what helps you to budget and not spend extra stay on track with financial priorities

[Francine]

what helps you do budget and stay on track with financial priorities

i noticed a website called simple savings that is recommending for one month to not buy anything extra besides basic food , housing and bills.

I have had decades where i budgeted fiercely with the pressure of various things i faced
( std's sexually transmitted debts that i didnt make but ended up paying off!!!)

I've had alot happen in the last months in my family and finding it hard to focus on sticking only to my financial goals at present.

what helps you budget and get back on track of being really focused on your financial goals.

i know which bills come monthly and i know i must pay extra to my mortgage in the first half a year as the second half i might not be able to pay it at all as many bills come then.

FRancine.

 

[exstatic]

I wrote up a budget in excel, and it was a realistic budget, I accounted for everything that I might spend.

I then took that total amount out of the bank in cash and put that cash into a jar in the kitchen.. the ATM card gets left in the bedroom.

The only money I can spend is whats in the jar.. bills etc get paid via direct debit, and savings automatically put into my offset account.

Seems to work ok for me, and I am now saving 25% of my income per month and I am not feeling the pinch yet.

 

[Francine]

budgetting

Thanks for that.

With kids and alot of major things happening all at once there have been so many variables.

i am finding it still harder to stay focused and not let anything extra creep in.
Also maybe some of the extras are necesary and i'm berating myself unnesecerilly.

Francine

 

[BayView]

Setting the budget is easy,

The hard part is the commitment to it.

After a while, however, it becomes a habit and is easy to do.

It is a double-edged sword too; you can end up becoming very stingy (I have been there) - not with others, but with yourself.

The way to do it is to allocate some money towards savings and investing FIRST, then train yourself to live off the rest.

People who say they can't do this are pretty much doomed, because it is the very first rule of financial control and freedom.

 

[want2bewealthy]

There are a few things that keep me on track, I'll try to list them all in order of importance but in saying this, money doesn't phase me too much these days as I just use equity for investments and money is eaten by inflation so I don't feel at all bad for spending it, I've come a long way from when I bought my first property and can safely bet that I would have been the biggest scrooge you could ever meet.

1/ Early Retirement, the earliest I can possibly achieve

2/ I don't desire to go out spending money, I have a happy home life with my partner, we go out but are busy at work and prefer to relax on the weekends, we also work Saturday so 1 day a week off..

3/ The more I have in the bank the 'safer' I feel and instead of going out to buy crappy little nick nax every day I can hold out and buy expensive dining and bedroom settings without worry should I want.
Guilty as charged.. I bought my girl a bedroom setting for V-day just gone.. but shes worth it and thats my reward for saving, being able to do these nice things I want.

4/ Hmmm thats about it, I just think its great to have a money conscious mindset because as Robert Kiyosaki says
"if you cant control your money, it will control you" no word of a lie, just look at 95% of the population..

 

[want2bewealthy]

People who say they can't do this are pretty much doomed, because it is the very first rule of financial control and freedom.

Well put Bayview, no doubt the most important rule to becoming 'rich' or at least not being a slave to money.

My Sister is one of the worst abusers you will ever meet, she lives from pay to pay and never gets ahead, just has no control whatsoever and never will.

She's chasing a payrise at the moment..
But no matter how much she earns, she will never be any better off, just doesn't 'get it'

 

[islandgirl]

And the thing is that is it so much harder to control stuff you never see. Back in my parents day my father would come home at the end of the week and give his pay packet to mum who would divy it up in the jam jars...bit for electricity, bit for rates, bit for mortgage....Now the money is deposited in your bank account, you want to buy something its instantly available through ATM or EFPTOS or that magic credit card even buy now and pay it back in 3 years interest free! No wonder people have a hard time with this budgeting concept.
I have always done a excel budget and made sure I put absolutely everything in including my "have fun" money. that way I know how much I can blow just on myself and not feel guilty.

 

[investor_eddie]

I was never very good with money but now I have 50% of my pay taken out straight away and put into a seperate account that i dont touch. I'm then forced to live on the rest. After a few weeks of living on noodles/rice cause you wanted that "doodad" sure straightens you out haha.

This has worked great for me. About to settle on my first IP, pay for a fun toy car with cash and go on a 2 week holiday in July all on a average single income.

 

[willfong]

what helps you to budget and not spend extra stay on track with financial priorities?

Mine is called a wife, I have a stingy wife who likes saving and investing more than spending, not that I am complaining .

 

[Minxdamanx]

I think the two main things that assist with savings are

a) having a budget - make it realistic, no point as per above post trying to live on 2 minute noodles. Review your budget annually or at any life changing event. Allow for things that can go wrong.

b) having a goal, a plan, a strategy for the future - it doesn't matter what you call it. There has to be a point when you realise that you have achieved what you wanted, whether that is this year's goal or the final goal.

There is a third thing, which when I think about it is probably just as important as the above - and that is to have EVERYONE in your family unit working towards the same thing. There is no point if you are shopping at the Salvo's and your partner at Gucci, unless that is what you have agreed!

 

[investor_eddie]

I think the two main things that assist with savings are

a) having a budget - make it realistic, no point as per above post trying to live on 2 minute noodles. Review your budget annually or at any life changing event. Allow for things that can go wrong.

My point was living on noodles was my punishment for buying the doodad

I can live quite comfortably buying good food as long as I don't waste my money

 

[exstatic]

A member of my extended family constantly talks about money and the cost of things, so it gives me the impression that they are always saving, they have a good professional job.. probably earning 80k or so, in a happy relationship with the partner earning 65k.. have a house that they owe about 120k on.. and never seem to have enough money - even though they dont buy a thing!

I have asked what are they savinbg for, and they don't know..

Saving is fantastic to help you out for a rainy day... but what if that rainy day never comes? I personally save to invest..

Money makes things happen.

 

[weg]

My incentive to save is enjoying having a decent amount of savings in the bank and watching it grow .

We're doing quite a bit of much needed work at our PPOR over the next few weeks and our funds more than cover it but I'm saving like crazy because I want to do this work and have fair bit left over.

I couldn't enjoy spending on non essentials if it was to leave me living from pay to pay.

 

[travelbug]

what helps you to budget and not spend extra stay on track with financial priorities?

Mine is called a wife, I have a stingy wife who likes saving and investing more than spending, not that I am complaining .

Is this my husband???

That's exactly what he'd say (only he would never be on here).

My husband is a spender (well not any more because I hold the money) Well not entirely true. I hold OUR money. He now buys stuff at auctions and sells it on Ebay. That's his "cunning kit" with which he buys his useless (my word) gadgets, eg mini DVD players, flash drives, hard drives (the list goes on).
He's happy, I'm happy so it works well. He is always saying "buy yourself something". If I say I want something he says buy it or will get it for me before I say "Oh I don't really need it".

I mentioned I'd like an MP3 player. He bought it on Ebay the next minute.

The simplest thing to budgeting is only buy the things you "need".
Some of the things on the Simple Savings website are good if you do waste money.
Little things can add up. That's what a lot of people don't think about. The $3 cup of coffee every day at work is $700 a year. Buying lunch everyday etc adds up. Planning helps (eg make lunch, buy fruit or make a cake and freeze it when you shop instead of buying cakes every day.

Writing down what you spend helps to. I wrote down everything I spent for 6 months. That was interesting.

 

[Stella]

That's his "cunning kit"

My Mum uses this phrase which I had never heard before!

Whenever she uses her Seniors card or gets any sort of discount she throws that saving into her 'cunning kit'. To the extent that if someone gives her a lift to the shops - the money she saved on her fare goes straight into the cunning kit!

She is on a single aged pension & manages to do quite well by using this method of saving.

Mind you she can also tell me (to the cent) how much she paid for just about anything in her house and gets excited saving 0.75c.

Cheers
Stella

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Francine, I get the impression you have trouble saying no to your kids.

Why don't you consider bringing them up the same way your parents brought you up?

Apart from that, budgeting is 5% math, and 95% strength of character to not fool yourself, or more importantly your kids.

If you have trouble with budgeting maths, then I wouldn't recommend you get into property investing.

 

[weg]

I don't know how old your children are but could it be that they're getting older and simply costing more. Non school age children cost very little compared to older children especially the more active ones that sometimes go through shoes and clothes in a matter of a few weeks .

I'm going out tomorrow morning and buying 2 pairs of football boots and a pair of runners. Will probably cost me around $250, and that's after having spent a few hundred on uniforms, school shoes, sports clothing, runners for the older child and sports memberships.

If you have older children send them out to work to help out, teach them the value of money and to learn the skill of managing their time. It does them the world of good and it's lighter on your pocket .

 

[fokas]

I have always done a excel budget and made sure I put absolutely everything in including my "have fun" money. that way I know how much I can blow just on myself and not feel guilty.

So with that train of thought...what are people usually spending on the 'just for fun'... without special things like birthdays and after paying things like bills, transport costs....my ex managed to survive on $50 a week - including going out and having fun, lunches, petrol... don't know how they did it.

 

[The Fence]

We put every single transaction into a financial software program (Quicken) and after a few years you can see just exactly where your money is coming and going from....after that it's like bayview said....the guts to be prudent.

Disipline is paramount....but we also have a policy of smelling the roses when in bloom along the way...a balance not easy to juggle... but one that needs to happen as you could be dead by tomorrow....

I see so many motivated folks gathering the dollars absolutely maddly and a frenetic pace, only to find they have heart/stress problems etc etc....

Balance it out and live as well as saving.

Just as much fun to make a picnic up and go to the park than to do Maccas etc...get what I mean....

Good luck with it Francine...in fact...you make your own luck..... so get started...! Go Girl!

 

[wylie]

Disipline is paramount....but we also have a policy of smelling the roses when in bloom along the way...a balance not easy to juggle... but one that needs to happen as you could be dead by tomorrow....

This is exactly how I feel too. Everyone has a different idea of what "smelling the roses" means to them. Somebody's "must have" is somebody else's "junk".