Another fortnightly update

The 2nd half of March didn't go as well as the first. I really didn't expect to be over my budget by so much.

There are still a couple of days left in March, so will post a monthly summary and update my credit card list etc later this week, but this is a update for the previous fortnight (up to Saturday 28th March).


Rent: As expected.

Household: Over because I bought a $49.99 TV. Still consider this a good deal so not too concerned.

Food: I think reducing my food bills is going to be an ongoing challenge this year. At least I had a bit of money left over from my first fortnight in March, but will still be over for the month. I still throw out food and buy too many snacks.

Medical: If I keep getting massages I may need to increase this category. Maybe I should just stop getting massages!

Public transport: Over, but this includes 2 x 10 trip savers bought last week which I haven't started using, so they will last me for a while.

Mobile phone: Bill not due until next month.

Clothes: Shouldn't have bought that dress from the markets, particularly as I need to buy winter clothes

Study expenses: This put the largest dent in my budget, and this doesn't include the textbooks from Amazon I bought yesterday. Hopefully won't have many more expenses for the rest of semester.

Gifts: Under, this was an Easter egg for my Mum.

Miscellaneous: I bought a $3.00 Scratchie.

Spending: Over by a little bit, but was under last fortnight.

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.