First Budget

Today is Pay day! Yahoo! Money, money, money!

... oh wait bills to pay, credit card debt and 2 days of unpaid sick leave. Time to tighten the belt and implement the budget, or not. I was terrible today with my food, I slept in and didn't get time to make breakfast so I got Macca's on the way to work, $7.70 down the drain, because it was pay day I thought I'd treat myself to lunch $11.50 gone.

So I'm going to be a bit crass here and mention my wage in my blog but I feel it's the only way I'm going to be able to keep an accurate track of my finances.

Last fortnight I earned $1138.78 net Tax.

This is where I plan my money to go over the next fortnight:

Expenses

Rent - $282.50

Home Phone and Internet $50

Mobile Phone - $69

Groceries - $100

Going Out/restaurants/eating out $40

Home Bills, ie gas electricity $50

Gym $40

Transport - $58.80

Debt

Credit Card - $100

Centrelink debt - $100

Savings

London - $200

"Buffer Fund" - $48.48

Please note this budget isn't a set in stone budget rather my "spending guide". Because I've been so unorganised in my personal finances I'm fairly certain this budget is going to chop and change as bills roll in that I haven't accounted for in a "fortnightly budget".

Tonight as I sat down and entered all my budget details into YNAB I really started to freak out and felt completely hopeless.

This is the first time I've had a chance to solidly look at my finances and understand where my money is going and what I estimate I'll spend my money on. I'm really expecting for the first few months as I get used to budgeting my "budgeted" and "balance" columns to be in the red. I just hope after a few months I'll start to have things in control.

Spending for Today

$29.40 - Weekly Train ticket - Need

$7.70 - McDonald's Breakfast - Want

$11.50 - Lunch - Want

Debt as of Today

Credit Card - $1692.66

Centrelink - $817

Savings Account

$601.90