Budgeting

[eagleskickass]

I am a uni student and i manage to organise my finances quite well but i would like to work out a basic fortnightly "budget" guideline for myself to work on. Is it just a simple matter of listing my income and expenses? or is there a more productive way. What are the various ways of "budgeting"

I have no idea about this as my folks dont budget, Dad has it all organised in his head, hes good that way, so i have no idea about ways of organising income and expenses over a period of time. Cheers.

 

[Former]

It takes a bit of organising up front but in the long run you will be very happy you did it. You need pen and paper and some discipline. You also need to stop worrying about money, and become CONCERNED about money. The two are very different.

First of all take a notebook around with you and note down everything you spend. Do this for a couple of weeks.

Be specific - "entertainment" is probably not specific enough. Movies? Night at the pub?

A number of years ago found that I was spending 25% of my weekly take-home wages going out to nightclubs on the weekends. That was just too much and I changed it (mostly).

Note also bank charges, credit card interest, rent, bills, and so on.

Then work out your weekly income.

Now, at the top of your budget put the amount you can comfortably SAVE each week. 10% of income is a good start. This is money you are paying YOURSELF out of all income, before you start paying other people.

(Base your calculations on your pay cycle (monthly? weekly?) to make it easier. Put your savings in a seperate account that rewards you for depositing and not withdrawing money. One of mine is with St George Bank.)

Then list your expenses. If your expenses are higher than your income, where is the extra money coming from? Cut down!

You need data on your expenses and income to make an informed judgement about your budget. It takes a bit of an adjustment in attitude towards money but it pays off handsomely, leaving you much less worried about money because you know your boundaries and your only concern is being disciplined enough to stay within them.

 

[Disgustipated]

Find yourself a girlfriend....They know how to budget.

 

[Former]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that little short cut.

 

[Squeak]

Originally posted by Disgustipated
Find yourself a girlfriend....They know how to budget.

Mostly how to budget using your money.

 

[Deej]

Uni student I'm assuming you're early 20's, at that age I didn't give a stuff about budgets. Rent paid yep, bills yep, right how much money do i have left to drink with? Just don't reckon young people should stress too much about cash, these are the years you should be just enjoying yourself.

 

[Squeak]

EKA, do you live at home? I'm tipping it would make budgeting a fair bit easier, judging from me as an example.

I earn, on average, about $280 net per week. Because I live at home, virtually my only expenses are petrol and insurance for the car, which works out to about $200 per month. That equates to about $800 disposable per month for my own use, of which I use about half. Therefore I manage to save about $100 per week.

It would be much harder if I didn't live at home.

 

[TheBloods]

Groves's suggestions are good. There are a few types of expenses. Firstly there are the compulsories, such as rent, utilities, etc. Then there are the variables, which you need to spend, but how much is the critical factor. This includes food, items for Uni and perhaps some basic entertainment/items of interest. Then there are the purely optional items, such as going to pubs, nightclubs, etc, which often eat up a lot of your money.

Basically list your income and then your compulsory expenses, seeing how much real disposable income you have left.

Then look at the basic items after that you will need to spend money on. Keeping a record for a few weeks will give you an idea of how much this costs.

Then you will have a surplus left over. This is what can be used towards purely optional items or savings. This way you know that each week (or fortnight or month - budget according to your pay periods) you have $x that you can afford to spend when you go to the pub or whatever.

Savings are a problematic issue when you are at Uni and working part time. I think the only real need at this stage is as a buffer in case you need to spend more on something or if you are saving for a major expense.

Once you've worked out your budget, you should try to track your expenses for a couple of months if possible. Have a look and see if you are keeping to your budget and whether it is all realistic or parts are wrong. It's amazing what you discover when you do this process.

 

[Former]

Originally posted by Deej
Just don't reckon young people should stress too much about cash, these are the years you should be just enjoying yourself.

I wasn't into budgeting at that age either. I wish I had been! It would have been so much easier going into the workforce with a 'saving' mentality than a 'spending' mentality. I think it is the people who don't save who end up stressing more about money.

If you develop a sound attitude that money is not just for spending on your own enjoyment then you avoid the conflicts that arise when people start to identify their enjoyment solely with how much money they can spend.

It's a bit of a paradox, but in the long run that's how it works out.

 

[eagleskickass]

firstly i think i need to wait till i get back to working before i start budgeting (still waiting for insurance from my crash so i can get a car so i can do my job delivering pizza's) but then i definately plan on starting as i think it would help, i dont stress about money so being organised, IMO, can only benefit me. I dont live at home, dont have that luxury as my folks live 400kms away from where i need to go to Study. I am 18 at uni this year but will be studying elsewhere next year, still studying but. Have taken many of these tips on board and will be sure to use them when i start working it out Thanks

 

[raskolnikov]

budgeting? what's that?