ImperatorFuriosa Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 DP and I lost our jobs a few months ago we had to move and DP finally found a job. He has to drive a hour and and a half both ways every day to the only job he could get. We have had a good wage for nearly 20 years and for the first time in a long time I need to actually budget. Not saying I didn't, but I could happily buy minor things no thought. Now I have realised I can't properly budget. Give me your tips, apps, hacks, anything! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ker Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 You need to make a list of ALL your fixed expenses (rent/mortgage, fuel/public transport costs, insurances, utilities etc) - that will give you a starting point of hos much you have left.Shop specials. I check catalogues and will happily go to 3 different supermarkets to buy things on special. Also, meal plan before, so you're not wasting money on food you don't eat. And cook from scratch. It's a LOT cheaper and you can find loads of recipes online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twit Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 I have been using YNAB (You Need A Budget) for about 10 years now. You have to pay for it but it is really good. I was behind on my bills and didnt know how much money I had. Now as soon as the money comes in I allocate it. You personalise it for yourself and I have money allocated for mortgage, utilities, groceries, braces, school fees and uniforms, holidays, medical expenses, car maintenance etc etc. It really works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinsel Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 As @Ker said, add up all your fixed expenses (make reasonable generous estimates if necessary) for a 12 month period. Divide by 26 (if that's your current pay period). That's how much you need to put aside every pay to ensure your bills are paid. You'll then know how much you've got left for food, clothing, and hopefully a little discretionary spending or savings. Definitely transfer the money for fixed expenses to a separate account so it's out of mind until the bills arrive.Don't forget to take seasonal fluctuations into account - our Summer and Winter power bills are noticably higher than our Autumn and Spring bills for example. Also don't forget to add the smaller expenses such as annual roadside assistance into the annual tally, club memberships, professional memberships/registrations etc. A few of these will make a big difference to how much you need to put aside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bereckii Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 The ATO has helpful resources. Their excel budget planner is good:https://moneysmart.gov.au/budgeting/budget-plannerMore ATO helpful info here:https://moneysmart.gov.au/budgeting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornToLove Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 YNAB is really good for people who never budgeted before. It gets you in the habit of forward looking and planning. At the very least, I would pull out at least 6 months of your spending and sort thorough it all into various categories. It will give you a good starting point on where you can realistically cut back and what you need to be planning for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LemonMyrtle Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 (edited) Excel spreadsheet is what we useHave your bank statement next to you, and go through and add EVERY expense into a category in excel, break it down weekly or monthly, column by column with categories down the rows. Do it for 3-6 months or so. If you use a lot of cash you will just have to guess or ban cash for a while.Once you have your list you know your expenses. Once you know your fixed expenses you can break down what’s left into non fixed categories and then you have your weekly budget. Like this __________ January. February. March. MortgageChildcareElectricityGasWaterRatesGroceriesClothesSports feesEtc... Edited April 21, 2021 by LemonMyrtle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverstreak Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 DH and I are not experts by any means but a few things we do are:I'm now paying utility bills monthly since switching providers and it's made budgeting a lot easier, no big surprises every quarter. There are some fluctuations during the year, but I'm prepared for those. Now all our bills are monthly, except car rego and insurances and the water bill.I use iCal and put everything in it and then always have an overview of the month's expenses. I also put in recurring reminders eg the telephone bill gets paid the same day every month, so that's in the diary.If your income has dropped, maybe see if you are eligible for a low income health care card, you can get concessions on utilities etc.https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/low-income-health-care-card/who-can-get-card/income-testI cook a lot from scratch and then freeze into containers. Slow cooker lamb shoulder with vegetables can stretch to several meals. I have a large pot I cook double quantities in eg pasta, enchiladas, fried rice and I have a big pyrex tray for vegetable bakes and quiches. DH mixes it up by doing barbecues and salads.We buy certain things in bulk eg carrots, potatoes, onion, washing machine powder (we order this by the tub from the manufacturer.) Hope this helps somewhat and good luck xo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainbowbear Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 I use and excel spreadsheet that I have a list off all expensive (periodic bills like gas are listed as the higher end of what they are likely to be) and a line for each pay for the next 6ish months with what will need to come out of that particular pay against the pp. It makes it easy to see that even if we have a bit in the account now it is because in a few weeks it will be needed for x bill especially leading up to rates time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antifa Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 I find meal planning useful, so that ingredients can be used for multiple dishes in a week, and mix veges/legumes in with meat to make it go further. Eg I make bolognese sauce by adding a couple of carrots and a couple of zucchinis to mince, which stretches 500g mince into two solid meals for the three of us, same with nachos, a tin of kidney beans makes the mince go further, or if I roast a whole chook, the carcass and any leftovers go to making vege soup with carrots, a parsnip, celery, potato turnip and onion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuits Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 As others have said, we use a spreadsheet to keep track of all expenses. We use separate accounts for bills, entertainment, groceries & holiday savings. At the start of each week a fixed amount goes into entertainment, groceries and holiday and then specific amounts into bills for direct debits. Annual expenses eg car service, insurance, rego gets taken into account and is included in the weekly budget, which accrues in a separate savings account. This way we know exactly what we need to put into our joint account each fortnight. Any extra can be used for individual expenses/savings. We work to a pretty tight budget I think, but still manage to save for holidays, going out to eat/takeaway, without having to stress too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozgirl Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 I uploaded an excel spreadsheet here https://www.everybump.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4153PPs are right. Bills like electricity can fluctuate. On my spreadsheet I strated by looking up my last bills, and then figuring out the average over the year. I am a convert to barefoot who says that all your life bills (including groceries and petrol) should be no more than 60% of your income. However that may not be appropriate for you circumstances since you have a reduced income. But do you have any debts? Further advice will be dependant on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterbabies Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 Most banking apps will categories spending so you don’t have to do it manually (and you can reallocate to a different category if they get it wrong) and you can easily see how much you spend. I second moneysmart budget planner, it is brilliant and you can personalize. It will also save your data in the browser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babetty Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 In addition to the above advice on budgeting for bills etc it's useful to write down every cent you spend for a month or 2, so you can work out exactly what the coffee habit is costing for example, or what the grabbing takeaway after work etc is.You may decide that you can afford it and it's worth it to you, but it's easier to make decisions when you really know where your money is going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cool Posted April 24, 2021 Share Posted April 24, 2021 You need to make a list of ALL your fixed expenses (rent/mortgage, fuel/public transport costs, insurances, utilities etc) - that will give you a starting point of hos much you have left.Shop specials. I check catalogues and will happily go to 3 different supermarkets to buy things on special. Also, meal plan before, so you're not wasting money on food you don't eat. And cook from scratch. It's a LOT cheaper and you can find loads of recipes online.I'm really interested in saving on food. I know you said there's lots of recipes online to cook from scratch but are there any particular sites you follow to help reduce your food bill? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123tree Posted April 24, 2021 Share Posted April 24, 2021 Not the pp but The three biggest pieces of food shopping budgeting advice I have is :-- never ever waste anything - don’t buy out of season fruit and vegetables. - don’t get sucked in by gimmick cleaning products. Stick to the basics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverstreak Posted April 24, 2021 Share Posted April 24, 2021 I personally use Taste and Nagi recipes . I stick to the basics and don’t like recipes with too much faffing around. Eg I’ll buy sauces for curries rather than making from scratch. I have a friend who makes everything from scratch though and their Facebook feed is spectacular! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImperatorFuriosa Posted April 24, 2021 Author Share Posted April 24, 2021 Thanks for all the replies everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozgirl Posted April 24, 2021 Share Posted April 24, 2021 Re the food cost savings. I like the idea of once every couple of months eating from your pantry/freezer only. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaitForMe Posted April 24, 2021 Share Posted April 24, 2021 We also went from a decent household income to a quite low one and it took quite a while for us to adjust!I found the Barefoot Investor method to be the most effective for us. I did YNAB for a while and it was useful for seeing where the money went but it didn't really help drive the change we needed. By using Barefoot with the various bank accounts, I learnt quite quickly I needed to organise all my bills to be paid at the start of the month rather than on the due date. I also do a bigger grocery shop at the start with non-perishables so as much of the months costs are at once. From there I can get a better sense of what I have for day to day expenses for the rest of the month.In terms of cutting costs, what I discovered very quickly with YNAB is that there was no single thing I could just cut out and be fine. It was lots and lots of little things that creep into your life, all of which individually seem like anyone can afford but together they take over.Grocery shopping online has been great for budgeting. No rude shocks at the checkout or the shame associated with taking things out. Also good for all other shopping in that theres none of the associated costs with being out of the house, like coffee, snacks, lunch, travel costs etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleduck Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 Just thought I'd bump up this other thread as it seemed relevant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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