Budgeting
To effectively manage your money, you*ll need to know what your income and expenses are.
Income is generally pretty easy to calculate from wage slips and bank statements. Personal expenses however are often more difficult to predict. Things to calculate include:
- Household bills: electricity, water, gas
- Residential expenses: rent, or mortgage repayments, body corporate fees, council rates
- Communications expenses: mobile phones, internet, extra data
- Insurance: health, car, home & contents, income protection etc
- Living expenses: food, transport, clothing, weekly shopping
- Entertainment: movies, theatre, cable tv, events
- Recreation activities: sports fees, club memberships, classes, consumables
- Medical expenses
- Travel and holiday expenses
- Transport: car, fuel, car registration, licence fees
There are tools to help with this 每 apps that allow you to record every $ you spend on your phone.
For many people, the total weekly expenses come as a bit of a surprise.
But once you know what your expenses are, and what you can afford on your income, it*s easier to budget, and to know what you can put away each week to help you reach your goals.