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STEP ONE:
EARNING AND SPENDING
STEP TWO:
ORGANISING YOUR MONEY
STEP THREE:
BREAKING OLD HABITS

You can use this calculator to get a good idea where your money regularly goes and compare your spending to what we think is a pretty balanced budget. It doesn’t cover absolutely everything, however, if you want to get a handle on your regular spending, this is a great place to start.

This is all the money you earn (and your partner, if you live together), plus any Centrelink or other payments like Child Support. Think of all the money they you have coming in, even cash jobs or your hobby business.

Income
$

Please continue to enter your expenses in each category below. If you can’t find figures for certain bills or amounts (working out your weekly entertainment and food expenses can be tricky!), try looking through your bank statements.

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This is rent (or mortgage), power and water, and some houses are connected to gas, too, and internet if you have it, plus mobile and home phone costs.

Rent
$
Mortgage (+ council rates, insurance, ESL etc.)
$
Power
$
Water
$
Gas
$
Internet and phone
$

Repairs can be difficult to calculate, so here are some tips. Cars should at least be serviced every 6 months, and services cost between $150 and $400 depending on how big your car is.

Tyres cost anything upwards of $80 each to replace but should only need replacing every couple of years. You can pretty safely budget 1 tyre per year.

Maintenance really depends on how reliable/new your car is, but most people spend $500 - $1000 on car repairs every year. Petrol costs will change, depending on the price of fuel, but if you keep track of how much you roughly spend on petrol each week, put that down.

Maintenance, Tyres or Repairs
$
Rego (and CTP)
$
RAA + insurance (if you have it)
$
Petrol
$
Metro tickets
$
Any regular parking
$

If you’re on a healthcare card, your medical costs should be mostly free, but put any that aren’t down here. For more information about accessing free healthcare, click here!

Health insurance (if you have it)
$
Regular appointments (Doctors, dentist, psychologist, specialists etc)
$
Medication
$

All the things you buy to maintain your personal hygiene, beauty and style! Try looking at your bank statement and see how much you usually spent on these things.

Clothes and shoes
$
Hairdresser, barber or salon appointments
$
Makeup
$

This is just your regular supermarket/grocery shopping. It includes food that you prepare at home, cleaning products, pet food, toilet paper and toiletries.

Groceries and Supplies
$

Are you paying off any debts? This includes after-pay and layby, car, student or personal loans and credit card debt.

Debt
$

Hopefully if you are doing a TAFE course or a Uni degree, you don’t have to pay for it up front, but if you are here’s where you can put down how much you’re paying if you are. This could also include books, subscriptions or other resources you may need for studies.

Study
$

This covers anywhere you’re spending money on socialising and entertainment… Oh and by ‘eating out’, we mean everything from Hungry Jacks or a takeaway coffee to restaurant meals.

Eating out
$
Cigarettes and alcohol
$
Outings (tickets to the zoo, movies, festivals, club entry, concerts etc)
$
Sport, gym, classes and hobbies
$

If you have kids, it will depend a lot how old they are, as to how much you spend on them. However, here we’ve got some things that you end up paying for when you have babies and kids.

Childcare or babysitting
$
School fees and uniform
$
Child support payments
$
Toys and birthday parties
$

This can be a very tricky thing to work out. One way you can do it is by walking around your house with a pen and paper and all the things you have bought in the last year, and roughly how much they cost. Try to include things like baby change tables, kitchen wares, computers, TVs and bedding.

Furniture, appliances, tech, white goods and homewares
$

TOTAL

Income Spending Difference
$0 $0 $0

IT LOOKS LIKE ALL UP YOU'RE EARNING $0 AND SPENDING $0 EACH YEAR.
THAT MEANS YOU'RE EARNING $0 MORE THAN YOU'RE SPENDING.

DON'T STOP HERE!
THE WORST IS OVER.
STAY WITH US FOR STEP TWO

From what we've heard from young people, one of the best ways to budget is just to prioritise your spending. That means paying for all the things that are necessary to your survival first (like rent, electricity, food and water) and the not-so-important things after.

Introducing the Money Pyramid!


Splurge money is for partying, eating out and impulse buying. We think a bit of money spent in the moment is important to some peoples happiness. This includes takeaway coffees and food, clothes, shoes, gadgets, tickets, and anything else if it's an impulse buy, and it definitely includes ciggarettes, alcohol and any money spent on partying or socialising.

Future You is for your financial goals. What do you want to buy, that you don't have enough money for right now? Things that Future You will be like 'wow, thanks Past Me for saving up. These can be fun things, or practical things. Holidays, cars, new gadgets, appliances, education... the list goes on.

Daily grind money is for things you need to survive. It covers food that you buy get from the shops and cook at home, bus money, running your car, rent and utilities, a phone, clothes (when you actually need them) and visits to the doctor and dentist.

BASED ON STEP ONE, WE WORKED OUR THAT
YOUR SPENDING LOOKS LIKE THIS:

TO COMPARE, THIS IS WHAT WE
LIKE TO AIM FOR:

WE'RE CLOSE NOW
STAY WITH US FOR STEP THREE

Remember, this is what we recommend you spend in the different areas of life, based on your income:

...there you go! The world's simplest budget!


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But unfortunately we all know that the hard bit isn’t making a budget, it’s sticking to it!
Here’s what we do to break our habits, and stick to our budget:

We find that having different bank accounts for different areas of spending really useful. So, an account for Daily Grind, one for Future You, and one for Splurge.

To do this, you will need to contact your bank and ask them to set up your accounts. Ask them for help choosing types of accounts that have no/low fees. Some banks might even give you a fee waiver (that means no fees) if you ask them.

Having separate cards for our Splurge and Daily Grind accounts is useful.

That way, when you buy toilet paper, food shopping or medicine, you pay with your Daily Grind card, and when you're out partying, buying lunch or impulse buying new shoes that you really don't need, you can use your Splurge card.

It's a way of helping yourself to prioritise your cash, and stick to budget.

There are heaps of other things people use to keep on-top of their budgets.
We've made a list of apps, resources and websites to checkout:

CREATE YOUR FUTURE
Create have a section of their website all about money, with information about banking, Centrelink, debt, loans and grants.

Barefoot Investor
We love Barefoot’s book, but unfortunately it does cost money. However, he does have a blog that’s totally free, where he shares great tips and updates about economics.

Money Smart
This is a government website which has heaps and heaps of information on it.

Affordable SA
If you need to live on a really tight budget, this site will be your best friend. It can help you find free or cheap services, food, housing, healthcare… and the list goes on.

Daily Budget App
We’ve used this little app before, to great success. It helps you track the money you spend each day. It’s a bit of a commitment, but if you’re serious about getting on top of things, it’s definitely useful. There are so many other budgeting apps that might suit you better, so if this one isn’t for you, have a look at some others.

Centrepay
Centrepay is a government service which pays your bills straight out of your Centrelink payments. It’s good if you’re not used to budgeting for bills but is only for people receiving Centrelink.

Grants for young care leavers
There are plenty of grants and loans available to young care leavers. Read about them here.

National Debt Hotline
If you are in serious debt, it’s worth giving these guys a call for free advice about what to do.

Financial Counselling
If you need help getting your money organised, you can get help from a financial counsellor. This page lists some free services which offer financial counselling in Adelaide.

Aboriginal Financial Counselling Service
The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement offers this free confidential financial counselling service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.