My husband makes pretty good money. I make ok money. We only have rent to pay each week and monthly insurances. But somehow each week seem to just make it through with money. It’s there one minute and gone the next. I don’t even really know where it goes. We have 3 kids. I need to start being really smart with our money and watching where it goes. Any advice? Any really cheap meal/food ideas? Any tips for saving? I need all the help I can get. Thankyou
11 Replies
Go back through your bank statements, and make sure you start keeping receipts. I find going back to basics and being mindful when I spend money is really important. Start taking 5 minutes a day to write down your spending.
I’d also suggest reading the barefoot investor. I found the set up of his bank accounts really helpful (although we are very low income, so had to adjust percentages).
I personally have my bank accounts set up so our pay goes into one account, and then we have auto transfers set up so percentages of our money go into a savings account, a bills account, splurge money. We only carry our splurge cards, so if we’ve spent our play money, it’s gone, no access to our other accounts when out and about.
I always write a meal plan before shopping and have a shopping list.
We don’t go to the shops unless we already had a plan to buy something, we get that thing and leave. We don’t just look at stuff for the sake of it, cause that leads to spending.
Keep a ledger so you can see where you need to tighten the reigns
Like the others have said, take care of the cents and dollars take care of themselves.
I found I was always buying coffee on the way to work (like 4 times a week) and that adds up so quickly!! So I bought a barista buddy for $9 and I just make cheap coffee now. For $9 it’s so far saved me $20 a week.
I found I had a habit of over spending at the supermarkets, so now I only do online shopping. I check everything we need for the week and order it, and I pickup milk and bread once through the week.
This so far has saved me $45 a week for a family of 2.
It’s hard to see where your money goes until you start tracking it.
I also found online shopping helps plan around the catalogued items that are on special, this saves a few dollars.
I buy good brand named shoes as they last so much longer, I’m still wearing a pair of sketchers from 2 years ago, and I have bought 2 pairs of sketchers for my son this year - previously I was going to Kmart every month and paying $25… one pair of sketchers was on sale for $45 and have lasted over 6 months already (purchased in January).
I amalgamated all my bills to 1 credit card, which I now pay fortnightly more than the minimum repayments, and that’s now saving $120 a month.
Also try the service Nsw app, search for savings/rebates and put in your circumstances, they’re may be things your eligible for that your not currently claiming.
Literally watch where it goes. Keep a diary. Keep receipts, count it all.
Oh... I started ordering every plate. Cheaper than shopping at the grocery store
Are you sure those are your only monthly expenditures?
What about phone bils/credit, internet, streaming subscriptions, utilities, fuel etc. Things like that all add up quite quickly.
Take aways and trips to woollies for "a couple of things" is a killer too. $20 here, $40 there and suddenly you've spent $200.
Definitely start a diary of literally every expense, if things are still not quite adding up then someone's not being entirely honest.
I am useless with money. I set up automatic payments for bills and house payment to come out payday. Cancel subscriptions that aren't neccesary, (youtube, netflix, spotify etc) open an account without a card linked to it and set up an auto payment to come out payday for savings, anything left is for fuel, incidentals and whatever else you want for the week.
Please read The Barefoot Investor, by Scott Pape. It’s absolutely life changing, I wish I had read it in my early 20s
Cheaper cuts of meat are best suited to slow cooking and braising (which are delicious). Meal plan so you don't have a mishmash of ingredients that don't actually make anything. Stick to the shopping list. One of my main "I don't know where the hell my money goes" culprits is the supermarket. Once you get to where the budget looks good you can use the regular specials to save yourself a fair bit on the grocery bill (ie stock up on non perishable products like dishwasher tabs, laundry products, bathroom products etc when they're half price).
Secondly, being on a good income with smaller commitments is brilliant. Use it to your benefit. I have several online accounts linked to my every day account and have automatic transfers after payday for various amounts. Pay yourself first. Put 10% straight into savings (I park my savings in the mortgage, it earns more offsetting the interest than it does in an online account).
Now work out your budget. Put in everything. I use a spreadsheet with estimated yearly costs broken down into fortnightly portions. There's an account for the house. It covers rates, water, insurance. Then there's "bills" for gas, electricity, phone, internet. Vet, I have exotics so there's 500 put aside. When I use it I build it back up. Car bills, rego, insurance (includes the caravan). Xmas has 20-50 per fn added.. you get the picture. Adapt to your own needs, add kids commitments, school fees etc, holiday if you want to save to go away.
It's not just about having the money there to pay the bills when they come in. It's about not having to deal with short pay cycles if I happen to buy beef in bulk and then have the car rego fall due. By transferring that money to a "purpose" I don't feel it burning a hole in my pocket, and I'm such a tightwad - it means annual bills are easy to manage so avoid the monthly processing fees. That's 40-50 per year in my pocket, over a few monthly payment options it does really add up.
Once that is organised look at incidentals. I was spending $25 per week on coffee. Now I buy a coffee once a week, spend 10 on a decent jar of coffee that lasts a few weeks and plonk the extra 50-70 per month in savings.
If it's access to cards that makes it hard to control spending, use cash for your spending money and leave the cards home. If you happen to need it, by the time you drive home to get it you may have talked yourself out of whatever it was you were going to buy.
It seems daunting but it really isn't, as you see the small amounts get bigger it becomes a little motivator in itself to keep going.
Do make sure you come back and let us know what's working for you. There's lots of people that struggle with balancing a budget and we can all certainly learn more to help each other out.
I went through our bank statements, it was mind blowing. For instance, I thought we were spending about $350 pf on groceries and on going through the bank statements I realised with little trips to top up stuff through the fortnight after the main shop was done we were spending almost double that amount. Once we realised that I changed the way I shopped and made sure I was planning correctly for meals. We were also wasting a lot of food, and that has basically stopped.
I think you need to find a process that suits you, also helps to break everything down by pay cycle. I get paid monthly so i worked out what my average cost of power was yearly and divided by 12, this is what i pay the power people every month my account is in credit i run a spread sheet with all my costs, car rego, fuel, daycare costs, and i have taken to adding to my super too , i kinda figured if i can't save heaps it's locked in super so i will have something at retirement. i always have a savings account. I grocery shop monthly, food plan for that time too, meat in the freezer and just pick up the fresh bits weekly with brad and milk. it takes time and effort. my husband hates budgets finds them
constraining so i manage thr money generally and he has an account with his money so he doesn't feel like i am controlling it all. we don't go with out but don't live large either it's about working out what you goals are .