Staying on Budget – Live within your means

If you’re still in debt, read our tips on How to Get Out of Debt first

Champagne lifestyle on a beer budget

“It’s all about mindset and discipline!”

Don’t continue to live outside your means.  Set yourself a budget and stick to it.  Be realistic about what you can and cannot afford.

• Write yourself a realistic budget (there’s heaps of free templates online to help out). Make sure the household is all on board with the changes.
• Bills BEFORE entertainment.
• If you can’t be trusted, cut up your credit cards.  And let’s face it, if you could be trusted, you wouldn’t have gotten into financial crisis to start with.
• Buy only the things you can afford – “If you can’t buy it with cash, you can’t buy it”.
• Use layby terms for items you haven’t got the immediate cash for.
• Use interest free credit on bigger ticket items. Again, only if you can be trusted to pay it off BEFORE the end of the interest-free period – and if you then close the account immediately after (there may be annual fees, account keeping fees – or the temptation to once again splurge).
• Set up an interest bearing account that you cannot get access to offline, with a small amount or percentage of your wage to go into it weekly. Feel free to start very low and build up the weekly deposits as you get used to the idea.

The old habit of spending everything you earn might be a little hard to break at first, but once you take hold of the new mindset, you’ll be surprised at how easy it becomes.

Life doesn’t have to be boring

“What to do whilst spending less money?”

Think up new and exciting ways to provide entertainment that are cheap or free, like having friends over for a BBQ, rather than always heading out the pub.

Take it in turns to host card or board game nights (which you may think sounds lame, but perhaps that’s why alcohol was invented?).

Rent a DVD instead of heading out to the movies is a cheaper option – or go on cheap@ Tuesdays or to the independent cinemas who charge half the price of the big guns.

Eating out? Don’t be embarassed to use discount shopping vouchers – and find local restaurants that have cheap nights and 2-for-1 offers.

Where to Get More Advice

If you want more advice on saving and clearing debt, consult a financial planner.  If you don’t know of any financial planners, ask your friends and work collegues, maybe someone can recommend someone to you?  As well, many AMP representatives will see you for free to offer a little advice.



Best of luck,

Nathan