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Your Guide to Budgeting
Your Guide to Budgeting
Get real about your spending habits
Only when you get real and honest with yourself about your spending habits can you truly get sharp about money. So, take out all your receipts, statements and credit cards, and educate yourself on the journey to financial awareness.
Salary
This is your net income. The total amount you earn after deducting any tax, exemptions or deductions. This includes any kind of income other than cash, such as an asset.
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- What is a budget
A budget is a plan of how to spend your money. It allows you to track your income (how much money is coming in) and your spending habits (how much money is going out). - How to build a budget
Take some time to make a budget for yourself by filling in your income and your expenses below.- Identify places where you can cut down on your expenses in order to save. For example, you can easily reduce the amount you spend on restaurant meals by eating at home, or meeting friends in the park rather than going to movies.
- Identify what your goals are. Write them down in the “Goals list”. Try to quantify your goals by adding in the cost of each of these achievements.
- Calculate how long you would need to achieve your goals. For example, if you need R20 000 to pay towards university fees, how long would you need to be saving for in order to reach your goal?
- What is a goal budget
The final step in the process is building a goal budget. A goal budget is a great way to begin saving towards necessities such as retirement, university funds and your own home, as well as luxuries such as Christmas presents and even those shoes you’ve had your eye on.
Your guide to budgeting
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Download the guide and complete the exercises.
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