Saturday, March 14, 2009

Actual versus budget

It's now been two weeks since I posted my budget. I get paid fortnightly and my budget is fortnightly. So in the past fortnight, how did I go?


Considering I spent $243 on airfares, which I hadn't budgeted, I'm surprised I'm on $41 over my budget for the fortnight.

Rent: right on target, no surprise
Household: over budget. This included some monthly bills I paid with my rent this week, so should be be under budget by the end of the month.
Food/groceries: Under budget for once! Still not entirely happy as I didn't go grocery shopping this week, but still managed to spend almost $20 on snacks/junk food.
Medical: A little left over and considering I had prescriptions filled I am happy with this.
Public transport: Under. This was one train fare. In January I bought some ten-trip savers which I have been using on buses, so I expect this to be quite low until I use them up.
Mobile phone: I have to check this. My bill for the month showed my account was $2 in credit, and I paid $100 last month rather than $50. I thought I had only paid $50, but will need to go back through my bank statements.
Clothes: Under, but as I need to buy a few winter clothes I doubt it will stay this way for long!
Study expenses: Nil but I need to buy a textbook next week which will be way over my budget!
Gifts/miscellaneous and entertainment: all under.
Airfares: Need to work out how to budget for these. They are airfares to visit home (two different weekend trips) but maybe I should be considering these holidays and budgeting money into a holiday fund.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like how you do your budget. I need to do that too!