Achieve Financial Peace Budget Planner: 12 Month Practical Debt Workbook for Beginners in Large Size

I've used a lot of paper budget planners and this is one of the better ones I've found. It is set up to allow you to track a year's worth of personal finances with or without using a computer. The layout is large which I like and there is a lot of space for recording things a notes.

The book starts out with listing your savings and debts (painful!) and going over your goals for your finances. This is probably the hardest part to get through if you've never sat down with a budgeting book before. Looking up all the accounts takes time and can really make you anxious when you see the numbers in black and white. But if you are serious about getting your finances in order, this is what needs to be done. It would be easy to skip the goals but show more you really need those to give yourself a WHY for the budget work you are doing.

The basics are here - debt tracker, savings tracker, monthly calendar (blank so you can start any time), expense tracker for each month and a recap to bring it all together. One or two months of using this format is enough to get used to it and it really can help you see where you are with your finances. Definitely a good format for someone new to putting it all on paper, not a lot of extras to make you go crazy.

Unlike some other systems this doesn't use sinking funds and that can be good or bad. If you don't have extra money in the month you can't do sinking funds anyway and not having them listed here won't make you feel bad. BUT it also doesn't let you plan for future payments very well. Out of sight, out of mind.

So a suggestion for improvement is not to go the whole way and include sinking funds, but do add a record table for infrequent or yearly payments or subscriptions so that they are visible in the budget. As it is these are kind of lost since they only occur in monthly expenses. Big bills like insurance suddenly showing up in a month can wreck your budget, better to have on paper that they will be coming.

One last suggestion is to increase the calendar to six weeks. My first month started on a Saturday (I use a Sunday-Saturday week) and I had to split a couple blocks to get all 31 days in. Not a big deal but would be nice to do if possible. show less

Tired of being tied to your PC? This portable and handy alternative will help you feel like you have matters in hand…pun intended! I like it. It can be sufficient unto itself or a supplemental tool.

Love this! My husband is an accounting major who has had a career as a budget analyst and he thinks that this workbook is a great tool for both beginners to budgeting and for anyone just wanting to take control of their personal finances. Well done!