Let's face it, building a custom kitchen probably will not be the cheapest endeavor you have ever participated in. Most of the different kitchen areas will end up costing a little more or maybe even a little less than you expected to pay. As you put together the designs for your kitchen the best thing you can do before you even get started choosing what you want and where you want it is to lay out a budget. Each part of the kitchen should be included so you know how much you want to spend right from the start. Budgeting for your kitchen will enable you to ensure you only spend what you have and no more than you need. Budgeting will also give an idea of what features or extras your custom kitchen can have and which ones will be out of the price range you have set for yourself. The most difficult part of a budget is taking the time to actually sit down and make it. Most of us have busy lives and little time to take to look at how much we spend on a daily basis. In this part of the article I will talk a little about budgeting in our daily lives in three simple steps and how this will help in building your custom kitchen.
Step 1: Collect Your Financial Records
The first part of starting a budget is to see how much you spend in any given period. This is can be most easily done by looking at the records you have kept along the way. These records can be a variety of things, such as receipts from purchases, statements from your bank, or anything that has to do with your expenses or income. Doing this will allow you to look at your spending habits and choose what parts of your spending need to be cut down and which parts my need to be extended.
Step 2: Use Your Records to Determine Your Income and Expenses
Now that you have all of your records compiled into one place the fun part begins. This step can be tedious, but is very crucial to the whole process of creating a budget. Go through each record and find how much money you make and spend in a particular period. Also decide which expenses are the same every month such as a house or car payment and which expenses are variable. Putting each expense into a category will make this much easier to determine. I would recommend looking at a couple of different time periods as well to give you a better idea of what your income and expenses are. Additionally, this will help you recognize to when you spend the most money throughout the month or year. The time periods I would include consist of weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and yearly. The combination of these periods will help you to know where you can ultimately save money throughout the year and how much you can expect to save.
Step 3: Alter Your Expenses to Save Money
When you have determined all the elements outlined in step 2, you now have to use this information to cut your expenses in areas that are being overspent. Placing your income and expenses into a spread sheet would also make the information much easier to look at and quickly determine where the problems lie. Most people will find as they put each expense in a category that most of their decrease-able spending will fall in a miscellaneous or random category. As you cut down these and other expenses you are able, you might just be surprised at how much money you can save if you only just put forth the effort to pay attention to your spending habits.
As you follow these steps in your daily life it will bring you one step closer to building your dream custom kitchen. If you already have the money you need to build your dream kitchen, then the very same principles taught here can be used to budget your costs so you don’t overspend during the process. If not, then use this information to help you reach your financial goals so you may have the kitchen you have always desired.
