Only a week in and I am ready to make some changes!
From BabyStep 1, where I learnt to manage my everyday living through a Cash Envelope Budget, I've already seen ways to simplify this. The Speech therapy issue has been nagging me, I hate having that cash there for a month, and now that I will have to rely on Medicare rebates after paying the full amount, it just seems easier to go to EFTPOS to do this - that way the rebate can be deposited into the same place as the payment came out without affecting my cash flow. So speech is now part of my Bills Account.
From BabyStep 2, I mentioned that getting the Bills account to balance after the big bills is the hardest part and even with the complex spreadsheeting I wasn't really confident with my Cashflow. This account I would eventually like to running a month in advance but I've been ignoring one glaringly obvious glitch in the system. While most of my bills are monthly, a couple are fortnightly, and a few are quarterly. I will no doubt end up with some yearly ones in there too. The thing is, I'm trying to meld three different time zones into the one account. I want to keep it simple, but I do need to find some way, at least until I get a full quarter saving for each of my quarterly bills, to account for the fact that while a bill may be quarterly, I only have a few weeks to save for it! I think the simplest way to do that is to just go back to where I calculated the monthly and fortnightly amounts for my bills and re-do my quarterlys to reflect the time left to pay them, rather then the full quarter. It means I will have to readjust when I pay the next bill for each of them but it's hardly a drama.
I think I am beginning to understand that my Babysteps are going to become a repeating system of checks on my budget to manage and improve my finances. Well, at least the first few which focus on the budget!
I'm also really becoming acutely aware that I need to quickly implement a savings aspect to my budget. DH announced we need a new Frypan, DS1 requires non-subsidised medicine, and Mum invited us down for a weekend. Not to mention birthdays coming up, and my anniversery, and Christmas. And to top it all off, the Dryer started pouring out smoke! So yes, a savings account is next on the plan!
UPDATE: I went ahead with implementing these changes but when I put pen to paper (or mouse to spreadsheet in this case), it just didn't work. I've decided to total my Cashflow at the end of each pay period (a running total would be better but too much hassle and too messy to put in) or before each transfer into the account. That way I can check for any negative balances. Electricity is my biggest bill and is at the end of the three month budget so that should work out. It's not perfect, but it will work out!
No comments:
Post a Comment