Monthly Budget Sheet | Student Financial Services

Budgeting is simply your plan for how you will spend your money. Creating a budget is a great way to stretch your dollars and avoid unnecessary spending. You can budget on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. Creating a budget may seem daunting but it's manageable if you follow some basic steps:

List all your income sources and amounts including the excess financial and and loans you will use to help pay for your expenses
List all your expenses that are the same each month. These are your fixed expenses.
Think about your irregular expenses such as hair cuts, shopping for apparel, and entertainment. Calculate a monthly average for irregular expenses.
It's easy to guess but to help identify your actual spending habits, track all of your purchases and spending for a month. Oftentimes people are surprised that their actual spending habits are much different than what they perceived.
Creating a budget can help you think more about items you need to buy vs. items you want to buy. After creating your budget are there obvious areas where you can reduce spending?

Your Name*

First Last

Your Boston University ID*

Your Boston University Email*

School/College*

Income

Your monthly income can include work earnings and monthly allotments from savings, financial aid, and from family. For financial aid, include the amount you received as a refund in excess of billed expenses and divide by the months in your semester. For example, a $10,000 refund for a 5 month semester would be $2,000 a month.

Earnings from Work*

Savings*

Money from Family*

Student Aid*

Scholarships, grants, and loans you receive in excess of billed expenses - the aid you would have received as part of a refund to help with expenses other than tuition & fees.

Other*

Total Income*

Expenses

Monthly expenses can be fixed or irregular. Your rent and utilities tend to be fixed whereas entertainment, gifts, hair cuts, etc. are more irregular as the amount can change month to month.

Recurring Billed Monthly Expenses

Rent*

Utilities (heat, gas, electric)*

Phone/Data Plan*

Cable/Internet*

Other fixed expenses*

Out-of-Pocket Billed Monthly Expenses

Food*

Transportation*

Credit Cards*

Clothing*

Laundry*

Entertainment*

Gifts*

Personal/Miscellaneous*

Savings*

Total Expenses*

Total Income - Total Expenses*

This is the amount you have left over at the end of each month. If the number is negative, you do not need to panic! This is why it's important to build a budget. Seeing your budget written out can give you ideas on how to reduce spending, increase income, or better allocate your available resources.