double coupon value on certain days or up to a certain amount). Leave the kids and husband home when doing the grocery shopping. Men impulse buy far more than women do and the kids will beg and plead for every new cereal or sugar concoction they see. Stick to your pre-written grocery list. Also cutting down or out on restaurant dining, and eating home more will save you a bundle (another way to stockpile money).

Entertainment:
Make budget cuts here if you go over budget in other areas. Try not to go over budget, don’t depend on this to fall back on monthly.

Clothing:
Shop sales, and try to stay away from the “latest fad” shopping. Shop the thrift stores too. Purchase winter clothes at the beginning of the spring season when stores are trying to clear out their inventories.

Household:
Repair work, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, light bulbs (all upkeep items). When you are under budget in this category don’t spend the excess, instead save it for unexpected household repairs.

Miscellaneous Items:
Anything that can’t be easily allocated anywhere else. Examples are beauty/hair care, newspapers, magazines, gift items, etc. You may need to add categories for child care expenses, school tuition, loans, charity/donations, and savings for big purchase items.

Don’t forget to include expenses that don’t occur on a monthly basis such as insurance (which may be quarterly). Divide the total payment by twelve and put that amount away monthly.

Sticking to your budget.

It is possible that your budget may not run as smooth as you hope at first, but DON’T GIVE UP. You can revise and fine tune YOUR budget. Here are a few tips:

For the first three months go on a trial and error basis.

Revise your budget when it isn’t working and start over fresh next month.

Have a monthly family meeting about the budget and discuss solutions to any budget problems.

Research budgeting via your local library or the internet.

Remember, in order for your budget to work-you must work it. You must devote time to it and monitor/control it. Whether you prefer budgeting by hand or on your computer budgeting should not consume lots of time. Stick to a monthly monitoring plan and your budget will be a success.