• Create a personal budget based on 1 months worth of revenues and expenses.

• Ensure you have a column for budgeted and a column for actual.

• Add in figures that you actually spent on each line item or earned if it was income (revenue) and then add a variance column.

• For any variance greater than 10% (higher or lower) add a comment as to why you think this variance occurred.

• Be sure to review the budget cycle!