My Budget for 2009

Well the bills I have been waiting for all week have still not arrived, and so if I pay the phone bill before the post arrives tomorrow morning then in effect I will be bill free, that does,nt mean debt free just bill free. I can't remember ever being that organised before, so the plan will be to put away bill money weekly and always be in front. I have finally drawn up a budget and have put it onto a spreadsheet where I will be able to see at a glance how I am doing.

Firstly I found all my old bills for the items in the house I pay and then added them up over 1 month and then broke them down into a weekly amount.

Foxtel $59.00
Mobile $30.00
Phone $140.00
Electricity $90.00
Food $600.00
Petrol $100.00
These are my monthly figures so weekly for all household bills I will need to put aside $255.00 I should be able to cut back on my food bill by being a little more frugal,and also my mobile plan is actually $20.00 a Month but I thought I should over compensate, the same applies to my petrol.

My debts are a little harder to break down into a weekly amount as one of them is paid weekly and the other fortnightly, and in a couple of months if I am a good little vegemite and pay them regularly then I will be asked to increase that amount, I would love to pay them off quicker but I am on such a restrictively low wage. These are my monthly payments figures

Debt 1 $200.00
Debt 2 $60.00

I hav'nt worked out how long it will take to clear these debts but I think 3 years at the longest, paying this amount of $65.00 weekly to cover them.

I would like to have an Emergency fund of $2,000.00 this would be for car repairs, emergency air fares as my elderly parents live interstate and anything else life throws at me. I can only afford to put $62.50 a week into this account, although if I get any overtime money, tax rebates etc. this will be where I will put it first, as I would love to have a decent safety net.

Savings account, this would be including Christmas Club savings and I already have $125.00 put away in that, again I have allocated $62.50, this is a wish for account and is not at the moment as important to me as the Emergency Fund.

After all of these deductions from my wages I am left with $55.00 a week to spend on everything else including my beloved Grandchildren. I may have to tweak this budget if I find it does.nt work for me, but I think and pray it is manageable.

There are a few ways I've been thinking of getting extra income throughout the year such as Overtime - Selling onE - Bay - Birthday Presents - Gambling - Tax Rebate And if any come my way I will use them to where most needed.

Well it's done and now I'm committed, so from tomorrow which is Payday, Bill paying day and Grocery shopping day my budget starts, got to do something to get that Grocery bill down. The figures in red make up my weekly wage of $500.00