Setting up a budget can be a daunting task. There is no reason to be intimidated by this process. Once you have set up your budget you can easily see where your money is going and how much you have left to save and spend. Just follow these seven easy steps.

　　建立预算让人心悸，但不能被困难吓倒。一旦建立了预算，你就能清楚地看清你的钱财流向、存下了多少。学会建立预算，跟随下面7步即可。

　　1. Determine Your Income 确定你的收入

　　You need to know how much money you will have each month to meet your expenses. If you are starting a new job you may want to use a payroll calculator to determine how much money you will bring home each month. You may be surprised at the figure.

　　你需要先知道你一月能赚回多少钱。刚入职的话你可能需要一个薪水计算器来计算一下每月拿回的钱数。这个数字可能让你震惊哦。

　　2、Determine Your Fixed Expenses 确定你的固定开销

　　Your fixed expenses are items that will not change from month to month. These items can include rent， a car payment， car insurance， your electric bill and your student loan. You should also include savings in this category as well. It is important to pay yourself first. Ideally you should put at least ten percent of your income into savings each month.

　　固定开销是指你每个月都一定要花不会改变的支出，可能是房租、汽车贷款、汽车保险、电费和学生贷款。你也应该把每月存钱书目算进去，为自己“付账”理所应当放在第一位。是每月存入收入的10%为最佳。

　　3、Determine Your Variable Expenses 确定你的可变开销

　　After you have listed your fixed expenses you will want to determine the amount that you spend on variable expenses. These items may include your groceries， eating out， clothing and entertainment. These are also considered variable because you can cut back on how much you spend on these categories if you need to. You can determine what you spend by reviewing the last two or three months of your transactions in each category.

　　把固定开销都列好之后，开始决定每月的可变开销。这种支出包括买菜、外餐、买衣服和娱乐活动。这些列为可变是因为一旦需要节省开支，这一类支出是可以改变的。你可以回顾一下过去两三个月在每项中的开销情况，来确定大致金额。

　　4、Compare Your Expenses to Your Income 将收支进行比较

　　Ideally you should create a budget where your outgoing expenses match your income. If you assign every dollar a specific place this is called a zero-dollar budget. If your amounts do not match you will need to adjust accordingly. You may need to scale back on your variable expenses. If you have extra money at the end of the month，reward yourself by putting that money directly into savings. If you have cut back significantly on your variable expenses and still can not meet your fixed expenses you will need to find ways to change your fixed expenses.

　　理想情况为收支平衡。严格按照预先分配金额支出，我们叫做“零元预算”。（即，预先确定每项支出金额，一旦金额花完，本月停止该项消费。）如果支出与收入不符你就需要对可变开支进行调整。如果月底有结余，将它存起来，作为对自己的奖励。如果你严重缩减可变开支但仍旧不能满足固定支出，那就需要想办法节省固定支出项。

　　5、Track Your Expenses 跟踪开销情况

　　After you have set up your budget you need to track your expenses in each category. You can do this with budgeting software，on Quicken or Microsoft Money or on a ledger sheet. You should have an estimate of what you have in each category at all times. This will help to prevent your from overspending. If you sit down for a few minutes each day you will find that you spend less time then you would if you put it all off until the end.

　　一旦建立预算，你需要追踪各项支出情况。你可以用Quicken或Microsoft Money这样的预算软件，或记录在账簿上。你需要随时对每项支出余额心中有数，这能防止你过度消费。每天坐下来观察几分钟，你做这件事情所需要的时间远比你拖到最后一起做要少得多。

　　7、Evaluate Your Budget 评估你的预算

　　After you have followed your budget for a month you may find that you can cut back in a few areas，while you need more money in others. You should keep tweaking your budget until it works for you. You can evaluate at the end of every month and make changes according to the expenses in the upcoming month as well.

　　按照预算过了一个月以后，你可能觉得有的地方可以削减一些开支，有的地方要多花一些钱。直到预算对你有效，你需要一直保持观察调整。你可以每个月对你的预算进行评估，对下月预算做出改动。