Saturday, February 1, 2014

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month - February


Well January was a month of working full time due to staff shortages, some small home renovations, hot weather ( without air conditioning ) and being very unorganised! I often say my year runs from February to November! December and January are lost causes. Anyway my weekend is revolving around getting ready for the month ahead. Not sure how successful I will be but here's trying. A lot of today was spent organising my new budget, in a book, the old fashioned way, just how I like it ! The last few months I have just bumbled through but that has to stop. I have gone from two wages to one part time one and life is going to have to change. It is doable but will require some discipline. All set up so let's see how we go! A few places to make easy cuts so that is a good start.
I saw an idea on either a blog or Facebook at some stage, no idea where sorry, of the 52 week envelope. Each  week for the year you put the corresponding dollars in the envelope, ie. wk 1 $1, wk 10 $10, wk 52 $52. The amount you end up with at the end of the year was extraordinary for little effort . I have started so figure that is enforced savings for Christmas.
Please tell me I am not the only one to budget!
And in closing please take a few minutes to check your Superannuation plan as to whether it has death cover or illness cover, take out some life insurance and think seriously about income insurance. We had the forms but they were on the 'to do' pile and was expensive for a 'just in case' scenario.by the time we knew we needed this it was too late, SH's super would of been fantastic when he retired in another 20 years but was sadly lacking in our circumstances. I think our financial advisor let us down terribly but at the end of the day it was our responsibility to ensure we had the right cover, we found out the hard way we didn't :(

6 comments:

Gillie said...

Mm, that was definitely a punch. Good luck with the budgeting. Like the idea with the envelopes.

Cardygirl said...

At times like you have had, you really didn't need the issues with super. Budgeting is great and let's you achieve what you need and helps to save, what a wise and clever girl you are!

Susan said...

The hard part is the first step, and you've done that. I find it's so much better to face up to the realities of a budget than stick your head in the sand and ignore it all. Good luck.

Calidore said...

Yes I budget. Case of have to but it's also nice knowing where the money is going. I started the 52 week money plan last year and it was awesome. So nice to have that money sitting there - especially with back to school expenses and a growing boy - going to put a brick on his head to slow him down soon...sigh. Our super and life insurance is sorted and has been for years. We always figured if something happened to DH I would really struggle. Not so bad the other way as he can earn a wage.

Stay cool and try to get some time to yourself. Thinking of you.

Lorraine said...

Good luck with the budget - you are very organised and will have it sussed in no time. When you have yours done you can work on mine :)

Farmyard Stitches said...

After DH's injury last year we have made sure we have our ducks in a row. The only thing he still needs to update is his income protection. I know mum and dad were super lucky to have dad's income protection for the last 12 months. He was going to cancel it the month before he got sick but the form ended up in the pile.