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Are you worried about what would happen if you had a sudden loss of income or a major emergency?

Having a bare-bones budget will help you understand and create a plan so you're not caught completely off guard if the unthinkable happens. 

In this episode, you'll learn what a bare-bones budget is, how to make one, when to use it, and some tips to make sure you're successful with it.

Action Task

For your action task this week, you're going to create your own bare bones budget.

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Below is the transcript from today's show. Or you can download the full transcript as a PDF.

Welcome to the Go From Broke podcast where you'll learn how to take control of your money so you can stress less and save more. If you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck or constantly wondering where your money is going, you're in the right place. This podcast is all about giving you actionable tips and advice so you can get started improving your finances today.

Has a sudden change in your finances left you strapped for cash? Or maybe you're just curious to know how much you should be saving in case of a future emergency. Either way, a bare bones budget may be just the solution for you.

You may be wondering what exactly a bare bones budget is. Well, it's simply a budget that reflects only your most essential expenses.

It consists of all of your needs and none of your wants.

Essentially, it's a survival budget. It's basically the minimum amount of money you need to pay for your necessary living expenses.

So why might you need a bare bones budget?

Well, there are a few reasons you may want to create one.

First, if you find yourself in an emergency, you'll have a guide to help you through it. Knowing your bare minimum expenses can help you quickly identify the areas you can cut in case there's a crisis.

Second, it's a great way to gain awareness about how much income you need to survive. Knowing your baseline spending needs can help you focus on your priorities and adapt your spending habits.

Third, adopting a bare bones budget is a great way to make massive headway towards your financial goals. Whether you're paying off debt or building your emergency fund, using a bare bones budget in the short term can help you hit your targets faster.

So what exactly should a bare bones budget include?

Well, it should only include the absolute essentials that you need to get by.

For most of us, that's going to be things like your housing or your utilities, gas for essential transportation if you have to drive to work, minimums that are due on your debt, and essential food items.

What shouldn't be included in your bare bones budget is things like entertainment spending, cable, satellite, clothing that's not required for work purposes, large data plans for your cell phone, going out to restaurants, vacations, hobbies. Even non essential personal care, like hair coloring or manicures and cosmetics and things like that.

And I know we all have different expenses that we may consider essential that others may not. But if you find yourself trying to justify some of these more discretionary expenses, you're probably not being honest with yourself about what constitutes a want versus a need.

Now it's easy to overlook some of our typical spending habits when we're building out a regular budget, but you need to make sure you're being brutally honest with yourself about what your needs are when you're making your bare bones budget.

Okay, so now let's go over how to create a bare bones budget.

Since the need for prioritizing is mostly done for you, making a bare bones budget is actually a bit easier than a typical budget.

Step one list out your expenses.

Look at last month's expenses and start listing out all your outflows. As you write things down, go ahead and make a note next to the obvious expenses that you'd want to carry over, like your housing and utility costs.

Step two is to slash any non-essential expenses.

So looking over that list of expenses you just made start crossing off the ones that aren't essential. You should eliminate anything that doesn't directly impact your ability to survive.

Step three, prioritize your necessities.

With your expenses narrowed down now it's time to prioritize them.

You should focus on the expenses that you need most for survival, and that have the least wiggle room.

For example, you may be able to negotiate some of your bills, but you have to have food to feed your family.

Step four, reevaluate your priorities and then cut some more.

Consider this an exercise in double checking yourself. Look back through your expenses for costs that you can't eliminate, but you may be able to reduce.

For example, your bare bones budget may require a phone for communication, but an unlimited data plan would constitute a want, not a need.

Finally step five, tally up your remaining expenses.

Once you've identified, reduced and prioritize until you've reached your bare minimums, it's time to add them all up.

Tally up everything and see how much money you need to earn, or to have saved, to afford your essentials. That is your baseline. That's the bare minimum that you need to get by every month.

Now that you have your bare bones budget. You might be asking, well, when do I use this?

There are multiple reasons that you might need a bare bones budget, but the most typical is going to be for something like a job loss or a medical emergency that forces you to adjust your spending.

But there are some other reasons that you might want to adopt a more restrictive budget.

For example, maybe you're dealing with a family crisis or you've been impacted by a natural disaster. Or maybe it's just that you're trying to pay off debt or build your emergency fund. It could even be that you're trying to break unhealthy spending habits or break the paycheck to paycheck cycle.

Whether the need comes from external influences or internal motivations, a bare bones budget is a valuable resource.

So, how do you use your bare bones budget?

One way that you can use it is as a guide to help you limit your spending. This is a great way to make progress towards your financial goals. Whether you want to pay down debt or build up your savings, a bare bones budget will help you free up cash from non-essential spending that you can then put toward your goals.

Another way that you could use it is to reserve it simply for emergencies.

Something like a job loss will likely require you to replace your typical budget with your bare bones budget.

Eliminating unnecessary expenses is essential to your financial wellbeing when you're dealing with an unexpected emergency like that.

So assuming you go to a bare bones budget, how long should you stay on one?

Well, that's all going to depend entirely on your reason for using it to begin with.

If it's an emergency situation that's forced you to adopt a minimal budget, you'll want to stick with it as long as your situation is uncertain.

But if it's a more goal oriented reason, you can choose your end point to coincide with reaching your goal or even a particular milestone.

For example, you could use a bare bones budget only until you can fully fund your emergency fund or you could use it intermittently and make financial sprints to your goals.

This approach might be good for those longer-term goals like paying off a lot of debt. Using a bare bones budget over a long period of time is going to be hard to maintain, but you can probably motivate yourself to adopt it for at least a month or two at a time.

By challenging yourself to adopt an essentials only approach even for a month, you'll get immediate savings that you can then put towards whatever your financial goals are.

It may also help you identify and eliminate expenses for the longterm that will help you work your way toward financial freedom even faster.

Okay, so here are some tips for making and using a bare bones budget.

Now while a bare bones budget may seem simple and relatively easy on the surface, in practice it takes a lot of effort to curb your impulses.

We're all accustomed to spending a certain amount to maintain our current lifestyle. And that's not an easy thing to give up.

So here are some tips that will help you succeed with your bare bones budget.

Tip number one: be honest with yourself.

The most important thing to remember when you're creating your bare bones budget is that you need to be honest with yourself. The purpose behind this budget is to save as much as humanly possible.

If you try to convince yourself that your Netflix and Spotify and HBO subscriptions are all essential to your well-being, you're setting yourself up for failure.

You may have expenses that you deem necessary that others don't, but you just need to make sure you're being honest with yourself about them.

For example, daycare may be an essential expense for a single mom who needs to go to work, but it wouldn't be for a stay at home mom who just wants a few hours to herself.

Tip number two: prepare for unexpected expenses.

As with any other budget it's essential to factor in the unexpected. There may be infrequent necessities that pop up and catch you off guard. Things like medication refills or doctor's visits that are easy to forget about and can totally throw your budget off track.

So try to avoid this by making sure you're budgeting at least a little bit towards future unknowns.

Tip number three: save money on the essentials.

Just because an expense is essential doesn't mean you have to pay the full price for it.

Food costs are the first place to look when it comes to saving money on your necessities. By combining coupons, sales, and cash back apps, you can save more money when you go to the grocery store.

Also check to see if your grocery store offers fuel rewards on gift card purchases. You may be able to save even more by buying a gift card to pay for your groceries, and then getting a discount on future gas purchases in the process.

Tip number four: find some creative ways to enjoy the same things without spending money.

Just because you aren't spending money on entertainment doesn't mean you have to sit around and be bored. There are plenty of ways you can enjoy a little fun that won't cost a penny.

Check your local paper and your library for free events or consider inviting friends over instead of going out.

If you're used to eating out a lot, the suddenness of making all your meals can be overwhelming. So make it easier by involving friends and family. Have a batch cooking party or take on pantry challenges together.

A little creativity can have a massive impact on your motivation and success. So anytime you feel tempted by a non-essential expense, use your imagination or check Pinterest or Google for ideas that can help you achieve the same outcome without the cost.

Tip number five: focus on the positive.

Adopting a bare bones budget may feel like a punishment, especially if it's due to an unforeseen emergency. But it's important to try to find the bright side.

Keep your focus on your progress towards either savings or maintaining your cashflow.

Instead of feeling deprived that you can't order pizza tonight, be proud that by saving that money, you can pay for your water bill next month.

So much about our finances comes down to our mindset.

If you can learn to think in abundance and see the positives, you'll be able to master your money regardless of the budget you use.

Now that you know all about barebones budgets, it's time for you to make your own.

And that's your action task this week.

Figure out your baseline budget. Don't worry about being exact. Just try to get as close as you can to figuring out what that baseline number is for you. Figure out how much income you absolutely must have to get by each month.

Knowing this number will bring you clarity and maybe even peace of mind with regards to your overall financial picture.

So don't skip this week's action task. It's a big one.

If you found this episode helpful, it'd be amazing if you could share it with a friend or leave a rating and review to help other people find the podcast.

And make sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode yourself.

As always take action and make it a great day.