You keep calendars to remind yourself of personal events like anniversaries, doctor visits, or piano lessons. Why not extend the good practice to organise your financial life as well? By prudently, matching income flows with expenditure, you could be on top of your finances. 

What is a budget calendar?

It is essentially an organiser that tracks cash flows of a household. On the one hand, there are outflows in the form of utility bills, rent, SIP investment and credit card bills that might have to be paid on different days of the month. 

On the other hand, there are inflows in the form of salary, bonus, or dividends. While payday is usually a fixed day of the month for the salaried, it could vary for the self-employed. Regardless of whether you are a salaried or self-employed, budget calendar comes handy by letting you track the financial flows in a systematic way, so that you don’t struggle pay cheque to pay cheque.

While it could be maintained on a monthly, quarterly or even a yearly basis, usually it’s done on a monthly basis. 

What are its advantages?

Better cash flow management – By matching inflows with outflows, you refrain from locking too much money in your bank account. Excess funds could be lucratively parked in liquid funds. 

Also, if you are finding that too many due dates fall on certain days, you can change the billing cycle by calling up the credit card company. SIP dates for mutual funds can be tweaked to be scheduled few days after the payday. 

No penalties – By following a calendar with automated alert systems, you are also less likely to miss deadlines for paying various bills. This in turn could save on penalties and late payment charges. 

Saving discipline –  You are more likely to invest regularly towards retirement and other financial goals by following a budget calendar. By setting alerts and through automation of the investment process, you systematically move closer towards your financial goals.

While preparing a monthly budget calendar, ensure you don’t skip any irregular costs like that of half-yearly school fees or annual vacation trip costs. A detailed study of last one year expenses could give you a holistic picture of your finances.

How do you make one?

For starters, pull out your bank and credit card statements to get a hang of the various categories of expenses and income. List all the expenses against their respective due dates while also logging payday and other days of income flows. For instance, SIP of Rs 10,000 on 7th of the month and credit card bill on 15th. It will help you see what’s coming in and going out and exactly when. 

While preparing a monthly budget calendar, ensure you don’t skip any irregular costs like that of half-yearly school fees or annual vacation trip costs. A detailed study of last one year expenses could give you a holistic picture of your finances.

Take your pick

You can maintain a budget calendar digitally or in the form of a wall calendar. Smart phones and laptops allow you to use apps to set alerts. These exercises will highlight if you have sufficient bank balance to sail through. If not, you need to dip into your liquid funds to plug the gaps.

In a Nutshell

By keeping track of financial flows in a systematic way through a budget calendar, you avoid struggling paycheck to paycheck. And when life throws something unexpected your way, you are well prepared.