Setting up a budget can be a daunting task. There is no reason to be intimidated by this process. Once you have set up your budget you can easily see where your money is going and how much you have left to save and spend. Just follow these seven easy steps.

　　建立預算讓人心悸，但不能被困難嚇倒。一旦建立了預算，你就能清楚地看清你的錢財流向、存下了多少。學會建立預算，跟隨下面7步即可。

　　1. Determine Your Income 確定你的收入

　　You need to know how much money you will have each month to meet your expenses. If you are starting a new job you may want to use a payroll calculator to determine how much money you will bring home each month. You may be surprised at the figure.

　　你需要先知道你一月能賺回多少錢。剛入職的話你可能需要一個薪水計算器來計算一下每月拿回的錢數。這個數字可能讓你震驚哦。

　　2、Determine Your Fixed Expenses 確定你的固定開銷

　　Your fixed expenses are items that will not change from month to month. These items can include rent， a car payment， car insurance， your electric bill and your student loan. You should also include savings in this category as well. It is important to pay yourself first. Ideally you should put at least ten percent of your income into savings each month.

　　固定開銷是指你每個月都一定要花不會改變的支出，可能是房租、汽車貸款、汽車保險、電費和學生貸款。你也應該把每月存錢書目算進去，為自己“付賬”理所應當放在第一位。是每月存入收入的10%為最佳。

　　3、Determine Your Variable Expenses 確定你的可變開銷

　　After you have listed your fixed expenses you will want to determine the amount that you spend on variable expenses. These items may include your groceries， eating out， clothing and entertainment. These are also considered variable because you can cut back on how much you spend on these categories if you need to. You can determine what you spend by reviewing the last two or three months of your transactions in each category.

　　把固定開銷都列好之后，開始決定每月的可變開銷。這種支出包括買菜、外餐、買衣服和娛樂活動。這些列為可變是因為一旦需要節(jié)省開支，這一類支出是可以改變的。你可以回顧一下過去兩三個月在每項中的開銷情況，來確定大致金額。

　　4、Compare Your Expenses to Your Income 將收支進行比較

　　Ideally you should create a budget where your outgoing expenses match your income. If you assign every dollar a specific place this is called a zero-dollar budget. If your amounts do not match you will need to adjust accordingly. You may need to scale back on your variable expenses. If you have extra money at the end of the month，reward yourself by putting that money directly into savings. If you have cut back significantly on your variable expenses and still can not meet your fixed expenses you will need to find ways to change your fixed expenses.

　　理想情況為收支平衡。嚴格按照預先分配金額支出，我們叫做“零元預算”。（即，預先確定每項支出金額，一旦金額花完，本月停止該項消費。）如果支出與收入不符你就需要對可變開支進行調整。如果月底有結余，將它存起來，作為對自己的獎勵。如果你嚴重縮減可變開支但仍舊不能滿足固定支出，那就需要想辦法節(jié)省固定支出項。

　　5、Track Your Expenses 跟蹤開銷情況

　　After you have set up your budget you need to track your expenses in each category. You can do this with budgeting software，on Quicken or Microsoft Money or on a ledger sheet. You should have an estimate of what you have in each category at all times. This will help to prevent your from overspending. If you sit down for a few minutes each day you will find that you spend less time then you would if you put it all off until the end.

　　一旦建立預算，你需要追蹤各項支出情況。你可以用Quicken或Microsoft Money這樣的預算軟件，或記錄在賬簿上。你需要隨時對每項支出余額心中有數，這能防止你過度消費。每天坐下來觀察幾分鐘，你做這件事情所需要的時間遠比你拖到最后一起做要少得多。

　　7、Evaluate Your Budget 評估你的預算

　　After you have followed your budget for a month you may find that you can cut back in a few areas，while you need more money in others. You should keep tweaking your budget until it works for you. You can evaluate at the end of every month and make changes according to the expenses in the upcoming month as well.

　　按照預算過了一個月以后，你可能覺得有的地方可以削減一些開支，有的地方要多花一些錢。直到預算對你有效，你需要一直保持觀察調整。你可以每個月對你的預算進行評估，對下月預算做出改動。