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What are the Best Sources of Budgeting Help?

Tiffany Manley
Tiffany Manley

Individuals who would like to formulate a plan for their money will generally create a budget. This often is something that can be hard for a person to do. In order to successfully complete a budget, many people seek out budgeting help, but this can be difficult if they do not know where to look. Budgeting help might be found in a variety of places, including local colleges’ continuing education courses, community centers, websites and books.

Many local colleges offer a variety of continuing education courses. Some might be to provide certification courses for certain job fields, and others might be for hobbyists looking to enhance a skill. Other times, the courses are meant to provide some sort of meaningful assistance to the community, such as a course designed to offer budgeting help. A course like this might offer personalized assistance to each student, allowing him or her to have guidance while creating a personal budget.

A plethora of budget management software, spreadsheets, and other personal finance tools can be downloaded for free.
A plethora of budget management software, spreadsheets, and other personal finance tools can be downloaded for free.

Community centers are another good place to find budgeting help. Many community centers offer classes in various community interest areas. Oftentimes, these classes are offered for free or at a very low cost to the participant. Creating and sticking to a budget is a very common need, so a community center might focus on this as a class or a series of classes. The staff might even bring in local professionals who could offer valuable advice to the students.

Websites are a great source of information on budgeting help. Many times, this information can be found free of charge with a simple Internet search. The information might be presented in different ways, from experts giving their opinion in news pieces to trained professionals maintaining their own sites to everyday people maintaining blogs detailing what has worked for them. Many times, it might be possible for an individual to contact the author via email to ask specific questions about his or her situation.

Books are another great way for an individual to get budget help. There are a wide variety of books on the subject, and many can be borrowed from a local library free of charge. Just as with websites, books can be found that are written by seasoned professionals and by everyday people who are simply sharing what has worked for them. A great benefit to both books and websites is that an individual is able to glean firsthand knowledge about what has worked for different people and what has not.

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    • A plethora of budget management software, spreadsheets, and other personal finance tools can be downloaded for free.
      By: Andy Dean
      A plethora of budget management software, spreadsheets, and other personal finance tools can be downloaded for free.