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Wednesday 23 January 2013

New year, new budget

I briefly mentioned on a FB status about trialing a 'pay in cash' method this year. Drawing out X amount every pay to cover groceries, fuel and 'play' money for myself and hubby, in order to help with saving.I normally pay by card for most things which is usually fine but sometimes the spending bug can take hold and its so easy to hand over a card rather than actual money. Im hoping using the cash wallet system will help with knowing what I have spent and therefore what is left in the kitty.
I tried this on Tuesday when I did my grocery shopping. My budget is between $220 and $250 for the fortnight including meat, nappies, fresh produce etc. It normally averages $220-30. It felt good to just hand over the cash and see exactly what was left ($8!) which I will then put aside for top up milk. Of course there is always room to add a little extra if we need but I will try and stick to it as much as I can.
This nifty device I found at Woolies awhile ago on clearance.

Ive only used 3 dividers separating FUEL, FOOD and CASH for everyday items. Theres also room for dockets and bills i might have to pay whilst out.

Im also putting aside money each fortnight (coinciding with payday) to cover the quarterly house bills.
I was reading another bloggers status feed (sorry cant remember which one) about what people do to budget their bills, and noticed a few people pay these bills monthly. I've never thought of this, nor thought you could! But it would definately help with Bill Shock expecially with the rising costs of electricity and water bills.
Originally I was going to look into opening another account with my bank where I could transfer the money into but to be honest, I couldnt be bothered, so Im going to move the money into my premium savings account I already use for our savings and mark the transfer 'bills' so I can easily tell the difference between savings and bill money.

Our family is at a cross roads this year where were not really sure what we're going to do. Our home is only 2 bedroom and we knew one day we would outgrow it, although that day seems to have come along very quickly. We want to expand our family in the next couple of years and desperately need more room. So either we look into building on (which we're not sure if we're able to with restrictions etc) or move to a bigger house. I really prefer option 1 because moving just seems too hard but time will soon tell as we start looking at planning with the council etc to see if the extension can be approved.
Lets just say, it could be an interesting year!



2 comments:

  1. I love this idea Melissa - I seriously need to think about doing something like this xx

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    1. Thanks Sonia! Its gonna take a bit of tweaking I think. This month hasnt worked out as I had planned so far due to a trip away this weekend...did you know booze is expensive ?! ;-P

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