budgeting help!

hi all! my partner and i are expecting our 3rd baby in 4 weeks and i am so concerned about our money, debts, bills and everyday living expenses! we are no good at budgeting! he gets paid monthly and when he gets it it is practically all gone in the first day! (bills, rent, etc!) but somehow we always manage to still have over due bills! we don't buy anything we don't need, just the necessities! does anyone have any advice on doing a budget! or where i can go to get help on doing one! im sick of worrying how we are going to live day by day! please someone help!:dunno:

Hi Kittykat,

There are quite a few free online budgets you could use. Dont think I can post links but google 'online budget' Australia only and check out what comes up. Also most bank websites have a budgeting feature/calculator

As you husband gets paid monthly I'd suggest working on a monthly basis. start by recording your monthly income (less tax). then put together a list of all your expenses, start with rent, loan repayments etc, then work through categories - home running, cars, phones, entertainment, insurances, kids expenses - converting everything to monthly amounts.

You will have a net figure of income less outgoings. then look through and see where your money is going. Is there anything you can lose or reduce? Is there anything left you can set up to go directly for savings? (no mater how small)

the hardest part is actually sticking to the budget. You can do it! Good luck, hopefully you find a great online budget that can really sort everything out for you and make you feel better.

Hi Kittytat,
I get newsletters from SimpleSavings... they have lots of great hints and tips.

I get paid each fortnight, so I work out everything in fortnights.
I've created an Excel spread sheet with formulas that breaks all the expenses into weekly, fortnightly, monthly and yearly expenses. I re-calucaulated the amounts so that I know how much I need each fortnight to pay everything for the year. I have everything on there from make-up, clothing, presents, entertainment etc as well...
I also get money from each pay to go directly into ING (bank), it takes 12-24 hours for the money to be put into my everyday account, so it reduces impulse buying.
All the best with the new bubby...

if you google NSW government and money, they have a fantastic website called understanding your money. Has a great program you can download.
I agree with the SImple Savings website too.

we shop monthly, buts to start with every week we used to make our shopping day just 1 day later so instead of 7 days it went to 8 then it was 9 days till we shopped next. If out all day and me and hubbie are hungry for lunch we DONT buy take out, instead we will buy a cheap loaf of bread and get some ham to put in it and a cheap juice to share saves us loads even with 4 kids its still so much cheaper like a picnic in the shopping center we make our sambo up in food court.

we also have changed to cloth nappies and about to go cloth sanitary pads too with 2 females in the house its a good saving. We sue cloth wipes too.

I have recently been cooking from scratch, something I have never done before (I was always a stir fry with a jar sauce girl etc!!), and I have been BLOWN AWAY by how much we save, and we are eating much, much better food. I make a huge risotto that gives us about 2 dinners and probably 2 lunches too and all it costs is about $6 to make....and it is so so yum!! I have been making cakes instead of buying biccies, and DH and DD love it! When I make spag bol I always mix the pasta in so that we get a lot more meals out of it. I have also been making a HUGE batch of Vegie Soup and freezing it in lunch size portions, it probably costs about $5 to make, and I get about 10 lunches out of it!!
I have realised that a bit of Menu planning is the way to go, but also the majority of the recipes that I am using have a similar ingredient base, so by buying the basics such as vegies, eggs, fresh herbs such as garlic and parsley and things like tinned tomatoes etc, I usually have what I need in the cupboard anyway. I also had a Tupperware party and got $150 to spend for free, so I bought heaps of the Fridgesmart Containers for my Vegies, and I cut them up as soon as I buy them, and they last for weeks and weeks, so no wastage.

As far as having overdue bills, I was always the same, I was never in front on my phone bills etc, until I worked out how much it cost me per week, and now I have set weekly payments to be automatically transferred out of my bank account to my ulitity bills, and now I don't even worry about my bills at all because the weekly payment always covers them. I even do that with my rates too. I kind of feel like I don't actually have bills anymore lol! Plus, no more late fee's! Because if you get say a $15 late few on a couple of bill each month, it certainly adds up! My payments come out the day after pay day, and I don't really even notice it too much now. I think because you are being paid monthly, and proper budget would be essential. Sometimes even a good old pen and paper and calculator is a good way...just to have it all written down in front of you.
I have to say that I find it much easier having the payments automatically done each week, because I am the biggest procrastinator when it comes to paying bills, because I hate parting with my money, so I would always have good intentions of making manual weekly payments my self each week, but i would NEVER stick to it! It took about 5 minutes to set up in my internet banking, and as opposed to actually setting up direct debit with a company, I have full control of when it comes out, and can also stop a payment if I need to.
Good luck with Bubba!