Budgetting - Have you got one?

With the constant interest rate rises it is going to get harder for many people to pay those bills and buy groceries - whether you be renting a house or whether you have a mortgage.
I am a big believer in having a budget - regardless of whether the money is there to spend or not. Why? That is because if you know how much your weekly expenses are - you will know how much you can spare to put into your family savings, or to have a night out with the family. Some people may even choose to pay extra on their mortgages or whatever other debts they may have.
I have a budget and it is very very tight - sometimes it is hard to cope BUT with the right sort of budget it can make it easy to manage/ cope.
 

Here is what you can do to set up a budget for your family and to save money:

1. Work out your weekly expenses. For example :  Electricity bills, gas bills and rates come once every 3 months. What you do is work out how much your average bill is (as they do fluctuate) and then divide that amount by 12.... this will give you the average weekly payment that you need to put aside for when bills come in. Phone bills and whatever other bills that come monthly such as insurance for home and contents and car etc divide by 4 to work out your average weekly payment to set aside.
    
2. Groceries. Groceries can be very expensive, especially fruit and vegetables lately. What I do when buying groceries is go shopping on a full tummy so i don't buy things that aren't needed. Also, rather than buying those yummy school treats such as muesli bars or LCM bars... MAKE YOUR OWN! It works out SO MUCH cheaper and you get so much more than what you would if it was pre-made and the best thing is - you know what is going into it!
   Also, when certain vegetables are on special and sandwhich meat such as devon, chicken roll, ham etc BUY IN BULK. With the vegetables you can blanch them and freeze them in appropriate serving sizes that the family will use. With the lunch meats, freeze into serving sizes that will be used in 2 days so that you don't throw anything out.
    
3. Settle for "second best". This has to do with groceries. So many people buy brand name things because they believe you get what you pay for. Well when it comes to food the quality is just about the same with everything. Most no name brand foods are JUST as good as the brand name foods and are often much much cheaper - though be warned as sometimes brand name stuff (when on special) CAN be cheaper than no name brands.
    
4. Buy in bulk. When buying mince for meals such as spaghetti bolognese BUY IT IN BULK. It is often an excellent idea to do one big huge pot of bolognese mince and put it in containers for when some weeks that the money is a bit tighter and its also very quick to defrost and heat up for those rushed nights when you come home late or when you just can't be bothered cooking.
    
5. Paying off debts. Pay the smaller debts off first (of course you will still be paying the minimum amount on the others) buy adding whatever spare money (have a specified amount - even if its only $20) you have ON TOP of the minimum repayment. When the smallest debt is paid, then pay off the next smallest debt by adding what you paid on the smallest debt on top of the minimum repayment - as you will still have the same amount of money and you get your debts paid off quicker this way. Also, when going into debt with (lets say a mortgage) - take it out for the longest term possible.
    

I hope these hints help people out there who struggle to deal with paying bills or find it hard to budget - i know just how hard it can be for one to budget because i am getting my minimum mortgage repayment bumped up 8 bucks (weekly) EVERY TIME the interest rate rises - hubby is getting his bumped up by about 15 bucks (weekly) so yeh its hard having 2 mortgages BUT because we budget it isnt so bad!
I hope this helps everyone to save a few dollars here and there and to get their debts paid off much quicker!
Cheers