Understanding Zero-based Budgeting
Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) may sound complex and intricate, but it’s indeed a straightforward yet influential tool to optimize your spending habits. If you aim to manage your budget better and increase the possibility of achieving financial goals like saving money or paying off debt, ZBB can be your ally.
Comprehending the Concept of Zero-based Budgeting
ZBB is a method where every dollar of income you receive must have a designated place in your budget. Each dollar is assigned a task by being allocated to specific expenses, savings, or debt repayment. The objective is to balance your budget to zero every month.
This does not imply that you get to splurge all of your money. It’s not about perpetuating the cycle of living paycheque to paycheque. Instead, it means that you decide at the beginning of each month exactly how you are going to distribute your hard-earned cash, and then you adhere to it.
Reasons to Adopt This Approach
Humans have a notorious reputation for being bad at planning for the future. Our genetic makeup inclines us to live in the present, making impulse spending a common pitfall for many.
ZBB is an effective method for those who struggle to save or pay off debt due to a lack of focus. When you employ ZBB, you constrain yourself to spend within your means, save money, and pay off debt. By ensuring that you don’t miss any priorities, you increase the chances of meeting all your financial goals.
Creating a Zero-based Budget
The underlying principle of a ZBB follows this simple formula or rule:
INCOME – SPENDING – DEBT REPAYMENT – SAVINGS = ZERO.
In simpler terms, it’s a zero-sum budget.
Creating a ZBB is no more challenging than any other form of conventional budgeting.
Analyzing your Income and Expenses
Your income is relatively simple to list. It should include your net paycheque, social assistance, child or spousal support, pension income, business income, rental incomes, and any other cash inflow. If you earn commissions, estimate conservatively. If you earn more or receive a bonus, it’s better to exclude this initially. This strategy provides a buffer in your planning, ensuring that you don’t start in the negative.
Your expenses might be a little more challenging to determine initially. If you’re unsure about where your money is currently being spent, start with a 30-day spending journal. Review all your past credit card and bank statements and utility bills for recurring expenses. Besides the big three – rent or mortgage, food, and transportation – include all memberships, personal care expenses, prescription medications, and anything else you spend money on. Don’t forget to account for periodic or seasonal expenses like insurance premiums, property taxes, or gifts.
ZBB accounts for all cash outlays, so you also need to list all the money you spend each month on debt repayment and any amounts you wish to save. Allocating a small amount each month towards building up an emergency fund is highly recommended.
Balancing your Income and Expenses
Once you have a clear understanding of your monthly income and expenses, the next step is to balance them to equal zero. Your preliminary budget might reveal that your expenses surpass your income.
To balance your budget, you can:
- Increase your income.
- Find cost savings to decrease discretionary expenses.
- Increase or decrease debt repayment (ensure to keep up with minimum payments).
- Increase or decrease your savings.
- Ultimately, it’s your ZBB. Your rules.
The key advantage of ZBB is that it replicates what you need to do in real life to achieve your financial goals. If you want to allot more money to savings goals or debt repayment, you need to cut back on expenses somewhere. The essential thing is that you clearly assign your money somewhere to prevent impulsive spending.
Determining How Much to Save or Spend
Always remember your initial goals. Do you want to eliminate debt? Do you want to increase savings? When deciding where to spend your money, make sure it aligns with your specific financial objectives.
You can use general guidelines to distribute your money like the 50-30-20 rule:
- 50% should be spent on necessities (rent, groceries etc.)
- 30% should be the maximum you spend on wants (gym memberships, vacations, clothes, fancy food etc.)
- 20% should be saved (for goals or retirement) or put towards paying down debt.
However, these guidelines may not be suitable for everyone. If you have high credit card debt, you might want to allocate more than 20% to pay off high-interest debt earlier. If your income is high, you may not have an extra 30% for discretionary spending. Your rent or mortgage might consume a large portion of your income, limiting how much disposable income you have to allocate.
The ZBB approach ensures that you allocate money first to the most important items like necessary expenses and debt repayment or savings. For your budget to work, it must be realistic. If your living costs are high or you have significant debt, meeting your goals might require making some tough choices to reduce discretionary spending for a while.
Monitoring your Progress
The only task left now is to track your progress. You can do this with an app, a spreadsheet, or simply automate your bill payments and savings to align with your ZBB plans.
ZBB works well with the envelope method or reserved bank account method. Once you balance your budget to zero, you move money into these envelopes or separate bank accounts according to your overall plan. It’s recommended not to leave your entire paycheque in your checking account as it might tempt you to spend. If you’ve designated monthly income to cover certain future expenses, move the money into a separate account used only for that purpose.
Don’t worry if you slip up occasionally. Re-evaluate your line items to see where you can reduce to compensate for where you overspent – your budget should still total zero at the end of the month.
Does Zero-based Budgeting Mean Zero Flexibility?
Absolutely not. You can adjust how and where you allocate money throughout the month as your priorities and situations change.
The best aspect of ZBB is guilt-free spending. If you have assigned $100 to your restaurant fund for the month, then spending that money means you are sticking to your budget. Rather than feeling guilty, you can enjoy your money stress-free, knowing that you’re only ever spending within your means.
Creating a ZBB is a potent way to gain control over your finances. You consciously determine exactly where and how you are going to spend every cent you earn, which will help you achieve your financial goals in the long run.
ZBB is not about restricting your financial freedom. It’s about empowering you to manage your budget so that you can enjoy more of the things you love, without worrying about unexpected surprises at the end of the month.