![]() That said, bills come every month, so even a small saving adds up. If you shop for ‘stuff’ more often than you’d like, have a look at our ‘ Should I Buy This?‘ guide. Reducing discretionary spending usually comes down to changing habits. Were there any categories that surprised you, where you’re spending more than you thought?ĭiscretionary costs are usually easier to reduce than fixed costs – reducing how often you eat out is lower hanging fruit than moving house to reduce your rent or mortgage. ![]() Think about what in your budget is actually flexible, using the data you’ve gathered to help you. If you’re spending more than you take home, or aren’t left with enough room to save for your goals, then you need to adjust your spending. You can create a budget using a budgeting app, a spreadsheet, pen and paper, whatever works for you – we have some recommendations below. Once you know how much you’re currently spending on each category per month, your next step is to think about how much you want to put in each category, and create a system for recording those intentions and comparing them to your spending in real time. Remember to account for infrequent large expenses as well, e.g. This should also help ensure you haven’t missed out any categories of spending from your list. The fastest way to do this is to go through several months of transactions, and assign every transaction into one category or another. Next, you need to work out how much you actually spend on each item in your list. If you need some help coming up with categories to consider, see our Living Costs page. It can be useful to convert the annual costs into a monthly bill for budgeting purposes. annual MOT or insurance payments, Christmas presents, holidays). Discretionary expenditure – spending on “wants”, which you could choose to reduce (e.g.rent/mortgage, utilities, debt payments, food, petrol) Fixed expenditure – spending on “needs”, which you can’t choose to avoid (e.g.The first step to creating a budget is to learn about your current spending. Get comfortable with reasonable spending ✅.I wish you luck all the best with your finances. I'm not sure why you're attacking me so much for that, however, I feel that you are being unnecessarily aggressive in your communications and will not be replying to you further. The second was to add in a few different frequencies of spend.Īs I stated before, I'm sharing documents that I have adapted and used for my own use, that I thought other people might find helpful as well. how much you should aim to spend on each category. I made some improvements to the document I was originally given beyond adding in new categories - the first was the inclusion of 'an ideal budget' i.e. If I had seen this one to begin with, I probably wouldn't have spent so much time adapting something else to what I needed - quite possibly what I originally was working from was an earlier version of the money smart document. The money smart one is much more extensive in the categories. I can honestly say that I hadn't seen the one you linked in before today - I based mine on a spreadsheet originally given to me that I found didn't have categories that made sense to me. Please do not hesitate to contact the mods if you are unsure of anything in this regard.Īus. If you require personal financial advice, visit the following links to find a professional: ![]() Nothing in this sub is Personal Financial Advice. Personal attacks of any kind will not be tolerated. ![]() Please keep all comments civil and constructive. Please do not post business solicitation or referral links for your own financial advantage. If your link doesn't relate directly to Australia, please provide a short description detailing how you see the subject impacting Australia. This is a place for discussion and opinions. Nothing here is licensed personal financial advice. Please join our Discord Server for more personal finance discussions. Welcome to AusFinance - Please read the sidebarĭiscussions relating to Australian Personal Finance, banking, investments, superannuation, insurance, and tax Please have a read of the Sub Rules before posting for the first time. ![]()
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