This is a challenge my mom and grandma gave me when I first got married right out of high school. Yes, I married my high school sweetheart.

We were NOT budgeting pros by any means. So, we needed an easy way to budget.

What is a simple budget?

It’s a budget that anyone could do.

As I mentioned above, when I got married I had never touched a budget.

A simple budget should be easy enough that a teenager or someone who’s never managed a budget could easily manage in a way that helps them pay for needs, save money, and pay off debt.

The budget challenge below is really simple. It’s a great way to start on a path towards keeping a budget and turning into a person who doesn’t stress about money, but has money for what they need and more.

Easiest Budget Challenge for Beginners

Read and follow the challenge or print out the printable workbook below to guide you through it!

Here is the challenge:

1. Write all your down wants and needs
2. Write down your income after paying for the needs
3. Divide what’s left over to put towards debt, savings, and wants/entertainment
4. Stick to your budget until debt is paid off, then divide what’s left over between savings and your wants

First you need to make some lists. The first list will have all your wants and the second will have all your needs.

Easy right?

Figuring out Wants and Needs

Wants are going to be things you can live without and needs are going to be everything you can’t live without.

Wants Examples: Cable, new car, coffee, date night, new pet, video games, fancy clothes, etc.

Needs: Groceries, electricity, housing, phone, water, etc.

You get the point, these are easy things to point out. Your needs are going to be the bills and expenses that you need to live every day life and your wants are the things you can put aside.

Now that you have your wants and needs written down it’s time to plan a simple budget.

Having Money for Savings, Debt, and Entertainment

Taking your total monthly income you can subtract your monthly needs (living expenses).

Now, decide how much of what’s left over you want to put towards savings, debt, and entertainment. You could divide what’s leftover equally between the 3 or put a little more into debt.

For example, if you are willing to give up some of your entertainment money, you can put that into debt and pay your debt off faster.

Then when the debt is paid off you will have even more for entertainment and savings.

Scroll to the bottom to find out how to get your free Budget Workbook that will help you work through the challenge! 

Prioritizing Debt

This is a simple budget, so I won’t go too much into this. But, it may be a good idea to take a look at the debts you have and prioritize them in a way that’s best for you.

You could do this in several ways. Listing the debt from the greatest to smallest interest, greatest to smallest amount, or smallest to greatest amount.

Decide which debt you want to pay off first and think about putting a little more towards that particular debt each month.

How do I make a successful budget plan?

To make sure you are successful with your budget you can do several things.

• Make budgeting a habit- Track your daily and monthly spending as well as expenses. Utilize an app on your phone, workbook, planner, or calendar to keep you on track.
• Create money goals- Make a list of goals for your budget. How much you want to save, which debts you want to pay off and when, how much extra side money would you like to earn? Write them down into realistic goals that are easy to achieve. Start small (Ex. Saving $100 for an emergency fund) so you don’t have the risk of failing.
• Communicate with your spouse- Plan your budget out with your spouse. Discuss your plan and money saving goals. This way you can work through them together and hold each other accountable for the budget.
• Don’t give up- Budgeting is like dieting, even though I am horrible at dieting. If you mess up with your budget, don’t give up. Just start from scratch with a clear mindset and maybe better more realistic goals for getting your budget on track. It may take baby steps, but remember any change you’re making in planning a budget is positive.

When have I completed the Budget Challenge?

You may think the budget challenge is over once the debt is gone. However, it’s smart to continue your budget for the long term so you know where your money is going and don’t find yourself in more debt.

Once you’ve mastered an easy budget you can try increasing your challenges. Saving more money, planning bigger saving goals, and maybe even getting into investing.

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What are your biggest budgeting challenges? Tell us about them in the comments below!

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