Saving or not?!
This very great and helpful idea came from Glo. Thanks, Glo!
Anyway, I’ve been freaking out trying to think of ways to save money considering that I already have a budget for everything. All this time I was thinking we’re not saving at all. I feel so especially guilty whenever we’re buying food or dining in at a restaurant. I always tell myself I should cook no matter what. But on the contrary, both IFC and I agree that we need to treat ourselves once in a while… not just in food but also on things like watching movies or shopping.
So I’ve laid out all our earnings and expenses for the last 4 months and made a graph for easier interpretation…
Summary:
38% - savings
18% - rent
10% - padala
09% - other expenses
07% - shopping
05% - groceries
05% - utilities
04% - personal allowance
03% - transportation
01% - restaurants
Notes:
- Rent gets the biggest portion of our monthly expenses… something that is not within our control.
- Utilities include telephone, DSL internet, electricity, laundry and phone cards for overseas calls to the Philippines. We try our best not to use IDD. Our electricity bill only peaks up during the summer because of air conditioner’s use.
- The restaurant expenses only came up to 1% because some of our eat-outs come from our monthly allowances. I still think it is minimal even if you add it up to the allowance’s 4%.
- I am proud to say that the 7% share for shopping included some of the Christmas gifts which we charged to our credit card, thus, paid in January. We’re not really crazy on shopping or should I say, we know how to control the urge. Lol.
- For the “others” portion, there was just an unexpected expense that we incurred last month. Had we have control of it we could have saved a total of 45% instead of only 38%.
Overall, I think we did great!
4 comments:
Hey Faye, this is right my alley! ;) I do this kind of number crunching stuff as my transitory career - so am very awed that you decided to take on the challenge of facing the 'hard facts'. :) I have to say, you're on the right track. Self-awareness is key if you want your financial house in order. Good job on this pie-chart! :) PM me if you want more info. :)
hi, weng! wow i didn't even know that. i can say i pretty much handle our finances properly. i do budgetting kasi. but it'll definitely help to know more...
Faye! ;) Yes, I did not get your 'initial' drift. lol There's so much to talk about - so we'll try to zero in on your (and Irvin's) goals first. To re-arrange (save and make monies) is like designing your own home; although, you have the most important aspect tackled - budget (where you spend your monies is key!!! so, you're on the ball here!) There are many elements that we can look at. PM me at theflowerdrumsong at yahoo dot com. Then, we'll take it from there. Email me, ok? :)
nice you have a big percentage for savings... that's great! I love how you present this...hmmm, magawa nga din, hehe... let me see if we're doing just right :) though I'm proud to say we're pretty good balancing our expenses and we religiously set amount to put on savings... Kailangan kasi magaaral na si Migs, hehehe....
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