Your full budget You have been sent two budgets with this guide: Your full budget and the Summary budget for creditors. Both budgets are in the pocket at the end of this guide. The budget used in this step is Your full budget. This budget is for you and not for your creditors. It is where you list all your income and outgoings in detail. This makes sure that you take into account all of the money you receive and all your commitments. It gives you an accurate picture of your money situation. The Summary budget for creditors is the shorter budget. It is a summary of your financial position which you use to negotiate with your creditors. You don’t need to do anything with it yet. We will explain if and when to use it in Step 3. Always fill in Your full budget before deciding how to deal with your debts. Do I have to cut back on all my spending? Lots of people think that doing a budget means they will not be allowed to spend money on anything but bills and debts. This is not the case. Your budget needs to be realistic. Take a look at Your full budget. You will see that it includes costs for many areas of spending, such as hobbies, pocket money, leisure, gifts and saving. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake on Your full budget, or need to change some figures. In fact, most people do. You could use a pencil to begin with, or just cross out any amounts that you want to change. If you need another form, contact us and we will send you one. If you prefer, you can use our online budget. You still need to gather all the same information, but it adds up your figures and does any calculations for you. You can also save and print your form. Go to www.nationaldebtline.org and click on Your budget. Research shows you are more likely to do something if you write down when you will do it. Decide when you are going to start filling in your budget and write it down. Are your circumstances changing? You may need some extra help to fill in your budget if your circumstances have recently changed, or are about to, and you are unsure of your income or outgoings. If so, contact us for advice. Page 14