Budgeting help needed!
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26106
Printed Date: 05 June 2025 at 6:39pm
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Topic: Budgeting help needed!
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Subject: Budgeting help needed!
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 6:46pm
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DH and I are moving out of our little flat where we have it pretty good!(mum and dads). We are moving into a 3 bedroom house, and my brother is renting with us, he will pay $100 of the rent and DH and I $200.
DH and I don't get a lot of money each week and we have quite a few bills until the end of the year. So basicly, after we have paid rent, our weekly payments(this includes putting money away for the power bill at the end of the month) we will have about $240 left, This needs to get us grocery's and a little bit of petrol. At the moment we live 15 mins out of town, so we pend a lot on petrol and shop at New World, we are moving into town(pukekohe for those who know auckland) so we will be a 2 min drive and short walk from all the shops, and puke has pack and save yay! Do you think its possible to live off $240?? and not get stuck and be stressed and stuff? We need formula for Caden each week until he is one, then I will be using normal milk powder for him, and I now use cloth nappies, and a sposie at night for caden. What are some good budgeting tips?? ------------- |
Replies:
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 6:49pm
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Are you saying living off $240 a week, fortnight or month??? ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 6:58pm
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$240 a week for food and petrol seems like loads! SD, Issy and I spend $130 a week on food, I use $40 gas and SD about half of that, so you should have plenty. (Unless your DH eats LOOOOOADS) lol ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: BaAsKa
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:14pm
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that sounds like plenty!!! but petrol does add up doesnt it! when DH was using my car (legnum) to get to work half hour away we were having to put aside $80-$100 a week for his gas!!! so he went a bought a deisel ute so sometimes his work pays for deisel otherwise it costs us around $40 a week. We also spend around $170 a week on shopping so i guess it comes down to how much you spend on either thing. You could also look at "babes great tips" (i think thats what its called) as there are some awsome money saving ideas in there!!!!!!
Oh and from personal experience i find that countdown is better than PnS in terms of variety and cost and they also have the one card which can save me between $1 - $15 a week with it!!! |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:19pm
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$240 a week is what we will have left in our account, so I was thinking we would try to keep out grocery's to $80 $100 at the most, and then Id only need about $30 petrol a week...
The rest id like to keep in our account IF we need it, cos I want to try and get a wee build up, something to fall back on.. ------------- |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:25pm
Ohhh thats the entire amount you have left 
I would think you should be able to put at least 40.00 of that aside each week into a savings account. One good thing to do is make a meal list .. and then just buy what you need. You save HEAPS on shopping when you have planned out your meals for the week. So some weeks you wont need to spend very much at all and other weeks you will need those "necessities" that cost more, but you dont get very often (like razor blades for your DH, or cleaning products). I tend to put any food money that I have left from my budgeted account aside into a "food" fund so that when I need those extras we dont have to go without (and that food fund is seperate from our savings fund). ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:32pm
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Thats a good idea Julia
So each night before shopping I will write myself a list of what I need to buy for dinners for the week etc. And any money I left over from my food budget I'll put away into another account or something for emergency's. I will get our meat and fruit from fruit world and the mad butcher, heaps cheaper most of the time! I think I'm just stressing a little lol it will be our first home away from my parents(yep at 26 lol) but Im excited! Just lots of tips of budgeting would be great 
DH wants to have the internet so hopefully we can find a good deal with slingshot or something... ------------- |
Posted By: DaniB
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:34pm
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It is of course possible to stick to your budget, but you'll have to be strict.
This is our current budget = $300 rent pr wk $145 food pr wk $100 petrol pr wk $50 savings pr wk $100 bills (put away each wk for end of month) Just a basic one. I shop at pak n save and religiously do a shop same day each week. Really easy to stick to our food budget. And i stock up on stuff we may need the following wk if anything left over. We use cloth naps, and grow lots of our own veges, wee man is still breastfeeding so no formula costs. Petrol is the biggest killer though thats where it gets hard |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:40pm
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Our phone and internet is about 90.00 a months (although you can get a cheaper plan) .. so thats only 25 a week.
I would see how much it costs to feed you for awhile then you will see how much you constantly have left over .. then you will have an amount to work with in regards to other items you may want such as internet, sky, mobile plans etc. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:43pm
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Oh and dont forget you to check that you are getting your full entitlement in regards to accomodation supplement. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: Nutella
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:52pm
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Sheza, also try going to Budget Advice - I am sure they will have one in your area. They can help you to set a realistic budget and see where you are overspending. It is not just for people are not managing, heaps of people go there for just for advice on how to save and better to get help before you need it. They can also give you advice on the entitlements you might not know about.
You can also use sorted.org.nz to create your own budget IF you feel confident enough -but maybe if this is the first time living away from home a trip to budget advice would be really good! PS $80-100 a week for groceries for two adults does not seem a lot unless you are going to be having a vege garden or getting food from other sources. There is no point scrimping on food if it means that one or the other of you gets sick and then spend more money on Dr vists, medication blahblah! ------------- 
 Oct 11
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Posted By: Nutella
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:53pm
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BTW the Budget Advice service is also free.. -------------
Oct 11
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 7:59pm
I was just thinking that whilst having my shower lol! Once we are in the house I will get proof of our rent and go into winz, hopefully l that will help us out! ------------- |
lilfatty wrote:Posted By: _SMS_
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 8:13pm
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Im not sure if you have already applied for this but there is family assistance/accommodation allowance.
- Always do you grocerys on the same day each week. I Always go to the super market first, what isnt super cheap there i will then get from fruit/vege shop and butcher. - I pay power by Direct Debit, i pay $80 a fortnight all year round. This brings us into credit during summer to cover the higher winter bills. Im with Genesis - Try focus on getting everything done that you need to on one or two days so you save petrol from going out everyday of week. hmmm thats all i can think of at the moment lol. Im sure you will have lots of fun in your own place  -------------  
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 8:26pm
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Thanks sabrina
We get 140 a week from WFF, so thats cool, I havent applied for an accommodation allowance though, will do that for sure. I always shop on a Wednsday, so im good there, but I buy a lot of crap we dont need lol, so I need to start writing a list and sticking to it and keeping it within our budget.
Thats a great idea about the power! ------------- |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 8:27pm
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$240 a week is so totally manageable. I was living off $150 a week for petrol, food and smokes ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
. It was $40 gas, $80 food (just me and the boys) and the rest was smokes for the week for me. We survived on that. If you can save up and do shopping a fortnight and make a trip to PnS your food bill will be cheaper over all for the fortnight.Posted By: BaAsKa
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 8:31pm
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you dont need to wait till you move to apply for the accom supp - you just make an appointment (you actually may not need app) and take in your tenancy agreement once you have signed it.
If you are in a higher area (like auckland which you are) and are on a lower income (have no idea if you are?) then you will get a good help. We are in a lower area (bay of plenty) so ours is less - we have a mortgage though rather than rent and are apparently not considered low! (ppfff i feel low on funds this weeks!  ) and we get $55 a week.
Also maybe you could give that budget a trial run while you are still in the current house. |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 8:43pm
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An awesome thing my Mum did when I left home was made up a care package of all the cleaning things I would need and staples like flour, salt, sugar etc etc as that first shop is a killer if you have to buy all that stuff.
So .. you could "shop" from your mums cupboards .. or stock up on stuff like that while you are still there. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 8:58pm
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Ooh yeah I definitely recommend making a list now of all the store cupboard type things you need and cleaning products and starting to get those together now while you're paying cheaper rent if you will need them.
When I was home for 3 months last year I flatted with my sister and for 3 adults we put in $30 each/week for groceries and some weeks we had money left over and we ate REALLY well. That was excluding meat so I would say for around $100-120/week you would be eating well if you plan your menu before you go shopping. It's probably different in different parts of the country, but vodafone had a good home phone/internet package going last year for a lot less than the Telecom equivalent. ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: Henna79
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 9:18pm
| sounds like everyone else has given some good advice but I just wanted to say make sure you and your DH (congrats by the way) have some sanity money then when you want something that you know doesn't really fit in the budget you can use your money to get it. We do it and it works brilliantly there is no more "Do you really need that?" from DH when we're out shopping and I want something silly. |
Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 9:43pm
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You'll get more from WFF and accom supplement when #2 arrives too - not heaps more but every little bit helps right?
Sorted.org has a great budgeting tool which we use. It has so many different fields for things we wouldn't have even thought of if we were doing it ourselves but definitely do spend money on. And second the meal planning idea - it saves us heaps! Oh and also if you have time buy your fruit and veges from the grocer/fruit shop and your meat from mad butcher (if there's a local one) as you save even more if you don't buy it all from the supermarket. -------------  
 
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 9:47pm
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Oh we have all that stuff We live in a little flat on mum and dads house, so I have a kitchen and bathroom, and dad turned half the garage into a bedroom for Caden, so its now 2 bedrooms as well. So I have flour, salt etc and cleaning stuff and all that
Its just we only pay a small "rent" for in here, so I'm used to going a bit mental with food and silly things. But with having a strict $240 left for food/petrol and living we need to set a budget. ------------- |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 9:49pm
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Yup kate there is a mad butcher and right next door is fruit world So we will go there for meat and fruit.
yeah we will get more $ when lily is born, so that will definitely help us out. ------------- |
Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 9:53pm
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Ah, you'll be sweet Sheza. Actually, I personally have no idea what petrol prices are like in NZ at the mo, but I believe they've come down quite a bit since last year? It would be the petrol costs that would throw me, rather than the food, as you can plan your menu and also be a little flexible about things that are on special or in season as well foodwise but you can't exactly bargain with the guy at the petrol pump! ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 10:12pm
I hate petrol
But living in town instead of out in the country will save us a lot on petrol. I will miss the lovely rural views and such but it will be much easier for us in the long run. I think $30 petrol a week will be all we will need, my car is pretty good on petrol! ------------- |
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 10:23pm
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Are you asking your brother to chip in for power/phone and food? That should be approx $60ish maybe even $80 depending on food... ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 10:43pm
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He is paying us $100 towards the rent(thats the big thing for us) and then he will chip in towards power and the phone, and Ive told him if he wants any extra food, like coke and stuff he has to buy it himself.
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Posted By: Daizy
Date Posted: 23 April 2009 at 11:49pm
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Good on you for making the move, We have still yet to leave my parents (exactly the same situation)
Sounds like you have it pretty well organised. We have looked at moving out on and off and found the sorted budget calculators good for thinking off all the little things other than food and petrol that add up. You will probably find that you will only spend what you have. For a while we were living in $100 a week and we managed, now we don't have to be so tight we struggle to keep our spending under $300
Im sure you guys will love having your own (ish) place
ETA. There's quite a few things we totally overlook living off my parents. We know when we leave we are going to get quite a shock having to pay 'real' power, phone, internet, rubbish, tv..... ------------- 
 
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Posted By: Rachael21
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 2:39am
| Take your calculator to the the supermarket, you will spend way less. Yay for moving out, once you have the budget sorted you will be sweet. |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 9:41am
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I know what you mean Christy At the moment we have sky, and internet pretty much free...we don't pay water fees and all that and in the little bit we of rent we pay, I doubt that covers our power! My dad has been fanastic! But I really feel its time we moved out and started of own lives away from them, so that they can have some piece and so that I have a better relationship with them my younger brother moved out years ago lol, and my other brother is moving to palmy in August to start a course(he got a scholarship! yeah!) and then the OTHER brother, will be with DH and I, so mum and dad will be kid free!! apart from my cousin who lives here lol ------------- |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 9:42am
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I second the calculator idea ..
I also quite often "shop online", print out the list then go to the store. That way I dont have to pay delivery fees and I know how much things should cost (and can sometimes even find cheaper alternatives when I am there). ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 12:46pm
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Looks like we might be in the budgeting boat as well, I think my DH is getting made redundant on Monday..... ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 2:25pm
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Hugs Summerlamb. Does he qualify for that government assistance thing while he looks for a new job? ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 2:46pm
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I can't seem to find any firm information about it but I wouldn't think so. My salary is pretty good so I wouldn't imagine that we'll be entitled.
Puts a huge halt to our house deposit saving though, I've been applying for pre-approval this week, I'm thinking the house buying will have to take a back seat for a while.... ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: weegee
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 3:04pm
That's a great idea LF! I'm going to try that! ------------- 
Mum to JJ, 4 July 2008 & Addie, 28 July 2010 |
Posted By: Daizy
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 3:14pm
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Me too! -------------
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 5:12pm
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according to the WINZ website, we would be able to get about $90 a week help towards rent, thats better than I thought! ------------- |
Posted By: BaAsKa
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 6:21pm
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wow that $90 will be a huge help Sheena!!!
BTW - i forgot to say the barcodes are on their way. |
Posted By: BessieBear
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 7:02pm
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I get $230 WFF each fortnight and that all gets spent on groceries. After morgage bills and petrol. We're left with about $150 each week. And that just disapears, I have no idea how we can just spend it but by monday its gone. ------------- Sarah Mum to, Boy 07/2008, Girl 03/2010, Boy 05/2012, Angel 07/08/2014
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 7:28pm
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yeah we get $135-$140 from WFF. I guess they will take that into account when doing our accommodation supplement, so we may not get $90 it will probably be a bit less than that, but I'm also going to apply for help on other things, like HP's cos I know you can do that.
Ive worked out, with about $90 help from winz we will have about $340 left after paying everything. ------------- |
Posted By: Natalie_G
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 8:50pm
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The first thing if you have is cut the credit cards, I did that and it has been a life saver, I havent had so little debt in my life.
We spend about $160 a week on food, that includes heaps of veges which are a cheap side dish with your meat. We are like you, life off a little flat with own bathroom and kitchen but only one bedroom so Arianne sleeps with us. We will be able to move out next year and cant wait. Now with the WFF and accommodation suppliment you will be fine now, $340 a week left is heaps to have left over, I have lived off less than that lol. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: Bobbie
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 9:42pm
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Sheza I'm pretty sure our WFF payment doesn't have any bearing on our accom supplement. When we did the calc online at the beginning I never said we were getting anything and it told us we'd get $90 and we did. -------------
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Posted By: _SMS_
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 10:18pm
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Ohhh another thing, if you are now going to shop at Pak n Save get Shop n Go.
Its great and keeps track of the price etc as you go. Thats great about the Accommodation supplement Also try pay all HPs off as soon as possible, it makes life so much easier not worring about them. 'That was if you dont owe anything on Hp and your washing machine or fridge craps itself you can easily just go HP one with having to worry about other things you already have etc. -------------
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 25 April 2009 at 9:24am
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Oh thats good to know Bobbie! I wasn't sure as it didn't ask me for my income it just asked for DH's income, so $90 will be a HUGE help!
I have a credit Card, but don't use it, I just pay the minimum each month, so I'm hoping it will be gone by next year lol, my dad has the card in his wallet so I cant touch it hehe. What DH and I do it each week we transfer x amount of $ into my nana's account and she holds onto that money for us so that when our HP monthly bills come in we have the $ there to pay them, and that works out really well, cos we KNOW we have the $ to pay them So with our power and water etc we will be transferring a certain amount to her account each week, to pay the bills when they come in each month.
We always take our HP's over a year or 6 months if we can then they are paid off quick, our TV and surround sound system will be paid off in September YAY! that payment is a killer! $80 a week to get it paid off fast! So when that payment is gone we will be $80 better off each week, I cant wait! Taking a calculator to the supermarket is a good idea, I used to do that, then got slack! So i will be taking out cash when i go shopping and leaving my cashflow card at home!!, and bringing the calculator, that way I will only get what we need and spend within our budget and if there is cash left over then I will put it in a kitty for emergency things(like lilfatty does). ------------- |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 25 April 2009 at 10:18am
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I consolidated our CC and HP debt, and then cut up the cc'ds. I pay a fixed amount each payday and the interest rate is less than 10% we'll be debt free in 12 months time.
I've been laid off twice in the last 6 months, and still don't have permanent employment so know it can be tough. Trying to make ends meet. My hubby earns too much, (yeah right) so we don't get anything from WINZ. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: BaAsKa
Date Posted: 25 April 2009 at 10:23am
| ???? i just went into the winz website to work out how much they "say" we would get for acom supp for our mortgage and it says we would get $104!!?? well we only get $50??? wonder where the difference is?? |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 25 April 2009 at 10:24am
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With the power have you thought about setting up a direct debit so that all 3 of you put in a set amount each week.
We did that when we had a flatmate, we'd pay $30 a fortnight each, it was much easier than trying to find couple of hundred dollars at the end of the month, also during summer the account goes into credit, evens out with the high cost in winter. What are you using for heating? ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |