How To Plan Special Events On A Budget

The idea of setting a budget for special events shouldn’t be new; it’s something that you do automatically, as with any spending. You want to get the best value for your money. It would be nice if you could spend any amount of money on special events or just about anything, but in reality this isn’t the way forward, you have to live within your means and that means setting budgets for special events and working with the money that you have, to provide all the things you need. It is not about having less, but more about only spending the money you have and not the money you would like.

How To Plan Special Events On A Budget

Setting budgets for special events is important, it allows you to work out and plan with the money you have and to get the important things you need first and then work down the budget to see if it will stretch for some luxuries too.

If you are looking at doing a meal for friends, then the most important part of your budget is working out what you need to spend on food. You can only really work out the cost of the meal if you know what you are going to serve.

Creating a menu might seem like hard work, but it will help to focus your attention on the items that you need and not the little extras that catch your attention and end up wasting your budget.

Ensure that you are aware of any special dietary needs before you start; this allows you to plan these details into your menu. Once you have your basic idea for a menu you must then see the actual cost of the items you need.

Knowing The True Costs

This is the key to getting your meal right, only with knowing the costs of the items you need will you see if your menu plan is effective or if you have to change a few details because the cost is more than you budgeted.

Without this information, you might have overspent on your budget and this would have a detrimental effect on not only your budget but also where you will find this extra money to pay for the overspend. What category are you going to borrow money from, to pay for the overspending or do you put this directly on to credit?

This system works with planning other areas for special events, it might be a new outfit or some decorations, whatever the expense, you have to know your budget and the actual cost of the items; this is the only way that you can track your expected expense and ensure that it fits comfortably within your budget.

Creating The Right Budget For You

If you are struggling as to find money for these extra expenses then you need to take a closer look at your actual budget. The information you need is here, it will tell you what money you have, as well as the money that you need for the bills you have, it will also tell you how much money you have left after all these expenses.

I like to work to a zero budget, it means that I give every penny that is in my account a job; I don’t want to have money sitting in my account without a specific task. I do have a category for flexible money; this is for those unexpected expenses that happen no matter how careful you are.

This allows me to see the areas that I need money, if I am looking to host a special event, I will plan for this in my budget for a few months; I don’t like the unexpected, I know it can happen, but not with a special event, though! I create a category for this event and start putting money aside. I tend to work out how many people I am catering for, and if there are any other expenses, then try to break this down into manageable chunks from each payday until the event; knowing that I have enough money to pay for the event puts my mind at ease and I don’t worry about finding the money.

A budget is about making the money that you have, work for you. It is about spreading it in the areas which you know that you need to cover, you might have to reduce the more flexible areas to release some more available money, but this is what budgeting is about. It isn’t about straight jackets, not being able to move, and more to do with making the money you have to cover the expenses.

Therefore, if you are looking to create a special event on a budget, it becomes more of a challenge to succeed and to learn to live with what you have and not just based on what you want. This is a difficult concept seeing that we live in a society that has come to see credit as an easy option, something you have without thinking about the interest payments and the actual cost of the money you borrow. It isn’t hard to create a budget, it is more difficult to work with one and stick with it for the whole project or until your next payday.