With the increased cost of consumer goods due to high-demand and short-supply, caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, we saw the inflation rate hit a 40-year high in 2022. No doubt you’ve felt the pinch. Given that many wages are also flat, having a spending plan is essential.

A budget is a spending plan that tracks your income and expenses. Having a budget is important because it helps to prioritize your spending and reach your financial goals such as creating and maintaining an emergency fund, down payment on a house or investing.

A budget need not be complicated. I believe in keeping it simple. It has always worked for me, which is why I created the personal SMART Budget Guide below. Let me define each SMART letter acronym:

The “S” stands for STATE IT. This means your budget should be in writing. You can’t track your spending in your head. It should be in a formatted document.



The “M” stands for MEAN IT. In other words, “This is meaningful to me; it’s important and I’m going to stick with the plan; I take it seriously.”

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The “A” stands for ADD IT. This means the numbers must add up. If you’ve got more expenses than income, you’re out of balance and you need to do some reallocation.

The “R” stands for REACH IT. Your budget must be realistic in order to be reachable. You can’t spend money you don’t have yet such as unresolved child support or an outstanding loan. Don’t include income in your budget until it’s guaranteed.

The “T” stands for TIME FRAME. This is the time period that the budget covers. This can be weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly.

Download my free SMART Budget Guide template in Google Docs and prepare your own personal budget. The Excel spreadsheet contains a weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly tab. All you need do is drop in your numbers and the calculation is done for you.

Personal SMART Budget template download at https://bit.ly/3YTxbql.

To view a live illustration of how the SMART Budget works visit https://bit.ly/3n3Atud.

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