A sustainable monthly budget – And achieved without the fun police!

Most people don’t associate the words budget, and fun, together - more often than not you can usually see their eyes start to glaze over the moment you mention the word budget to them.

For a lot of people terms like “budgeting” and “saving money” imply missing out on things they want to do and/or buy, and therefore missing out on some form of fun.

I believe that with just a small degree of planning and control being brought to a monthly household budget the fun police won’t be preventing you from doing all the things you still want to do. 

Let me use a few very common examples to illustrate my point;
 
6 pots at the pub on a Friday night after work = $30; Taxi ride home = $20
Then, multiply the above equation by 4 to represent the number of weeks in the month.
In total a Friday night after work drink has cost $200 for the month. Alternately a carton of 24 beers (six each week for four weeks) will cost somewhere around $45. You have had the same number of beers per month, but have saved $155.
 
1 purchased coffee a day = $4.
If you buy 1 coffee a day for each work day you have spent $20 a week.
Using the coffee from the work kitchen costs nothing. Saving $20 each week equates to $80 each month. You have had the same number of coffees each month, but have saved $80.
 
Pay your utilities bills by the due date.
I will use my own current electricity bill as an example. I get billed monthly for my electricity usage. The current bill offers me a pay on time discount of $31.70. It’s a no-brainer – paying the bill by the due date means I have saved $31.70.
 
 
 I recently purchased a new pair of casual trousers.
The tag on the trousers showed a full retail price of $90, however because they were on sale the price had been reduced to $50.  Through buying the trousers when they were on sale I have saved $40.
 (P.S. Why does anyone pay full retail for any clothing item now? – They are almost always on sale.)
 
I believe another significant area of saving can be something as simple as making a list of only what you need when you do the supermarket shopping. Make the list, stick to it, and only go to the supermarket once a week. Think of the amount of money saved through the reduction in waste if you purchased only what you needed on your weekly list. 
 
Clearly I could go on with the examples, but I’m sure you all get the point.

Using my examples from above, and clearly this is not an exhaustive list I have saved $306.70 for the month.
If I can replicate just these savings each month, I will have saved $3680.40 for the year.

Imagine the potential for further savings by looking at all areas of household expenditure – How much more saving might be made?

In my example I have still done everything I wanted to do – the fun police haven’t needed to stop me because I couldn’t afford it, and at the end of the year I have at least $3680.40 that I wouldn’t otherwise have had.

My point is that wise usage of your own money needn’t be boring. Clever use of your own money can be very empowering.
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To learn how I can help you to empower yourself contact Leigh at Empower Money Management.
 
M.        0407 439 827 
leigh@empowermm.com.au 
www.empowermm.com.au