Living within a budget
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
Forum Description: For mums, dads, parents-to-be, grandparents, friends -- you name it! And you name the topic you want to chat about!
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15648
Printed Date: 10 October 2025 at 12:57pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Living within a budget
Posted By: mummy_becks
Subject: Living within a budget
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 7:25pm
|
Can i have some hints for this please. I have to do this for the next 3 months and i'm a bit scared about it. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Replies:
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 7:31pm
|
give yourself a wee bit of spending money - you go nuts otherwise, and feel guilty everytime you go out and have a $3 latte.
we get ALL the money out (i suppose i shouldn't say this as you know where i live, and that the majority of the time m house is unlocked) and put into envelopes - labelled food, power, etc. i find this helps as we need to get extra stuff every so often and it;s organised and paid for. have you drawn up a budget Becks? |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 7:38pm
|
Nigel has and it scares me a bit, he has left me a bit of money so I don't go crazy. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 7:53pm
|
a budget? whats that...LOL
seriously though - work oout all your bills for 12 months...and then work out whihc ones get paid weekly monthly etc....I converted most of ours..even monthly HPs to weekly as we get paid that...less stress to catch up if you miss one week...and you always have some money left over each week and not so long til the next one....so even small HPs etc work out better weekly.... try to save a set amount each week too..whether it be in an account or a tin! Mum put all her gold coins that floated around in a money tin for a year while she planned to come meet me in usa....she had over $2500 at end of the year!!! |
Posted By: thunderwolves
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 7:58pm
|
I transfer all my money into one account then pay myself a set amout weekly, and never go over that. I am really strict on what i spend, a set amount on petrol and groceries, and i pay $25 on all my bills weekly rather than wait to recieve a bill. I find that helps me heaps and on phone and power i am always heaps in credit, then if i need extra money for something else i can take a break from my bills and not get behind. ------------- http://alterna-tickers.com"> 
|
Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 7:59pm
|
We have a seperate account for our bills, so mortgage, electricity, insurances etc DH worked out what they cost over a year and then we pay in enough weekly to cover it, plus a bit extra as a buffer. Then we have a joint account that the money for the house goes in, that money just pays for groceries. We then have our own accounts with money for petrol and any bits and pieces we want which is also a set amount. Any left over money goes into a savings account.
This has worked well for us for the last 3 years. ------------- 
 
|
Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 8:05pm
|
Willie does the gold coins in a tin thing, he has about $500 so far, but I keep getting into it for lunch money for Maya coz I never have cash on me.
We don't have a budget, I just spend and then panic at teh end of the month when all the bills are due. It helps that I have several different paydays throughout the month (some from WINZ, some from IRD, work money etc.) so can usually wing it. I do transfer any spare money at the end of the month into savings. -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
|
Posted By: linda
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 8:08pm
| check out the Sorted website, very good |
Posted By: Brenna
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 8:35pm
|
We pay a set amount to phone and power each fortnight so we are in credit for both. We also have a few seperate online accounts through our bank (which cost us nothing) to put aside money for rates/car bills and savings. We also transfer a set amount of money onto our credit card for the supermarket so then we also collect hotpoints when we do our shopping (then we get vouchers for our hotpoints to buy soemthing nice for us (last summer we got a BBQ)
I find I get on a roll with ways to manage money  ------------- My beautiful 2 girls...nearly 4 and 13 months
|
Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 8:49pm
**coughs** dont follow Emmas budgeting advice ok Becks!!!
|
Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 8:53pm
|
ok i need seriuos help,..I did the calculator on sirted,..and yep suprise suprise we spend more than we earn,...and most of the speding collums were blank,..well all the good stuff like ammound spent on clothes, movies, nights out etc etc = $0!! It all goes on stupid bills!
Right Im about to book our flights to Auckland now,..enough talk!! Opps! |
Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 8:54pm
|
We have one account set up for Savings, one for bills and one for spending.
Each month on payday we transfer the required amount to the bills account and transfer the rest to savings - just leaving the allocated amount in our spending account for general expenses and 'pocket money'. You need to sit down and work out all your expenses each month (or week)- groceries, phone, internet, power, insurance, mortgage/rent etc. so you know what you need to transfer and yes, definitely allocate yourself some spending money so you don't go nuts. Don't forget to include things like cellphone costs if you're on prepay. Also plan your meals before you go shopping and you'll save on groceries by not impulse buying or having veges rotting in the vege bin. -------------  
 
|
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 9:03pm
|
The sad thing is that is how I did run things the Emma way - worked well for me but DH wants it to be a little bit better than that. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 9:13pm
|
I run a spreadsheet at home but the simple version of what we do would be what cuppatea has. It's not too bad once you get used to it, especially when you know it's realistic. ------------- |
Posted By: Rachael21
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 9:29pm
|
and take a calculator to the grocery shop, it saves me sooo much.
We have a safe with envelops for all our bills and take all our money out each week. I transfer a wee bit for savings (for xmas and birthdays) and the rest is spending. Once you have done it for a few weeks its fine. |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 9:33pm
|
I do shop'n'go at Pak'n'Save so that does help alot. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: Bayley
Date Posted: 25 March 2008 at 10:36pm
|
What is Shop'N'Go Becks? I shop at Pak'N Save and I've never heard of it but it sounds intriguing! ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
|
Posted By: yummymummy
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 2:36am
We've lived on budget for a few years now - goes with me being an accountant and wanting to be in control 
As long as you're realistic when setting up the budget as to your outgoings and have some money put aside (in the budget) for unexpected expenses you'll be fine. Be mindful of having unrealistic goals ie if you currently spend $100 a week on going out, don't slash that to $0 in the budget as it won't work. Also if you don't stick to it one week, try to be better the next and shop less/prepare simpler meals etc etc ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 7:21am
| We have a budget after buying a house. I have an Excel spreadsheet set up which sets out what is getting paid when. The majority of expenses are paid fortnightly (I get paid fortnightly, so we have a big amount coming in then). We have a few different accounts that I transfer money between using online banking - car account (fuel and maintenance money goes in here), insurance account, savings and then our everyday account. We don't have a set amount of spending money as such, but if we want to get something and the money is there, we get it, it's just we let the other person know that we've spent that money. I manage most of the finances, and DP usually asks me if there's enough money for smokes/groceries or whatever else he wants, and I say yay or nay. It works really well for us. To be honest, we haven't found it that difficult living on a budget, even though our mortgage/rates/insurance payments are over $250 a week more than we were paying in rent. It's all just slotted in. We also pay our rates by AP weekly. |
Posted By: Andie
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 9:12am
|
And aside from designing a workable budget, it helps not to window-shop or do stuff like that that leads to accidental spending! Like, don't browse Ferrit or TM - if you go on there do it for something in particular that you want or need - the whole browsing/shopping thing leads to trouble! Same with sales - only go into a big sale if there's something in particular that you want from it - checking it out for fun can end at the counter!! ------------- Andie |
Posted By: miss
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 11:03am
|
Treat it as a challenge, rather than a chore - you can get totally into the competition of improving on the previous weeks spend.
The free stuff on simplesavings.co.nz is helpful there is a thread on the babies section about saving money, it is stickied, check it out for more ideas. -------------  
|
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 6:32pm
|
I use the wonders of Lay-by especially at K-mart, I put aside $5-10 per week for clothing, and Christmas/B'day presents adds up to $500 a year I find it more affordable.
I also do the Christmas club/hamper thing, no unexpected surprises at the end of the year, that take all of the next year to recover from. Also its surprising what you can go without if you really have to. I only have a latte or hot chocolate on a rare occasions and try to make my own lunch instead of buying it. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 6:35pm
| After reading this DH and I have decided we are going to make seperate acc's for bills and spending money for each other etc and dump the rest into savings. DH goes a bit nuts not having spending money so at least he's going to have his own lil account to do what he pleases |
Posted By: peanut butter
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 7:11pm
| I transfer a certain amount each payday to a Raboplus account. It is high interest and on call. Then when ever a bill is due I transfer the amount out and back into our everyday account and pay the bill. Its a bit of double/triple handling but I want to get the most out of 8.35% interest. Also we always have enough in the account for things like car regos etc |
Posted By: 3boys
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 8:49pm
|
We were bad - and I mean bad. We never had any money at the end of the month which was just wrong considering we earnt plenty.
For the last two years I have used a spreadsheet and run things like a business and man what a diff. Our income and expenses are much the same, but we have money at the end of the month and we even save. We have now just voluntarily increased the payments on our mort which I am really proud of. The main piece of advice is forecasting - if you can accurately forecast your budget you will be on the right track. I also update it at least once every two days, putting in the bank balance as we go, so I can see exactly what is left for the rest of the month. We get paid monthly so it has to last! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 26 March 2008 at 9:12pm
|
i already have at least six xmas pressies put away for ella bought in post xmas or easter sales...too old for her now but xmas will be sweet...and you dont notice a $50 spend every now and then...although you would notice $300 not going so far in pre xmas sales...
i grew up with mum hiding stuff in cupboards well ahead of birthdays and xmas etc...she occasionally forgot she had stuff too! LOL!!! much easier on the pocket esp if unexpected bills arrive down the track... |
Posted By: MissCandice
Date Posted: 27 March 2008 at 10:40am
|
Good idea BS, we did that in the waitangi day sales last year 30% off toys so we layby'd all Kylahs xmas pressie toys and got them out intime for christmas. We got $400 worth of toys (about 6 things) for $170.
Also this year i am doing the christmas card club thingy at the warehouse. I also think xmas club at supermarkets is quite good. We do our meat shopping at raewood fresh or mad butcher it works out way cheaper than supermarket. I agree on the spending money thing though. We are jusst starting to budget properly now as we want to save for a deposit on a house in 18months. ------------- ~ Mummy to a beautiful girl ~ |
Posted By: KABJ99
Date Posted: 27 March 2008 at 4:58pm
|
Look at what you are buying and spending on your grocery bill. Especially now as all the prices are going up. Those processed, pre packaged and snack items (ie those multipacks of small chips etc) all really add up.
Buy home or basic brands for stock items such as flour, sugar, salt etc(They're all made by the big name brand owners anyway). Save the good brands for those items that you eat without any preparation. Look at what you are buying that is processed and see if you can make it simply and quickly for a lot cheaper eg say a jar of Bolagnaise sauce is $3.50. You can make this with a tin of budget chopped tomatoes, little bit of garlic, little bit of tomato paste, onion and some oregano and seasoning (salt & pepper)for about $1.50 hence having the extra money to spend on a luxery item ie chocolate as a treat |