Budget tips for fifo workers

Budgeting can be seen as a dirty word in family lives, but it’s essential to survival in FIFO families. Budgeting is something that many of us don’t like to consider as we think it will tie us down. But if you really stop and think about it, budgeting is simply a means of looking at your income and expenditure and deciding on what is most important to you.

Once you identify what you want to achieve, a budget is a tool to help you get there.

Tips

• Tracking your spending – Where does all my money go?
• Keep a financial diary - Record all of your spending in a notebook, create as many categories as you need, such as petrol, lunch, and transport. Ensure you include small items such as snacks, drinks, parking meters, tolls, donations
• Planning a budget - A budget can help you plan your expenses and save for things you want.
• Online budget calculator - To help you plan your budget, you can utilise our budget calculator which takes into consideration all of your general expenses and gives you an idea as to how much you could save.
• Set yourself a savings target - Aim to save 15% of your gross annual income. This breaks down to 5% for short-term goals and 10% for long-term goals.
• Develop a safety buffer - The key to successful money management is to put funds aside during the good times and to minimise financial stress during bad times. Remember to allow for unexpected debts and emergencies like illness in the family, loss or breakage of possessions, career interruptions.

 Quick budget reminders.

• Don’t make your budget so tight that it’s impossible to keep
• A budget is not set in stone. It is there to help, not hinder you. A sign of a successful budget is one that is flexible during tough times and able to reward you when your prospects are brighter
• If you blow your budget one month, try to make up for lost finance in areas that are more flexible e.g. entertainment or eating out
• Revisit your budget every 3 months to see if there are any areas you can tighten up to improve your financial flow
• A budget isn’t meant to deny you of simple pleasures, like a cup of coffee every morning. Once you’ve paid your bills, saved for the future, and tucked some away for emergencies, the rest you can spend guilt-free! Feels good, doesn’t it?