[0:01] Hello and welcome back to Women for
[0:03] Wealth. So today I want to talk to you
[0:06] about budgeting in 2026. So I've done
[0:09] other films and talks on budgeting.
[0:13] And I think what happens with a lot of
[0:15] people, you start a budget, you follow
[0:16] it for a week or two, and then you
[0:18] completely abandon it. I'm seeing this
[0:20] more and more. The truth is most budgets
[0:23] fail because they're just too
[0:24] restrictive, too complicated, or simply
[0:27] don't fit your life. So today, let's
[0:29] create a budget that actually works for
[0:31] you in 2026.
[0:34] Whether you're living paycheck to
[0:35] paycheck, trying to pay off debt,
[0:37] building savings, or simply wanting more
[0:39] control over your money, this video is
[0:41] going to walk you through the process
[0:43] step by step. By the end of the video,
[0:45] you'll know how to create a realistic
[0:47] budget that you can actually stick with
[0:49] long term. Cuz that's really the goal.
[0:51] You got to have a budget that you stick
[0:53] to. It's got to be part of your life.
[0:55] So, let's get started. So, let's talk
[0:57] about why most budgets fail. Most
[1:00] budgets fail because they're just too
[1:02] restrictive. You know, it's a budget is
[1:04] simply a plan for your money and plan
[1:07] for how you're going to spend your
[1:09] money. Without a plan, money tends to
[1:11] disappear. It It's like money sprouts
[1:13] legs and just walks off. Many people
[1:16] create budgets based on what they wished
[1:18] they spent instead of what they actually
[1:20] spend. And that's a mistake. You got to
[1:22] be realistic. You know, if you normally
[1:25] spend $300 a month eating out, create a
[1:28] budget that allows $300 a month. If you
[1:31] put in your budget $20 a month for
[1:33] eating out, you're never going to need
[1:36] that. You're just not. Be realistic in
[1:39] your budget.
[1:41] Gradually improve your habits over time.
[1:44] A workable budget is flexible,
[1:46] realistic, and designed around your
[1:48] life, not somebody else's life. your
[1:50] life, where you're at, where you're at
[1:52] today, and how you live your life. So,
[1:55] how do you calculate your real monthly
[1:57] income? The first step is knowing how
[2:00] much money comes in every month. Start
[2:02] with your take-home pay. Not your
[2:04] salary, not your gross income. Your
[2:07] take-home pay. The amount of money that
[2:10] actually leaves your employer and lands
[2:12] in your bank account after taxes, after
[2:15] insurance, after retirement
[2:17] contributions, after deductions.
[2:19] Whatever actually gets deposited into
[2:21] your account, that's what you want to
[2:23] start with. If your income varies
[2:25] because you're on commission, look at
[2:27] six month and just calculate an average
[2:29] over a six-month period.
[2:31] And I do a rolling six-month average on
[2:34] this. So what I do is I'll calculate it
[2:38] for a six-month period and then the next
[2:40] month I will shift that six months and
[2:42] calculate it again. And that way I have
[2:44] a rolling six-month average of what the
[2:47] commission structure is and what
[2:48] typically goes in my bank account. You
[2:51] want to include all of your income. Your
[2:53] employment income, any side hustle
[2:56] income, any freelance work, any child
[2:59] support you get, any alimony you get
[3:01] paid, any rental income you have. Any
[3:05] reliable monthly income is a source of
[3:08] income that you should include. So,
[3:10] we're just going to pick a number. Let's
[3:11] say your average take-home income is
[3:13] $4,500 per month. That's average. We'll
[3:15] just build our budget around. The next
[3:17] thing you want to do is track your
[3:19] expenses.
[3:21] Let's see where your money is going.
[3:23] Pull up your bank statements and your
[3:24] credit cards from the last three months.
[3:27] Create categories. You know, a couple of
[3:30] examples of categories that I have in my
[3:32] budget are housing, that's, you know,
[3:35] mortgage, utilities, that's your power
[3:38] and your water bill. groceries.
[3:41] If you spend out, you know, we we do a
[3:44] lot of cooking at home, but if you buy a
[3:46] lot of food or you do Uber Eats or
[3:49] whatever, maybe you want to split that
[3:51] out between your grocery budget for
[3:53] going to the grocery store and your
[3:55] eating out budget, transportation. So,
[3:58] this is your your car payments. This is
[4:00] your maintenance on your cars, oil
[4:01] changes,
[4:03] replacing tires,
[4:05] you know, what whatever costs are
[4:07] associated with your transportation.
[4:10] You need to also have a line item for
[4:12] insurance
[4:14] as well as health care. You know, as you
[4:16] get older, I'm going to be 50 this next
[4:18] birthday. Health care is something I'm
[4:21] actually spending money on, which I used
[4:22] to not in the past. So, I need to have a
[4:25] line item for healthcare where I didn't
[4:27] on a previous budget. entertainment. You
[4:30] know, if you're somebody that loves to
[4:32] go out and have date night with your
[4:34] husband, include that in your budget. I
[4:37] think date nights are important. You
[4:39] know, you can get creative. We do a lot
[4:40] of stay-at-home date nights where we'll
[4:43] be like, "Okay, we're going to rent a
[4:44] movie. We're going to do some popcorn.
[4:47] You know, we're just going to take time
[4:48] to focus on being together and spending
[4:50] time together." Because it is important
[4:53] to invest in your relationships. Are you
[4:56] someone that likes to shop or do you
[4:58] have a job where you constantly having
[4:59] to buy the latest fashion? You know,
[5:02] include that. And if you're, you know, a
[5:05] a purse girl or high heel girl and
[5:09] you're buying on that, include that in
[5:11] your budget. Again, the goal right now
[5:13] is not to restrict yourself. The goal is
[5:15] just to get a picture of what your
[5:18] current spending habits are.
[5:20] Subscriptions, you know, there's so many
[5:23] subscription plans right now. So, if you
[5:25] had a subscription to something, include
[5:27] that in your budget as part of your
[5:29] subscription expenses.
[5:31] Any debt payments you have, credit
[5:34] cards, things like that, you want to
[5:35] include that.
[5:37] Are you saving? And I hope you are. I
[5:39] hope you have a regular savings plan
[5:42] where every time you get paid, a certain
[5:44] amount of money gets put into a savings
[5:46] account. It's high yield. or you're
[5:48] buying stocks or you're investing in
[5:50] 401k in addition to what you're doing
[5:54] through your employer. Hopefully, you
[5:56] have that, but you need to put that down
[5:58] as an expense because you're putting
[6:01] that money into savings every month and
[6:04] you're investing in yourself when you
[6:06] save money. A lot of people discover
[6:08] they're spending more than they realize
[6:10] and that's okay. This isn't about
[6:13] judging you. This is about just taking a
[6:15] snapshot of what you actually live and
[6:19] what do you actually spend money on.
[6:20] It's just about awareness because once
[6:22] you are aware of what you're spending,
[6:25] then you can improve it. You can't
[6:27] improve what you don't measure. So,
[6:29] let's get the measuring stick out. Let's
[6:30] measure what we're spending. One of the
[6:33] big biggest budget killers this year is
[6:36] subscription creep. streaming services,
[6:39] apps memberships software
[6:41] subscriptions, gym memberships, monthly
[6:44] box deliveries. Review your current
[6:47] charges. Anything that's recurring, a
[6:49] lot of banks, I know my bank does, you
[6:52] can do a filter that will give you all
[6:54] recurring charges that happens every
[6:57] month. Then ask yourself, do I still use
[7:00] this? Would I sign up for it again
[7:02] today? If not, cancel it. Get rid of it.
[7:04] You know identify essential
[7:08] essential expenses needs not wants. So
[7:12] what are some needs? Housing, utilities,
[7:16] food transportations
[7:18] insurance, health care, debt payments,
[7:22] basic communication services such as
[7:24] cell phone. So what are wants? dining
[7:28] out, streaming services, luxury
[7:30] purchases vacations entertainment
[7:33] premium subscriptions.
[7:35] It doesn't mean the wants are bad. You
[7:37] you don't want to live a restricted
[7:38] lifestyle. Life is short and life is
[7:41] precious. You want to enjoy your life,
[7:43] but you need to understand the
[7:45] difference between a need and a want and
[7:47] make sure your wants aren't controlling
[7:48] your financial decisions. A great way to
[7:51] start is the 50 3020 rule.
[7:54] So what is the 50 3020 rule? So 50% has
[7:59] to go to your needs. 30% you could put
[8:02] toward wants. 20% needs to go to savings
[8:06] and debt reduction. So let's go back to
[8:08] that $4,500 a month income that we came
[8:12] up with previously that we're just going
[8:13] to use as an example. So, for $4,500 a
[8:17] month income
[8:19] using the 503020 rule, $2,250
[8:24] is going to be spent toward your needs.
[8:27] $1,350
[8:28] is going to be spent toward your wants.
[8:31] $900 is going to go towards savings and
[8:33] debt reduction. Now, let's be honest.
[8:36] Can most people hit these numbers
[8:37] exactly? No. Housing costs are higher.
[8:41] Groceries are more expensive. insurance
[8:44] premiums continue to rise. And that's
[8:46] okay. This is a guideline. It's not a
[8:48] rigid rule. The goal is progress and
[8:50] improvement, not perfection.
[8:53] So, let's talk about building an
[8:54] emergency fund. Every budget should
[8:57] include savings, even if it's only $25
[8:59] per paycheck. Emergency funds prevent
[9:03] financial setbacks from becoming
[9:05] financial disasters. Start with $1,000,
[9:08] then work toward one month's of
[9:10] expenses. Eventually, aim for three to
[9:12] six months of living expenses. Automate
[9:15] your savings as much as possible.
[9:18] What you don't see, you're less likely
[9:20] to spend. This is very important, and
[9:22] this number should change depending on
[9:24] your lifestyle. You know, if you're
[9:26] young and you're not married, you don't
[9:27] have kids, $1,000 is probably enough.
[9:30] Once you're married and you have a
[9:32] spouse, you need to increase that
[9:34] probably in three months. If you've got
[9:36] children, you need, I would say, 9 to 12
[9:40] months of emergency savings account. And
[9:43] that's because your spouse and your
[9:45] children are completely well, not your
[9:48] spouse, but your children are completely
[9:49] dependent on you for their financial
[9:51] health and taking care of them. So, if
[9:54] something were to happen catastrophic,
[9:56] your spouse loses their job or you lose
[9:59] your job or both of you lose your job,
[10:03] that is catastrophic. And I'm telling
[10:04] you right now that people just aren't
[10:06] hiring. There's too much uncertainty.
[10:08] There's a lot of fear around AI. So
[10:11] people are going a year sometimes
[10:13] without a job. And do you have a year's
[10:16] worth of expenses in your emergency
[10:18] savings account to where your family
[10:21] will not go through financial hardship?
[10:24] I think you should. I think that should
[10:25] be your goal. It's definitely my new
[10:27] goal. So let's talk about creating a
[10:29] debt payoff plan. If you've got a
[10:32] budget, your budget should include a
[10:34] strategy.
[10:35] There's two methods that are very
[10:37] popular, and I've done an other video on
[10:39] this, so maybe the editor can link it
[10:41] below, but the two main ways to pay off
[10:44] debt are the debt snowball or the debt
[10:48] avalanche.
[10:50] So, the snowball is pay off the smallest
[10:53] balance first. The debt avalanche says
[10:56] pay off the highest interest rate first.
[10:59] What's the best method?
[11:01] Whichever one you pick and the one that
[11:03] you'll stick with. Consistency
[11:06] in small improvements beats perfection
[11:09] every time. Your debt will disappear and
[11:12] you'll redirect those payments towards
[11:14] savings and investing. And that's going
[11:16] to create momentum and accelerate your
[11:18] wealth building. The next thing you want
[11:20] to do is prepare for irregular expenses.
[11:22] Many budgets fail because people forget
[11:24] about non-monthly expenses. Things that
[11:28] can be included in this. Car repair,
[11:31] house maintenance. Y'all, one of my air
[11:34] conditioners just stopped working and
[11:35] the guy wants $8,000
[11:39] to replace that HVAC. I did not expect
[11:41] that. And that's a lot of money. Thank
[11:44] goodness I have an emergency savings
[11:46] account. So, we'll be able to address
[11:47] that and move forward because y'all, it
[11:50] is hot in the south and it is humid and
[11:52] you just cannot live without air
[11:54] conditioner. But that's a great example
[11:57] of unexpected house maintenance. You
[11:59] know, something that you should budget
[12:01] and plan for, but a lot of people don't,
[12:03] are holiday gifts. You know, Christmas
[12:05] comes on December 25th every year. It
[12:07] should not be a surprise. You know when
[12:09] it is. You should plan and you should
[12:12] budget and you should have a separate
[12:14] account for that money set aside. And
[12:16] when you start buying gifts, you should
[12:18] know how much you have to spend on each
[12:20] individual person. If you spent
[12:22] overspend on one person, you can shift
[12:24] and you know move money from another and
[12:26] balance it out. But you should not be
[12:28] putting holiday gifts or birthday gifts
[12:31] on a credit card. Another thing you need
[12:33] to be aware of that's irregular and not
[12:36] every month is back to school shopping.
[12:38] um that is hundreds of dollars now. Um
[12:42] it is just absolutely ridiculous.
[12:45] I know recently I was talking to
[12:46] somebody and they said that their child
[12:49] like ninth grade child is required to
[12:52] buy an Apple laptop. Now they didn't say
[12:55] here's the criteria of the laptop,
[12:58] here's what the laptop needs to be able
[13:00] to,
[13:02] you know, run. Um they said you have to
[13:05] buy an Apple laptop. And I think that is
[13:08] absolutely ridiculous. I don't use Apple
[13:11] products. Um I'm not a fan of them. I
[13:14] can do a separate video on that if you
[13:16] want to know my opinion and why I don't
[13:18] use Apple. But you know, you need a
[13:20] computer that will do what you need it
[13:23] to do. I don't need a highowered
[13:25] computer where I could do video graphics
[13:27] and things on it because my wonderful
[13:29] husband's my editor. So he has that
[13:31] computer because he does these videos
[13:33] for us. But, you know, honestly, for
[13:36] what I do, I just don't need that much
[13:39] power in my computer. So, I get a
[13:40] cheaper computer and save that money.
[13:42] Another thing you need to think about is
[13:44] annual insurance premiums, medical
[13:47] expenses. And, you know, a syncing fund,
[13:50] a seeking fund is simply money set aside
[13:53] each month for future unexpected
[13:55] expenses. You know, it's kind of the the
[13:57] old petty cash you hear about that
[14:00] businesses have. It's just extra money
[14:02] you set aside for unexpected irregular
[14:06] bills and expenses that come up. You
[14:08] know, if you typically spend $600 on
[14:11] Christmas gifts and it's 6 months away,
[14:13] put $100 per month in a separate account
[14:16] or in a cookie jar or however you want
[14:18] to save it. But that way, when Christmas
[14:21] gets here, you're not going to be
[14:23] stressed. You're going to be able to
[14:25] enjoy
[14:26] gift giving with your family and
[14:28] friends. It's not going to be as
[14:30] stressful. It's not going to be
[14:31] anxietyprone as it's not going to be the
[14:34] headache that it can be the the
[14:36] commercial just quagmire is what I'll
[14:39] call it. A budget helps you get rid of
[14:42] stress, get rid of anxiety, and it gives
[14:44] you freedom to enjoy your life. It's not
[14:47] restrictive. Automate everything that
[14:49] you can. Automation is one of the most
[14:51] powerful financial tools available. Set
[14:54] up automatic savings transfers,
[14:56] investment contributions, bill pay, debt
[15:00] payment, retirement contributions.
[15:02] Automation removes emotion from money
[15:05] management. It makes things easier and
[15:08] easier is likely to last. Easier is
[15:11] going to be easier for you to maintain
[15:14] and for you to continue and stick with.
[15:17] You know, when your budget is not a
[15:18] one-time project, you're going to review
[15:20] it once a month or at least once a
[15:22] quarter because it's a living document.
[15:25] Schedule one day once a month or once a
[15:28] quarter. That's going to be your month
[15:29] money date. So, you're going to review
[15:32] your income, your spending, your
[15:34] savings, your progress, your debt
[15:36] reduction, your financial goals. You're
[15:38] going to ask yourself what works, what
[15:40] doesn't, and adjust as you need to. The
[15:43] most successful budgeters are not
[15:45] perfect. They're adaptable. In
[15:47] conclusion, let's recap. A workable
[15:50] budget in 2026 starts with knowing your
[15:53] income, tracking your expenses, taking a
[15:56] snapshot as they are today, separating
[15:59] needs from wants, creating realistic
[16:01] spending categories,
[16:03] building savings, paying down debt,
[16:05] preparing for future expenses, and
[16:07] reviewing your progress regularly.
[16:10] Remember, a budget isn't about
[16:12] deprivation. It's about giving yourself
[16:14] options. is about reducing stress. It's
[16:16] about creating freedom. Most
[16:18] importantly, financial management is
[16:21] about building the life that you want.
[16:23] If you find this video helpful, please
[16:24] like, subscribe, and share with someone
[16:26] else that you think could use some
[16:28] control of their finances this year.
[16:31] Thank you for watching Women for Wealth,
[16:32] and we'll see you in the next video.
[16:34] Until next time, I wish you health and
[16:35] wealth.
[16:51] Hallelujah.