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Today I’m sharing a more detailed view of my 2022 Budget Planner and talking about how I’m tracking my finances this year.
2022 Budget Planner
One of my biggest focuses for 2022 is my money and finances. I have a big goal to pay off my credit card debt, and that’s going to take some major effort.
I’ve tried a lot of different ways of budgeting over the years, but the one that has helped me the most is a combination of a few things, tailored to my specific needs. This is a similar system that I’ve been using for a few years now.
Today I will show you what is in my budget planner, how I customized it, and why I decided to use a 3-ring binder to hold it all. Again.
Watch the YouTube Video Here
Mixing Systems
My 2022 budget planner is a mixture of two different systems. The main one that I’m using are the printable version of the Budget By Paycheck Workbook from The Budget Mom. But I also love the Money Challenge Year Workbook and monthly pages from Debt Free Charts.
(Full disclosure: I did receive the Money Challenge Year Workbook for free from Heidi of Debt Free Charts. This post is not sponsored or required as part of that, and she doesn’t even know I’m writing it. I’m not an affiliate of Debt Free Charts, I just love them.)
Both systems are sets of printable pages. I have taken some of each, and not everything, to create my personalized budget planner to track my finances. I’ll go over which ones in a minute, but I wanted to explain that there are two systems in my planner.
What’s Inside My 2022 Budget Planner
I’m starting with 6 months of pages for now; January-June. Partially because it’s easier to print than the full year, but also because I want to be able to re-evaluate what I’m using or not using before I print off the next 6 months of pages.
The Beginning
At the beginning of the budget planner I have the Workbook part of the Money Challenge Year. This is the part where Heidi explains all the pages in the set, how to use them, and why they are important. It also has exercises to help you as you are working through your money journey. I’ve read through it before (not completing all the exercises), and this year I want to start over and do it again. Hopefully this month. I got a lot out of it last year, and want the refresher.
This is the part that really makes the Money Challenge Year valuable in my opinion. It can be helpful for a money mindset shift, and definitely changed the way I looked at my money goals. And I’ve looked at a lot of budgeting and money resources over the years! This was different from anything else I’ve found, and I’d recommend it to anyone struggling with money right now.
My Budget Setup Each Month
Each month starts with my pages from Debt Free Charts. I have two pages that I’m using from this workbook- the monthly title page with a quote (it’s just so pretty!), and the actual challenge chart that I can fill in for that month.
The challenge chart is for tracking your own personal goal for that month; income, savings, debt payoff, or anything else that you are focusing on. It can be personalized to your unique situation and goals.
The rest of the pages within each monthly budget section are from The Budget Mom’s Budget By Paycheck Workbook or pages that I made myself. In my 2022 budget planner, I included:
- Income Tracker (I made this one)
- Monthly Calendar for seeing my bill due dates easily
- 2x Paycheck Bill Tracker (pictured below)
- 4x Expense Trackers – one for each account that I spend from
- Monthly Category Spending Breakdown
- Debt Payment Plan
- Monthly Debt & Savings Breakdown
- Monthly Spending Comparison (comparing to the previous month)
In the Back
After each month I have a few pages that help me keep track of my finances and goals on a more yearly basis. Most of what I have here are debt trackers (from Debt Free Charts). But I also included some pages like subscriptions, yearly savings, and debt payoff trackers.
How I Customized My 2022 Budget Planner
I don’t just print things as they are, I choose the pages I wanted based on what is helpful to me and what I actually use.
Knowing and tracking my net worth is just not important to me right now, so I decided to leave that page out. There are also a few other pages that just seemed either redundant or unnecessary to deal with each month, so I didn’t include those either.
Also, the BBP (Budget By Paycheck) Workbook includes many more budget forms than I need. I think the newest version has 5 or 6 for each month. I really don’t need more than two, and so I only printed two for each month. If I have a month where I get an extra paycheck or something big I need to track (maybe a tax refund?), then I can always print another copy and just add it into my notebook.
Likewise, with the Money Challenge Year Workbook, I found there were pages I just wasn’t using. I love the pages she included and can see how they would be helpful if used (like the blessings page), but I just wasn’t using them. If I get to a point where I think I could incorporate them into my system, I can still do that. But for now, I just want to have the necessities so I don’t have a lot of wasted pages or get overwhelmed by trying to fill out so many things.
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Extras That I Used to Setup My 2022 Budget Planner
Binder Bookmarks
I love these bookmarks for 3-ring binders! They are thin plastic, but I’ve never had problems with them feeling cheap. I love that the punched holes are cut through so I don’t have to open the rings in order to move the bookmarks around. I also love that they are only a couple inches wide, so they don’t get in the way of my page.
Dividers
I made the dividers myself. I used a digital pattern and added the text in Photoshop. Then I laminated each one, punched the holes, and added monthly tabs.
Erin Condren Monthly Tabs
The monthly tabs I choose came from Erin Condren. You can find them here. They are a rose gold vegan leather tab, with the embossed months on each one.
They stick really well, and I don’t feel at all like they will fall off any time soon (or ever), even by using them to pull open to the month regularly.
Using A 3-Ring Binder?
I have a love/hate relationship with 3-ring binders. They are so easy and convenient to hold letter size papers (which are also the easiest to print). And the contents can be changed without hardly any effort at all because of the rings.
They are also bulky and hard to write in. Okay, yeah, that’s pretty much all I don’t like about them. And it’s pretty self explanatory.
But the reason I really decided to go back to a 3-ring binder for my 2022 budget planner (after deciding to coil bind it all together last year), was for the ability to add pages as I need them. If I need an extra budget form, or spending tracker, I can add it in without any problem. Plus… I really like being able to add my paystubs, bills, and tax forms right in too. It is so easy to find them later when they are already “filed” within the month they are needed, and close to the rest of my financial information.
Keeping it Separate
My 2022 Budget Planner is one of my planners that always needs to be in a separate planner for me. Mostly because I always have a lot that I want to track and that just doesn’t fit inside another planner.
I love the flexibility of the 3-ring binder, because my finances are something that can (and have) changed over time. And being able to adapt the pages that I’m using to my current needs has been helpful and essential.
What do you use for your budget planner? I love hearing everyone’s ideas and methods!
