Budgeting for a small family can be challenging. When you are budgeting for a family of six it can be even more of a challenge. To calculate your budget for a family of six you need to look at your spending in two categories. The first is the category of the spending. The second is the spending by each individual family member. When determining your budget, the goal should be to reduce spending as much as possible, while still maintaining your lifestyle as much as possible. In extreme situations, your lifestyle may have to change to reduce your spending.
Instructions
1. Calculate your costs that are the same each month. This will include your rent or mortgage, car payment, daycare payment, any education costs and insurance payment. These are referred to as your fixed costs that you must budget for every month.
2. Calculate the average cost of each of your credit card bills, your water bill, your electric bill and your fuel costs over the past 12 months. These are your fluctuating costs; you will use the average over the past year for your fluctuating costs when budgeting for your family.
3. Determine your monthly grocery bill. This should also be averaged out over the past 12 months. As a family of six, you should set a goal to reduce this bill by three to five percent each month. Some ways to do this include buying food items in bulk, buyer larger quantities of items when they are on sale and avoiding impulse trips to the grocery store.
4. Track the entertainment costs of your family over a 12-month period. Categorize each cost by which family member it was used for and the item purchased. If a cost is used for several family members, split it evenly among them. Analyze which individuals are spending the most in your family of six on a monthly basis. Set a goal of reducing the entertainment cost of the top three spenders by 10 percent per month and the lower three spenders by five percent per month. This can help you stay on budget and add some money to your savings account. Let each individual in your six person family know how much their budget for entertainment is on a monthly basis.
5. Determine your average fuel costs. Average this over the past six months as fuel costs fluctuate significantly. Track if you are taking multiple trips for your family to get to meetings, activities, school and social gatherings that could all be completed in one or two trips instead. To monitor the costs of travel, keep track of the cost for transporting each family member. On trips where multiple family members ride together, divide the cost evenly. If you find one person's expenses are significantly higher than others, find ways to reduce the cost including more efficient travel.
6. Add up the amounts you calculated in steps one through five. These are you expenses when you are budgeting. Now, add up the paychecks from all family members that go into the family bank account. Subtract your expense total from your revenue total. If the result is a negative amount, discuss with your family ways to reduce your spending as you are spending more than you are making. Even if the number you have is positive, plan with family members on reduce the costs of categories where spending is higher than you would like.
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