---
title: 'How to Create a Budget That Actually Works in 2026 | Step-by-Step Budgeting Guide for Women'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=93qE-obIkrw'
video_id: '93qE-obIkrw'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 1012
---

# How to Create a Budget That Actually Works in 2026 | Step-by-Step Budgeting Guide for Women

> Source: [How to Create a Budget That Actually Works in 2026 | Step-by-Step Budgeting Guide for Women](https://youtube.com/watch?v=93qE-obIkrw)

## Summary



## Transcript

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