Anything worth while doing is worth while doing right. A personal family budget certainly fall into that category.

As part of putting together a small business budget, I recommend that the owner's family budget be used as the base upon which to develop the business budget. In my experience, unless the enterprise makes enough to cover the needs of the owner and family, it will not survive.

Too often, the family budget consists of a few lines such as mortgage, utilities, credit cards auto loans, food and a miscellaneous amount to cover everything else. A family budget should be put together by the family, including children of all ages. This serves not only as an excellent training tool, but also helps them to understand the financial situation of the family.

An in-depth budget includes an allocation for future needs, as home repairs arise, a car replacement, growing children new needs, education and a host of other items. A guide is available at www.paydirtbooks.com  for only $14 and includes instructions and a disk with forms to use.

Like all other good habits, once it is formed, the family budget process will become second nature and a very satisfying and worthwhile accomplishment.

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Fortunate, indeed, is the man who takes exactly the right measure of himself and holds a just balance between what he can acquire and what he can use.