![]() ![]() Ever since you can remember, you wanted to get your financial situation under control. Perhaps you can recognize yourself in this not-so-thrilling picture. You can make an appointment with our Eight Mile Plains or our Southport office, or get in contact via our website.Create a budget spreadsheet without MS Excel and turn it into a PDF If you have any questions, or would like to talk to anyone, we would be more than happy to talk to you about your financial goals. If you want, you can add another account and deposit a few dollars each week. Remember to reward yourself now and then. You may have to fund some bills from your weekly expenditure instead of the bill account if there are insufficient funds. You will also need to monitor your bills account especially in the beginning when funds are building. You will need to review and monitor your expenses until you are comfortable with your budget. When you start out, it can take a little time to form new spending habits. Once you have set your saving goals, the most important thing is to stick to your budget! This will determine if you need to make further adjustments. You can update your spreadsheet each week with the amount you actually spend, to compare to your budgeted amount. The table below is broken up into weeks in the month with paydays highlighted. You should then be able to formulate how much you can save. Your expenses should be trimmed to essential items, plus an extra amount for those unforeseen expenses or treats (‘wants’), such as lunch with friends. If you are wanting to save or increase mortgage repayments, this is the area you need to review. You should now have an idea what you are spending each week. Now that the bills are paid, let’s look at your other expenses. Whenever you receive a bill, update this spread sheet and adjust the amount you need to put aside. Also, some companies give you a discount for direct debits. Direct debits for bill payments ensures the bill is paid on time and you don’t end up paying late fees. You can set up direct debits for bill payments from this account. I call mine ‘bill’ and put in place an automatic direct debit for the day after payday. In this instance, you need to set aside at least $600 per fortnight to pay your bills. Divide this total by the number of pay days in the year. ![]() In this example we have a total of $15,590 minimum per annum to pay the bills each year. So, you need 12 times your monthly expenses plus your annual and quarterly bills. What are your other bills and when are they due? Look at what you pay during the year. Such as:Īdd all those other little things (‘wants’) like Spotify, Netflix, etc. Look at your monthly bills and list them out. Nominate a regular time to go through your past week’s expenses and bills due to be paid in the coming week. I’ve created my own excel spread sheet which I update each week. You can download various budget tools, but I find they tend to work on monthly and annual amounts. Now you have a clearer picture of where your money goes, let’s start on the budget. Make sure you put the take-aways and dining out in the ‘wants’ category. To take it to the next level, you can separate these expenses into 2 basic categories – ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. This starts to build a picture of where your money goes. An excel spread sheet can also help – you can write down where and what the expense was, and the amount. If you’re with Macquarie or Commonwealth Bank, they have excellent avenues to track your spending via their apps. You can use your receipts, or use a budgeting app. The first step to creating a budget is to look at your expenses. While staying with her on a recent trip, I was chastised for leaving the bathroom light on! Yet only a few years ago I remember continually turning off lights and fans well after the room was vacated. I must say, living by themselves and paying their own way changes a child’s attitude. Now at 23, and living interstate, she asked me how to create a budget in excel so she can save for all the things she wants to do, and still be able to pay her bills. Her reply was ‘How can I create a budget when I don’t have enough money?’. I suggested she should create a budget in excel. Some time ago, my daughter was lamenting that she didn’t have enough money to pay her phone bill and the rest of her bills. ![]()
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