i feel like i need a financial rescue plan.

[beckoes]

Aghhhh. trying to make a budget and failing miserably.

Day to day we get by...just. ( mum had to bail us out this week as our electricity got cut off due to unpaid bill.... embarrassing...or pitiful!) but i can see that we could do better, but writing it down it just doenst work....

im looking here for a post about ''making a budget'' but cant find what im looking for.

we are living on one wage. have huge bills left over from the restaurant DH just got out of. i have no idea how we are meant to get our selves financially back on track. we are in a huge hole and it feel like we will never climb out.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Have you tried using a search engine? They come up with some great budgetting tools.

Spending: Necessity, Luxury, Unneeded.
Necessity: rent/mortgage, utilities, local taxes, CHEAP food, clothes that fit.
Luxury: more than phone (eg landline and mobiles each), high useage internet, pay TV, take away or pre-prepared food, running a car that isn't transport to and from work, more than 10 outfits per person.
Unneeded: new clothes for adults, new shoes for adults, jewellery, DVDs/CDs, flowers, ornaments, even gifts and cards for others.

Pay the necessities. If there is anything left, have a luxury. Do not buy unneeded things.

If you cannot make ends meet by stripping back what you spend, can you boost your income? You are living off one wage - can you work part-time? Can you childmind? Work from home?

We're struggling at the moment on just DH's wage. I'm applying for jobs, including Saturday jobs (so no childcare needed), delivering catalogues, anything I can find. While I am doing this, I am also writing a book. It may come to nothing but at least it's something while I explore all the avenues.

[beckoes]

thanks for the reply.
we *just* manage to pay the necessities. but have big work bills to shift as well as our own family bills. i buy all and any clothes we need from the local markets which have $2-$5 for items,not that i ever do get anything. DD1 will fit last summers clothes..just. DH now works for a food wholesalers so gets most things we need from there at cost price, the only stuff we get outside of that is cat food and fresh fruit and veg. rent is behind, utilities are behind. we are locked in a contract for dh's mobile as he needed a work mobile when in the restaurant, now he doesnt need it but we are still paying $200 a month for internet and his mobile. the car needs fixing, dh needs to go to the docs for his bad back and tennis elbow and the dentist. dhs has probably 2 six packs of beer a week. i have a bottle of $4 wine. i know these are needed.
i handed out a few applications for one/two shifts a week for when dh has days off, but he is working 6 days a week at the moment and gets paid more than i could. also...as selfish as it sounds...i dont know if we would be better off...with FTB etc. if we could afford it i wouldnt think twice about doing a few shifts some where but when we are counting every cent we cant afford to loose out.
im looking on google now.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

The internet and mobile need to go: $200 a month is too much. How much is left on the contract? Can you contact the provider and explain that you can no longer pay this amount so will need to break contact, either by switching to another contract or by defaulting. There may be a penalty to pay, but even a fixed contract must have a get-out clause. The rent and utilities are more important than this mobile contract.

12 cans of beer and a bottle of wine a week could be halved. I've had half a bottle in the last three weeks and I drink a lot when I can (happily starting at 11am and drinking through to bedtime - on a weekday). I just can't any more. I have some emergency wine and whiskey in the cupboard but am doing my best not to touch it.

At least you are getting some money from the state. As I am married and DH works more than 35 hours a week, I am entitled to absolutely nothing. I am unhappy about this, but there's nothing I could do about it. Aside from get a job.

[Novella]

I would seriously look at terminating your phone contract, what are the exit fees?

I have used a budgeting tool on my banks website which helped, then I used it to make my own personal budget in google docs on an excel type program

If you have serious debt from a failed business would meeting with a budget management company's worthwhile? Something along the lines of my budget?

Could you look at doing night fill in a local supermarket. I did this for years as a teenager and about 1/4 of the staff were mums working a couple of nights a week to boost their family's income. You would need to check with Centrelink, possibly using the online calculators to work out how much you could earn without having and benefits significantly affected

We were down to one car at one point which saved a huge amount of money, DH now has a work vehicle which does not cost us anything and we are grateful for it

I hope you can find a way through this

[beckoes]

i think i have almost a year and a half left on the contract. i think i would have to pay it out to get out of it. il have to look into it. its not paid up to date anyway so they can see we are struggling to pay it! i was expecting to be cut off on the 30th but still connected just on limited services.

we get $200 a fortnight FTB which is a big help.

Looking at budget outlines on line now. thanks

[briggsy's girl]

Contact phone company and arrange to drop contract to what you need not what you are contracted to. Yiu may have some penalties but it is going to sve you in the long run.

Speak to real estate and arrange to pay extra each week to catch up the arrears in rent. (sorry on phone so can't go back easily. If it is mortgage, contact bank and do the same)

Contact your utilities providers And ask them to help you sort out a payment plan that takes into account your arrears and future estimated usage. Set up centrepay deductions on everything yiu possibly can. Gas. Electricity. Water. It's easier to pay things of you don't actually get the money in the bank. Talk to the hardship teams from the utilities of necessary. They are there to help

Contact FAO and get contact details for local charities that offer financial/budget advice for free or minimal cost

Talk to your bank. Get them to see if there's anything they can do to consolidate all of your debt into one payment each week. But make sure it is a managable payment. Dont agree to something you can't manage with all your other expenses

Once you make the budget, stick to it. No extras. Account for all money. Anything left the day before pay day out into savings. It's hard. You have to be disciplined. And I know how damn hard that is (we are on one part time wage at the moment). Always remember you an sacrifice your wants (beer etc) on order to keep your heads above water. It sucks when you have to, but if that $40 a fortnight an be paid on your arrears rent for a few months, then it will help you out heaps. Even if he drops to a slab a month. An extra $40 a month can be a big step to getting you out of trouble...

[Novella]

Bills
Child Care
Car Insurance
House Insurance
Health Isurance
Life Insurance
Mobile
Home Phone
Internet
Rates
Gas
Electricity
Rego
Water
Union Fees
Car Service/Tyres
Visa/Bank Fees
School/Fees Uniform
Swimming
Nursing Rego
Hair
Petrol
Food/Groceries
Holiday
Pets
Gifts
Kids Savings
Medical/Dental
Mortgage Minimum
Extra Repayments
Clothes
Spending
House Maintenance/Furniture
Garden
Entertainment

These are the categories I have in our budget, obviously you would need to tailor it to your needs

I have it worked out so I can compare our weekly, monthly and anual income against our costs. I also have flagged when bills are due as there are some months where I have 3 or 4 large bills due at once. We were paying ahead on large bills like electricity $20 per week by bpay transfer so we weren't slugged with a big bill in one hit but a couple of years ago when we got FTB supplement and our tax return we put it in an account for bills which we now put a regular $ value into (based on our budget outline) and we now have the cash there when bills are due or regular expenses come up like car servicing/repairs etc this is something you might be able to do once you get your heads above water

[beckoes]

thanks all. i downloaded a spread sheet which adds it all up for me. which is pretty easy. i think its a start anyway. its only weekly, id like something monthly, or even yearly so i can see everything in the long run, but my internet is so slow i cant really search for things.

BG. im goin what you suggested about contacting hardship deps for electricity etc and i will call telstra tomorrow.

[fionas]

Is there any way of cutting down on your utility bills? Our utility bills are HUGE because our house has really poor insulation so is cold in winter and boiling in summer. We live in a very cold part of Australia (we get snow).

Anyhow, we got into a bad habit of having the heating on at night in winter. Only on low but on nonetheless (it regularly gets down to zero here overnight). Anyhow, the ducted heating broke recently and we realised that we really didn't need the heating on overnight. So that should cut our gas bill very considerably.

That probably doesn't apply to you BUT maybe have a think about whether you're using more gas/electricity/water than need be.

[Astrid]

Frugal and Thriving is a pretty good blog for budget tips, savings, along with some really good posts about actual budgeting and debt reduction.

Whilst we are in a better financial position now, it is helpful to have a plan in place for debt reduction. So have that goal and to see the affects of payments. Write all debts along with what you have already done with your day to day expenditure.

[Gigi]

understanding what a WANT is, and what a NEED is, is what my financial education class began with. It sounds so basic, but it's so important.

i THOUGHT me buying a carton of Iced Coffee, every time i went out, was a NEED, but it actually was a want. I traded in my "habit", and changed it to "taking a bottle of tap water with me when i go out EVERY TiME" and it's worked. Took time, but it's working now.

I saw a financial counsellor for free, and she made me a spreadsheet. Looked at all my bills for the last year, worked out the fortnightly amount i needed to put aside, for each bill, to make sure they got paid. Then the credit union helped me work out how to set up automatic fortnightly BPay deductions, so that every fortnight for example, $30 gets put on my Electricity Account. Did that with other bills as well. No more late fees, no more worrying about coming up with the money, much less stressful.

When you get any government bonuses (family yearly bonus) or other bonuses e.g tax rebate, spend it wisely. Pay off most pressing debt e.g electric bill and start up an auto deduct scheme with your electric supplier. On a daily basis, you rely on electricity alot. You don't need the stress of being cut off, and having to beg from relatives when it happens. Not as much fun as blowing the money on something fun, but you'll be glad once you've done it.

Get creative about things you can cut down on. I keep my heating bill low by wearing two jumpers inside my home in winter. Sit down to telly/computer, put a rug on your lap instead of turning on heater.

Let rellies/friends know you are after 2nd hand kid's clothing.

When friends/rellies say what do you/the kids/dh want for your birthday/xmas etc, have ready a list of stuff you/kids/dh actually NEED. Or a general voucher from a big store, so you can get what you/they/he needs.

Whenever you go out, take food and drink from home - it's guaranteed, you always are thirsty and hungry when you go out. Would your relatives have your family over for a weekly meal?

work out your financial leaks - track your spending for a week
i had to do this in a financial education course, i worked out how much i spent on Iced Coffee cartons FOR A YEAR!!! What i thought was a LITTLE extravagance, was really costing me a bomb. I now take a bottle of water with me everywhere.

Get financial advice
You need to know, bottomline
WHICH is the best (cheapest) option?
Sticking with the mobile plan til the contract expires - which would cost $???
Breaking the plan and paying it out - which would cost $????
you can't choose, until you have the info in front of you.

Financial counsellors see people every single day, that are in financial doo doo, due to mobile phone contracts - they are used to dealing with this type of thing, it's ok.

You WILL get out of this mess, cos you are asking for help. You've taken the first step, on a long journey. Good on you.

all the best hon.

[Gigi]

Frugal and Thriving is a pretty good blog for budget tips, savings, along with some really good posts about actual budgeting and debt reduction.

thanks for that Astrid, i will look that site up.