Budgeting Skills
Knowing what your finances are like is important because, like most students, you are probably going to have only barely enough to get by on.
One vital way of dealing with financial problems is learning how to budget your finances. The basics of budgeting are very simple - find out how much income you have, find out how much you spend and see what the difference is.
Use a planner, on paper, on-line or computer spreadsheet to set out your expenditure under various categories eg Rent, Electricity/gas, phone, food, clothes etc. (See the links below for some useful sites.) The more categories you use, the less likely you will be to forget to budget for something important
Choose whether you want to have your budget as a weekly, fortnightly or monthly figure and make sure you convert all your amounts to the same type. eg. if you have an annual figure, divide it by 26 to get a fortnightly amount or by 52 for weekly.
Working out your rent is usually easy enough, but the others might be a bit awkward, especially if you've just moved out of home. You can use your old electricity bills etc (yes, they do come in handy, so don't throw them away) to see how much you need to cover each year or ring your supplier and ask for an average cost given the appliances you have and the number of people in the household.
Do similar calculations on all the recurring bills - phone, Uni fees etc. Setting aside every fortnight the amount needed to cover all those bills will mean you won't need to go hungry the week that they have to be paid. If you are receiving payments from Centrelink, you can arrange for fortnightly deductions to pay many bills. (Centrepay)
To see your usual day to day spending pattern, get a small notebook and take it with you everywhere, every day and jot down every bit of money you spend. Yes, including that magazine and packet of lollies! Do this for at least a fortnight, preferably a month to get as clear a picture as you can. Transfer this information onto your planner, using the categories you have chosen.
Now you know where your money needs to go every week or fortnight and, as they say, knowledge is power. If it looks like you are spending more than you get, you can now start to choose what you are going to change to make ends meet. It might be minor, like taking a lunch from home rather than buying one every day, or you might have to decide if you really need that car with all its costs.
That's a budget. But remember, you don't have to engrave it in stone! Budgets are just a tool - if your circumstances change, if your priorities change or even if you find it just isn't working, don't feel bound by it. Redo it, tinker with it, but be honest with yourself.
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Links
www.fido.asic.gov.au - Follow the calculator links for a very useful on-line & downloadable budget planner from the Australian Securities & Investment Commission
http://www.wesleymission.org.au/centres/creditline/factsheet.asp - Lots of information on budgeting.
http://www.moneyminded.com.au/default.asp - Includes spreadsheets for doing your own budget, games and lots of information.
http://www.understandingmoney.gov.au/content/default.asp - Australian Government site with tips on preparing a budget, settin financial goals and beginning a savings habit.
Basic Money Plan for printing. (PDF 76K)
Detailed Planner for printing (PDF 116K)