I have written out and re-jiggeed my budget. I had about $20.00/week I didn't need to be going into my bill account.
I am on a single parents pension and I get:
$644.00 Pension week and
$756.57 Ftb Week. (first payment of this amount as Heidi has only been living here a few weeks.)
I also work in the local pub kitchen generally Wed - Sun lunch and dinners depending on how many people out out to dinner and I clean a holiday/short stay accommodation house - sporadic but busy over Easter.
I haven't added any child support to these amounts as I am not sure of the exact amounts and mostly use it as schooling and clothes/haircuts etc for the kids. They go into dedicated bank accounts with the kids names on them in my net-bank.
Not including fuel and food my current fortnightly bills are : $1342.20
I report my earnings to centrelink every fortnight and am paid fortnightly to make this easier and I am not spending it all before bills come out.
I also have to make sure after reporting my earnings to centrelink each fortnight and them telling me what I will get that there is: $681.10 on reporting week for the bills to come out with my other work pay going in.
So my current weekly budget is:
Rent: $150.00
Water: $6.50 (just had a bill for 111.00 this week)
Heidi Schooling: $10.00
Josh Schooling:$10.00
Rego:$14.60 (will go down to 8.00 at start of July as I didn't start putting away money until after christmas)
Roadside Assistance: $8.00 (will go down to $4.50 at start of May as I didn't start putting money away until after christmas )
Gas Bottle: $12.00
Credit Card: $300.00 (should be paid off in 16 weeks then $0.00 payments) I can easily change this amount if and when needed if I am having a really tight week.
Savings: $30.00 (only started this week properly after playing with budget)
Direct Debits: $140.00 this includes: ( I think I have it right @139.40/week so hopefully everything is sorted)
Power: $20.00
Phone: $20.00
Daycare: $38.68
Internet: $25.00
Foxtel: $11.25
Health Insurance: $24.75
I am not sure how much my fuel is I think t is about $80.00 a fortnight as I am not driving to town as often.
Food I spend about $100.00 - $150.00 but I have a lot of meals in my freezer and am only topping up.
As soon as the credit card is paid I can then start directing those funds into savings and food.
Any excess money is moved into my EF/savings account once a month or so. I did this yesterday with all of my accounts and I had a lot of money just sitting around so my EF/savings account now sits at:
$177.86 I also use this for fuel if needed.
I haven't brought anything off the internet since March and for me that's a big one. I think I have $40.00ish in my Paypal account so if I buy anything it can come out of that.
