

Since I was new in town, the only figure I was sure about in the list above was rent. House supplies ( cleaning materials, scented candles, etc).Electricity and water bill (In Dubai, this is sent as 1 bill).I didn’t even use an excel sheet, I used what I’m most comfortable with-word documents.

So I wasn’t going to complicate the process because that would make me give up along the way. I used monthly income from my 9 to 5 job to get started.Īt the time, I wasn’t good at budgeting. Without this, you’ll be living in a financial cloud. That would be financial suicide.Ī budget will help you differentiate between how much you make and how much you spend. Either way, your budget shouldn’t exceed your income. You could have more than one income which is great. This is rule number 1 your budget should fit within your income. Here’s an easy step by step guide on how I created my budget from December 2019. I had enjoyed a year of living without mobile money loans, I wasn’t going to get sucked into that mud again. When I moved to Dubai late last year, I was determined to sustain a healthy financial lifestyle. The thought of coming up with a spreadsheet was scary for me. I’m one of those people who for years, would use the excuse ‘ I cannot stick to a budget.’ This excuse was mostly driven by the fear of Math. Click here to read the secondand here to read the third one. NOTE: This is the first article on budgeting. I wrote in last week’s article on Minimalism-A guide to spending less that living without a budget is like driving while blindfolded-sooner or later, you will mess up.
#How to make a home budget spreadsheet free#
And let’s not forget that it’s not cheap to pay for the COVID-19 test if the free ones don’t get to us.įeeding your body with the right nutrients at this point in time is the same as having a budget for your finances. With all the stories we’ve been reading on the media about racial segregation in hospitals, of healthcare workers having to choose who gets a ventilator and who doesn’t-which literally means they are making tough decisions on who gets to live and who dies, we cannot afford to get reckless especially if we have the resources needed to do the right thing.

I immediately put my phone away, made myself some healthy meal and ate, distraction-free. Zero chills.Īs much as this wasn’t the empathetic reply I was expecting, I loved it. This sounded like those lectures we got while growing up from our African mums. It’s best to get well before heading to the hospital.” “What have feelings given you in your life so far? Well, however much it is, throw them out of the window.” “How can you not be giving your body the raw materials to protect itself? Just coz you don’t feel great? At the very least, make sure you’re eating fruits, vegetables and nuts.” “You don’t want to weaken your immune system when COVID-19 is a possibility. Eat because it’s time to eat, not because you feel like.” “You need to decouple food from your feelings. I was expecting an empathetic reply and a how-to guide to get through my challenge. Because it’s important to talk about these feelings since this pandemic is novel to all of us, I sent my friend a message to tell him how I was feeling. For the better part of this week, I have been struggling with anxiety which has led to a poor appetite.
