Hello ladies and gents!
so I have a boring old financial question for you all and would really appreciate your help :)
I take care of the finances in our home, we are a family of 3 and only my husband works, we also have a mortgage, yay right ahahha
I preplan most of our usual bills so that when they come in the mail we have the money sitting there ready to pay them. I work out the cost of these bills for the year and then break it down to a weekly cost so it can be put aside straight away,
I try my best to pay yearly premiums and get quotes when insurances are due to keep costs down.
For the life of me I can't seem to work out how we have no savings!!
My husband is so fustrated understandably we've been doing quite well at work but have nothing to show for it and looks like we may struggle to pay the bills over the Xmas break :(
Anyway how do we live, how do we save, how is it that WA is in a downturn yet prices are still increasing??!
We pay $500 for mortgage each week, $550 towards bills, food and fuel equals about $250-300. And it's not include the little things that come up, dr appointment, car service, biryhday gifts etc.
We have one car loan and one personal loan that would be great if they disappeared but apart from that we don't have anything else. We have one television that's about 10 years old, no gadgets, my phone is an old IPhone.. I'm even thinking about cancelling our health insurance!
I have suggested going to work on weekends/late nights but hubby isn't up for it, he works long hours and sometimes can be 7 days a week, so to miss time being together isn't fair. For the limited time we may see each other I mean.
Anyways thank you for listening so far!
How do people make this work?! One income?? We have friends on one income and they just finished building their big beautiful new homes and will go and get new furniture to suit the house or a $5k coffee machine for the house! Drive their new cars and change them every couple of years. As these guys just in massive debt?? Please tell me they are Ahhaha
But it's not one or two it's quite a few people I know, I think good for them, that's amazing they can do this!
But how do they do it??
How do you manage your budget?? This being an adult stuff is hard work!!
Thanks guys xx
6 Replies
It all comes down to income. We are a one income ($46K) family ( 2 adults & 1 child) and we struggle week to week. We rent, have no credit cards or loans although our son does go to a private school which costs us $7K a year, one car (hubby has a scooter to get to work) and the usual bills ie. phones, internet, power, food, fuel etc but no savings. There is never anything left over. We budget. I meal plan. Hubby and I go without a lot. Thank goodness for the Health Care Card for when we are sick which isn't often, thank goodness, and the Child Dental Benefit Scheme. We rely on hubby's bonus each year to pay for things like a holiday, new furniture etc. Some years he gets a great bonus, other years not so good. Its hard........life is hard. I have just applied for my 902 job, yep you read that right. 902 jobs in 5 years and am getting no where. Haven't had an interview in nearly 3 years and am lucky if I receive a "thanks but no thanks" email/letter from most of them these days. I would love to work, but being a SAHM for 12 years has cost me dearly. Being in my late 40's doesn't help either. And to top things off, I just received notification from Centrelink this morning that I lose FTB B as from my next payment as our son turns 13 so I now have to redo our budget less $110/f. Its always 1 step forward, 2 steps back.
Thank you for sharing hun!
I'm so sorry you haven't had any luck have you ? We seem to be living in really tough times ATM and costs of living are just increasing too! What about retail, I know Xmas time everyone increases their casual staff? That's where I was thinking of applying! My neighbor who would be in her 50s works at Portmans I think? Just a few swifts a week but it all helps hey!
Good on you guys for having no debt though! Nothing worse than paying thousands in interest!
Hope it all turns around for you soon xx
You could very well be conparing apples and oranges! There are so many variables it's impossible to compare.
What do your friends earn compared to you?
Do you know if they had a financial leg up along the way? How do you know they don't have income from other sources (family, bequeathed money, investments made when they were young etc). It all makes a big difference.
Truth is we never know how someone affords what they afford. You don't know how long someone saved for that furniture or how huge that new mortgage will be. Is it interest only repayments (which is surprisingly common and risky).
I live in a way that I think is quite spoilt given my situation (carer on carers payments). Things in my home would make you think the carers payment is very generous. What people wouldn't get is those original art works were given to me by artists I happen to know as birthday presents and I'm lucky to have very generous sister who buys things she shouldn't do for my birthday and Christmas etc. That other people often foot my bill for entertainment, which I'm eternally grateful for. If you compared my lifestyle to another person on carers payment it would be not a fair comparison.
Your sooooo right! Thank you for sharing!
We can't compare our lives to others and it's impossible to know their situation!
I only feel so fustrated that we try and do all the right things to cut costs down but feel like we aren't getting anywhere ? Especially for hubby, working his piece out and can't even have a week off during Xmas.
Thank you for your advice!
It does depend on income, leg up, history, and living situation. Maybe they live with their whole set of inlaws, maybe they bought a house young, or both built up all their cars and possessions before settling into one salary and children.
My advice is to make sure what youre calculating for bills is covering it. Also make a savings account you dont touch. An emergency fund for car services, dentist etc.
And take a good look at where the unaccounted money is really going.
There will not be savings if incomings and outgoings are the same or if outgoings are higher than incomings. Take a good, hard look at exactly what comes in and goes out (include everything, including giftz and incidentals) and see if you should have more than you do. If yes, work out where you're leaking money!