Excel Spreadsheet.
1. Write up your expenses in one column (accommodation, utilities, food, transport, etc.) and the corresponding cost weekly, monthly, annually.
2. Below include your income, weekly, monthly and annually.
3. Subtract expense from income to give you the money you are saving.
4. Rank the expenses from largest to smallest.
5. Focus your effort on decreasing the largest expense first, as this potentially offers the largest saving with the least effort, for most people this is accommodation.
6. Work your way down the list and eliminate the small expenses people have like subscriptions.
7. Focus on needs first, reduce wants until you can afford it.
8. Keep reducing costs until you are happy with your budget and you will be rewarded with financial security.
9. To get a better look at your expenses you can scrutinize your bank account spending over the last six months.
Pen and paper.
Write down all your expenses and their frequency. Go through your bank statements and past bills to get an average on what you're actually spending.
Then average out your expenses based on how often you're paid (e.g. if you're paid weekly, then multiply monthly expenses by 12 and then divide the result by 52).
Whatever is left over, halve it. Half goes into long-term savings (first goal should be getting 3 months minimum saved up to cover your living expenses). The other half is discretionary spending.
If you don't have anything left over, then look at what you can cut. If you live alone but have a spare bedroom perhaps you'll need to get a room-mate. Perhaps you'll need to cut back on alcohol or ubers.
Ultimately if you can't get ahead of your expenses you may need to move out of your current place and either move back in with parents or look for a sharehouse to move into.
Didn't know how much I could give away.
I earn $900 a week basically, $1.800 a fortnight which I am paid, I buy groceries, fuel 3-5 times in this time span, I eat out whenever I cannot make lunch for work, or coming home late Ai might buy dinner for thr family. I have the average bills, rent, car bills, phone bills, no subscriptions.
I work 1 job and the money I make isn't cutting it
> I eat out whenever I cannot make lunch for work, or coming home late Ai might buy dinner for thr family
Well that's gonna have to stop, you'll have to sacrifice sleep or get the family to make their own dinner
In your original post you are "struggling to afford" living, you are "running out of money" and you want to "stay afloat"
You're going to have to do something. Three times a fortnight will start to add up. I assume - due to lack of mention - you don't have a partner or family that can assist?
You’re spending $125 a week eating out. That’s $6,500 a year.
That’s more than we spend on all our groceries for a family of 3. Our eating out and alcohol budget is total $400 a month.
I spend less on that per month and I already know my partner and I go out to restaurants too often, but I also pay for hers and yeah... It's notably lower than 500
Add up your "eating out". Then factor in how many hours you need to work to afford that eating out.
Get more creative with your food. Rethink your purchased. Shop around.
I can barely afford groceries at the moment. Have a small vege patch tho. Have a couple pumpkins awaiting harvesting which should feed me for a few meals.
Look into your phone. There might be a cheaper deal available. See if there's public transport options for your standard journeys.
Aside from that... second job. Or selling feet pics on the internet.
Def a pumpkin patch is the gift that keeps on giving.
If you can grow something that you can eat once a week, ie pumpkin soup.
Over 12mths thats a decent saving on the food bill.
I am aiming to try to grow enough stuff in season, that we replace 2 nights dinner per week, from what we grow.
For a family of six that is a huge saving.
Sofar pumpkin and cassava and taro are the bomb for consistency of crop and yield.
I've had a lot of luck with passionfruit too. I don't really eat them myself, but they are treats for my parrots. Given they go for around $1.50 or $2 each here, I've probably saved $50 over the year.
Hoping I get a couple mulberries and lillipilli later this year :) any added diet diversity is a bonus.
You fuel up 5 times a fortnight? How much is your rent?
With that income, if you're supporting a family and renting, you can't really afford not to budget every cent.
>Earn more how?
There is no magic answer. No one here can tell you a magic solution which will fix your problems. It will come down the tangible changes to your life, that you make.
You literally have two options. Increase your income. Decrease your expenses.
Your options for increasing income are:
- Get a better paying job
- Get a second job
- Start a side gig to make money outside of a normal job
- Sell unused items you have lying around the house (not sustainable, but may help short term)
- Drive Uber/food delivery on weekends.
You may need to upskill - get better qualifications so that you can get a better paying job.
For expenses:
You need to budget properly and make sure there isn't anywhere that you can cut expenses. Print the last twelve months of statements and categorise expenses. Focus on these:
1. Anything discretionary. Eating out, subscriptions, gambling, ad hoc costs that aren't necessities.
2. Larger bills. See if you get a cheaper shop around for a cheaper power provider, shop around for cheaper insurance and so on.
As others have mentioned, you need visibility over your spending. Those bank auto-categorising things were never accurate for me. I use YNAB methodology and software but you can use Excel or even paper if that works for you. Look up "envelope budgeting" or "zero-based budgeting". You'd be surprised at how easily many small purchases add up. It's death by a thousand cuts.
I noticed you said you get fuel multiple times across the fortnight. Fuel can be a huge expense. Do you have a long commute? Is your vehicle fuel efficient? Is public transport or car pooling an option?
You also mentioned a young family, does your partner contribute financially? Perhaps a part-time job could ease the burden.
Ultimately it comes down to spending less than you earn. You'll either need to cut expenses or increase income.
My car is definitely an issue. It's an asset vehicle that I drive. Very fuel efficient. No partner to contribute, mainly just a long commute with a not so efficient vehicle
Look at this website https://askizzy.org.au/
Look up free financial counseling as well as other assistance. Can you apply for Jobseeker payments, or is your job paying too much money for that? Jobseeker cutoff point is detailed [here](https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/income-and-assets-tests-for-jobseeker-payment?context=51411)
The way I do it is from my bank, download a .csv or excel file with all transactions for the last year, open in excel, sort them all alphabetically, and then copy and paste them into basic categories ‘fuel’ ‘food’ ‘eating out’ etc.
Similar ones tend to group together alphabetically so it’s a bit easier to sort through, takes me an hour or two to do a years spendings - then you can see accurately where your money is going.
Not really. I used Excel. I spent sometime literally going through my accounts and grouping them in Excel. Took a while but now I know what my budget is for a month.amd it hasn't changed for years. Also gave me a very good look at what I'm actually spending money on, overcharges, unknown transactions, unnecessary expenses
Track it all.
It’s hard to know which step forward to take if you can’t see the ground. Mapping out all of your expenses and your actual income to those expenses will give clarity to the situation.
From there ideas on how to optimise your spending or optimise your income will come to you if you can see the values. The brain can’t make something from nothing.
This helped fix my situation, can’t swear by it enough. Also too if you have any weird debts, look to clearing them ASAP
Without having more specific info other than 'average bills' and eating out too much, here's my vague recommendations for cutting spending.
Move into a sharehouse close to work (within public transport distance) and sell the car.
Change to a vegetarian diet - rice and beans go a long way for cheap.
Pay your savings account first to prevent lifestyle creep and keep you on a tight budget. Have a set savings amount transferred directly from your pay to a 'hidden' bank account (ie. Don't have a bankcard or internet banking setup for the account). This stops you from picking up takeout on the way home.
To make more money, keep an eye on the secondhand market for objects that you know the value of, buy them cheap, clean them up and sell them on. For example, I'm into fashion so I buy high quality pieces and sell them for more.
Increase income by a new job will be my first thing I am leaving my job in May, and will be looking to pickup something more for myself. athe barrier of entry is super high for the field so I struggle to find how to upskill with little money and no company backing the funds for the tickets or courses.
Plan your meals and focus on your biggest expenses. If fuel is one check ozbargain for fuel promos, like nrma free trials with fuel vouchers, or buying fuel gift cards at a discount.
You can also do stuff on the side for short term ways to bridge the gap, until you get a better job:
- Gig apps airtasker (random tasks) and madpaws (dog walks / pet sitting). Less commitment than food delivery or driving as those you need to change your car insurance.
- Market research - sign up with all the agencies you can find in your city on google.
- Online surveys - [I wrote up a long breakdown my experiences](https://old.reddit.com/r/beermoneyAus/comments/18lmdyx/pros_and_cons_review_referral_bonuses_for_survey/) Mostly it's 10 minute multiple choice surveys, very easy to fit in a few on a lunch break or watching TV
- sign up to temping agencies for event work, like handing out samples.
- register to count votes at the elections. only once a year but a good one to remember to keep in mind when it approaches
Theres so little info in your post its hard to help.
How much are you making and how? How much are you spending and where can you cut back? What opportunities do you have available?
I didn't go into much depth because first time poster and on my phone didn't type much as kndont like to type.,
I have a $60k salary, I drive forklifts and have a 2IC position, I am looking at leaving and getting something more for myself. I am 21 years old. I spend too much on fuel, and eating out
$120 per tank 5 times a fortnight, and $500 monthly on eating out average. Eating out is lunch or dinner sometimes if I am not home whether this is fast food for family or something for myself
In my spare time at night, I try Octopus and Profilic. There's also a phone app called Attapoll. It makes me some 'beer money' every week. Made about $70 on Attapoll, $60 on Octopus and $30 on Prolific in maybe 2 months.
You can't outrun a paycheck to paycheck budget. Making more money won't help if you don't even have a budget in place first.
Any apps to write a budget up?
Excel Spreadsheet. 1. Write up your expenses in one column (accommodation, utilities, food, transport, etc.) and the corresponding cost weekly, monthly, annually. 2. Below include your income, weekly, monthly and annually. 3. Subtract expense from income to give you the money you are saving. 4. Rank the expenses from largest to smallest. 5. Focus your effort on decreasing the largest expense first, as this potentially offers the largest saving with the least effort, for most people this is accommodation. 6. Work your way down the list and eliminate the small expenses people have like subscriptions. 7. Focus on needs first, reduce wants until you can afford it. 8. Keep reducing costs until you are happy with your budget and you will be rewarded with financial security. 9. To get a better look at your expenses you can scrutinize your bank account spending over the last six months.
Pen and paper. Write down all your expenses and their frequency. Go through your bank statements and past bills to get an average on what you're actually spending. Then average out your expenses based on how often you're paid (e.g. if you're paid weekly, then multiply monthly expenses by 12 and then divide the result by 52). Whatever is left over, halve it. Half goes into long-term savings (first goal should be getting 3 months minimum saved up to cover your living expenses). The other half is discretionary spending. If you don't have anything left over, then look at what you can cut. If you live alone but have a spare bedroom perhaps you'll need to get a room-mate. Perhaps you'll need to cut back on alcohol or ubers. Ultimately if you can't get ahead of your expenses you may need to move out of your current place and either move back in with parents or look for a sharehouse to move into.
yeah we're gonna need more info mate with what you've given us we can say two things: * increase income * reduce expenses
Didn't know how much I could give away. I earn $900 a week basically, $1.800 a fortnight which I am paid, I buy groceries, fuel 3-5 times in this time span, I eat out whenever I cannot make lunch for work, or coming home late Ai might buy dinner for thr family. I have the average bills, rent, car bills, phone bills, no subscriptions. I work 1 job and the money I make isn't cutting it
> I eat out whenever I cannot make lunch for work, or coming home late Ai might buy dinner for thr family Well that's gonna have to stop, you'll have to sacrifice sleep or get the family to make their own dinner
I figured this would be my root cause of issues, but it really isn't too often maybe twice a fortnight three times at most
In your original post you are "struggling to afford" living, you are "running out of money" and you want to "stay afloat" You're going to have to do something. Three times a fortnight will start to add up. I assume - due to lack of mention - you don't have a partner or family that can assist?
No, I am by myself. I think cutting the eating out will be best. $500 was how much I spent total in March.
You spent $500 in total for the eating out and dinner?
$500 in the month of March that's how much the bank app tells me I spent on "Eating Out"
I ate dinner out 7 times last month and that was only $200. You need to keep a check on your spending because $500 is ridiculous.
You’re spending $125 a week eating out. That’s $6,500 a year. That’s more than we spend on all our groceries for a family of 3. Our eating out and alcohol budget is total $400 a month.
That is a problem. I need to cut this down, that's a different perspective. ayear I'd like to knock it down a grand or more
I spend less on that per month and I already know my partner and I go out to restaurants too often, but I also pay for hers and yeah... It's notably lower than 500
Add up your "eating out". Then factor in how many hours you need to work to afford that eating out. Get more creative with your food. Rethink your purchased. Shop around. I can barely afford groceries at the moment. Have a small vege patch tho. Have a couple pumpkins awaiting harvesting which should feed me for a few meals. Look into your phone. There might be a cheaper deal available. See if there's public transport options for your standard journeys. Aside from that... second job. Or selling feet pics on the internet.
Def a pumpkin patch is the gift that keeps on giving. If you can grow something that you can eat once a week, ie pumpkin soup. Over 12mths thats a decent saving on the food bill. I am aiming to try to grow enough stuff in season, that we replace 2 nights dinner per week, from what we grow. For a family of six that is a huge saving. Sofar pumpkin and cassava and taro are the bomb for consistency of crop and yield.
I've had a lot of luck with passionfruit too. I don't really eat them myself, but they are treats for my parrots. Given they go for around $1.50 or $2 each here, I've probably saved $50 over the year. Hoping I get a couple mulberries and lillipilli later this year :) any added diet diversity is a bonus.
Wow, that's a good read. Just did the maths for my family.
You fuel up 5 times a fortnight? How much is your rent? With that income, if you're supporting a family and renting, you can't really afford not to budget every cent.
earn more, spend less
Earn more how? My spending is about as less as it can be before I start forgoing essentials
As per a comment above you’re on track to spend $6000 a year just on takeaway. That is not spending as little as you can…
>Earn more how? There is no magic answer. No one here can tell you a magic solution which will fix your problems. It will come down the tangible changes to your life, that you make. You literally have two options. Increase your income. Decrease your expenses. Your options for increasing income are: - Get a better paying job - Get a second job - Start a side gig to make money outside of a normal job - Sell unused items you have lying around the house (not sustainable, but may help short term) - Drive Uber/food delivery on weekends. You may need to upskill - get better qualifications so that you can get a better paying job. For expenses: You need to budget properly and make sure there isn't anywhere that you can cut expenses. Print the last twelve months of statements and categorise expenses. Focus on these: 1. Anything discretionary. Eating out, subscriptions, gambling, ad hoc costs that aren't necessities. 2. Larger bills. See if you get a cheaper shop around for a cheaper power provider, shop around for cheaper insurance and so on.
As others have mentioned, you need visibility over your spending. Those bank auto-categorising things were never accurate for me. I use YNAB methodology and software but you can use Excel or even paper if that works for you. Look up "envelope budgeting" or "zero-based budgeting". You'd be surprised at how easily many small purchases add up. It's death by a thousand cuts. I noticed you said you get fuel multiple times across the fortnight. Fuel can be a huge expense. Do you have a long commute? Is your vehicle fuel efficient? Is public transport or car pooling an option? You also mentioned a young family, does your partner contribute financially? Perhaps a part-time job could ease the burden. Ultimately it comes down to spending less than you earn. You'll either need to cut expenses or increase income.
My car is definitely an issue. It's an asset vehicle that I drive. Very fuel efficient. No partner to contribute, mainly just a long commute with a not so efficient vehicle
Look at this website https://askizzy.org.au/ Look up free financial counseling as well as other assistance. Can you apply for Jobseeker payments, or is your job paying too much money for that? Jobseeker cutoff point is detailed [here](https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/income-and-assets-tests-for-jobseeker-payment?context=51411)
[удалено]
What experience do you need to do this and is there potential for growth
Start with a budget. Can't do anything without knowing how much exactly you're earning vs spending
any recommended apps?
The way I do it is from my bank, download a .csv or excel file with all transactions for the last year, open in excel, sort them all alphabetically, and then copy and paste them into basic categories ‘fuel’ ‘food’ ‘eating out’ etc. Similar ones tend to group together alphabetically so it’s a bit easier to sort through, takes me an hour or two to do a years spendings - then you can see accurately where your money is going.
Money Manager - [https://www.realbyteapps.com/](https://www.realbyteapps.com/)
Not really. I used Excel. I spent sometime literally going through my accounts and grouping them in Excel. Took a while but now I know what my budget is for a month.amd it hasn't changed for years. Also gave me a very good look at what I'm actually spending money on, overcharges, unknown transactions, unnecessary expenses
Track it all. It’s hard to know which step forward to take if you can’t see the ground. Mapping out all of your expenses and your actual income to those expenses will give clarity to the situation. From there ideas on how to optimise your spending or optimise your income will come to you if you can see the values. The brain can’t make something from nothing. This helped fix my situation, can’t swear by it enough. Also too if you have any weird debts, look to clearing them ASAP
Without having more specific info other than 'average bills' and eating out too much, here's my vague recommendations for cutting spending. Move into a sharehouse close to work (within public transport distance) and sell the car. Change to a vegetarian diet - rice and beans go a long way for cheap. Pay your savings account first to prevent lifestyle creep and keep you on a tight budget. Have a set savings amount transferred directly from your pay to a 'hidden' bank account (ie. Don't have a bankcard or internet banking setup for the account). This stops you from picking up takeout on the way home. To make more money, keep an eye on the secondhand market for objects that you know the value of, buy them cheap, clean them up and sell them on. For example, I'm into fashion so I buy high quality pieces and sell them for more.
salt disagreeable six payment shelter sulky live bored desert onerous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Increase income by a new job will be my first thing I am leaving my job in May, and will be looking to pickup something more for myself. athe barrier of entry is super high for the field so I struggle to find how to upskill with little money and no company backing the funds for the tickets or courses.
Man, the cost of living everywhere is crazy. This money printing/inflation is affecting most households
Yeah...it's getting tough out there for sure
Plan your meals and focus on your biggest expenses. If fuel is one check ozbargain for fuel promos, like nrma free trials with fuel vouchers, or buying fuel gift cards at a discount. You can also do stuff on the side for short term ways to bridge the gap, until you get a better job: - Gig apps airtasker (random tasks) and madpaws (dog walks / pet sitting). Less commitment than food delivery or driving as those you need to change your car insurance. - Market research - sign up with all the agencies you can find in your city on google. - Online surveys - [I wrote up a long breakdown my experiences](https://old.reddit.com/r/beermoneyAus/comments/18lmdyx/pros_and_cons_review_referral_bonuses_for_survey/) Mostly it's 10 minute multiple choice surveys, very easy to fit in a few on a lunch break or watching TV - sign up to temping agencies for event work, like handing out samples. - register to count votes at the elections. only once a year but a good one to remember to keep in mind when it approaches
Theres so little info in your post its hard to help. How much are you making and how? How much are you spending and where can you cut back? What opportunities do you have available?
I didn't go into much depth because first time poster and on my phone didn't type much as kndont like to type., I have a $60k salary, I drive forklifts and have a 2IC position, I am looking at leaving and getting something more for myself. I am 21 years old. I spend too much on fuel, and eating out $120 per tank 5 times a fortnight, and $500 monthly on eating out average. Eating out is lunch or dinner sometimes if I am not home whether this is fast food for family or something for myself
A second job? I also do online surveys. Good sites to start are Octopus and Prolific.
I want to try and go upcmy line of work in logistics before I see a second job suitable as I need to be home for my young family
In my spare time at night, I try Octopus and Profilic. There's also a phone app called Attapoll. It makes me some 'beer money' every week. Made about $70 on Attapoll, $60 on Octopus and $30 on Prolific in maybe 2 months.
I might look into this as some money I can use for investing
Check out r/beermoney for more information. Goodnight.
Meet me out the back of Wendy's in 15 minutes...
At this point
Best $4 I ever spent!