how much do you save/spend? (1 Viewer)

[iambored]

how much money do you save each week? this might work better if you post how much you make each week but that's a bit personal so you can put the percentage

or, how much do you spend each week?

i am saving (through forced saving, taking money out of sight so it's out of mind) about 10% and another 20% to spend on other things later on

with so many things going on i have been spending almost everything i don't save

i want a general idea on how much other people spend and save each week because i don't want to be splurging or spending more than i need to

 

[Skittled]

...in my opinion you're not saving much. 30% is good but I'd reverse your balance; 20% Long term, 10% for intermediate, when-I-want-it savings...

I earn, on average, about $200 each week. Just started receiving youth allowance but have cut back my hours, so overall not much has changed.

My girlfriend and I are *trying* to work on $100 between the two of us, each week. Which theoretically means we're saving $150 (75%!) of our income. It's very doable with a bit of budgeting, and buying food for two from supermarkets keeps costs down... definetly get a few economies of scale, this way.

The biggest problem are our splurges: because we don't spend much during the week, I think we're a bit strained and tend to splash out a bit more when the opportunity arises. Other than that, the $50 gets strained as soon as we need a tank of petrol..

Overall, I'd like to save 50% of our income... but that'd be too easy so I'm pushing for more..

...just hope MJ doesn't mind the economic ambitions...

 

[iambored]

thanks for that
i do intend to save more when i get some of the immediate costs out of the way (ahem, or just make up for my disorganisation at the start of this forced saving) so i want this thread to prepare myself for what i should be saving
if other people can use only $50 a week i don't see why i can't as well. i don't want to be spoilt or waste money that i don't need to.

 

[doe]

this is what i use to watch what i spend/help me save, i cant upload .xls's so delete the .doc part of the extension

each week i allocate a certain amount for bills, food, transport and spare cash. they go in the left hand columns. at the end of each night when im at my comp i update what i spend, and look at the total im my bank account and make sure its round about the total i have in the available amount. or more realistically itll be once a week and i jsut keep my receipts.

bills are for bills and things like fixed regular costs. for eg my martial arts fees are about $25/week so that goes in there. food is for food, transport is for petrol/train tickets/car servicing etc and petty is what i sqaunder each week on whatever there is. it helps me know how much i can spend, for eg i may have $400 in my account but only $80 in my petty so ill only get out that much when i go out. similarly if i have $100 in petty and impulse buy $50 worth of books i dont worry about it. extras are for one off expenses, for instance i got a new job so had to go buy a crapload of clothes, and i moved house so had to buy shit like a mop and breadboard that are more or less one off extraordinary expenses.

the numbers arent fixed in stone. if im constantly short i look at if i need to make changes either in my spending or in how much i allocate myself.

i dont know my after tax income so i dont know how much i save. not as much as when i was at uni, but still probably about 20%.

when i was at uni id earn maybe $400 a week and give myself between $75 - $100 dollars a week to spend on "stuff", which included $20 for petrol and $25 for martial arts. it sounds kinda harsh but by watching what i spent my money on i could buy things i wanted more, so instead of wasting it on day to day crap i could buy turntables and a crapload of music, stuff thats important to me.

the ever present book reference "the richest man in babylon" by george clason. this was the first book i ever read on finance type stuff and i was about 16. every library on earth has it, its quite short and well worth a read, particularly if you're thinking about savings. even if you can save 10% and the amounts are small, its the mental discipline of saving you'll develop so when you earn more that 10% will be more.

 

[yenta]

The amount I earn changes each week, it ranges from about $200 up to $500 (net pay) but average is around $300. My expenses are: about $40 a week for petrol, $50 a week to my dad to pay back a loan, and about $50 general spending, but I aim to save at least $100 a week so I'll cut back the spending if I need to. But if earn say $500 in one week I will put at least half of it away in savings where I'm not tempted to spend it. One thing has got me though - eBay. Once I give that habit up I should be right

 

[iamsickofyear12]

I make between $100 and $400 a week. I get paid in cash and I take that money and put it in an envelope in my room. When I need money for petrol, parking at uni, food/drinks etc I take it out. I probably end up saving the majority of what I make or pretty close to it.

 

[sunny]

I get ~$450 a week. I don't have any fixed saving plan, but rather I just spend when I "need" to. When I do have some what a large amount of spare money I might buy a "want" item - recently I spent ~$700 on a PDA, and ~$150 for ankle braces for sport. I know on average the amount I spend isn't greater than what I earn.

So I sort of just adjust myself each week since I would have a rough idea in my mind of how much I can afford to be spending.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

I make about $300 a week approx at the moment. $167.50 goes to rent.... some goes away for phone bills/internet. Groceries and miscellaneous costs are about $70-80.... the rest gets saved. Sometimes unexpected expenses pop up, and also sometimes I earn more depends how busy I am and how many shifts I can do.

But I don't get to save much because of my rent.

 

[Casmira]

i have made grand total of ~$8000 at bunnings, ive saved about $6k of it

 

[_muse_]

I get shit all money each week.. about $100.. and my mum has forced me to save 50% ever since i started working 4 years ago... everything was going swell but then i bought a car, and i had to borrow money of parents, so im making weekly repayments out of my pay to them.. so really im only saving 25% of what i earn... shocking.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

I get ~$450 a week. I don't have any fixed saving plan, but rather I just spend when I "need" to. When I do have some what a large amount of spare money I might buy a "want" item - recently I spent ~$700 on a PDA, and ~$150 for ankle braces for sport. I know on average the amount I spend isn't greater than what I earn.

So I sort of just adjust myself each week since I would have a rough idea in my mind of how much I can afford to be spending.

Thats kind of what I do. I don't have fixed costs. The amount I need to spend is different every week, the amount I make can vary by $200 a week and I don't particularly get paid consisitently. I've been putting away my money but I haven't been paid for 3 weeks so I need to use that money and the longer I don't get paid for the more money I am going to get when I finally do get paid.

 

[chepas]

I am guaranteed $170 a week - one small advantage as being perm part-time.

What I do, on pay day (every Wed.) I always transfer $50 into my savings account, rain hail or shine. Then I have $120 to 'play with' for the week, of which only really $20 for my weekly ticket for transport is really compulsory money I need. Then at the end of the week on the Tuesday, whatever I have left I just shove into the savings account. This seems to work cos the last few months I haven't spent a huge amount of money during the week (very hard!), and so I end up saving about $100 a week. Of course, this varies depending on what I actually do... . Other people mention eBay................

 

[Ranger Stacie]

I am guaranteed $170 a week - one small advantage as being perm part-time.

What I do, on pay day (every Wed.) I always transfer $50 into my savings account, rain hail or shine. Then I have $120 to 'play with' for the week, of which only really $20 for my weekly ticket for transport is really compulsory money I need. Then at the end of the week on the Tuesday, whatever I have left I just shove into the savings account. This seems to work cos the last few months I haven't spent a huge amount of money during the week (very hard!), and so I end up saving about $100 a week. Of course, this varies depending on what I actually do... . Other people mention eBay................

eeeek, i've earned almost 20 k since i started work, i have $500 to show for it and a car

 

[LeftrightOut]

I've been blowing every cent I make in the last few months. I kept saving it up but then I notice a nice name or site i'd like to buy and there it goes.

Before that I was saving around $XXX a week

 

[doe]

people who buy their own food ... how much do you eat?

i realise that in a typical week ill eat 1.5kg of pasta, 3 loaves of bread and consume 3 litres of milk, among other things. im not overweight or anything either. it strikes me as being quite a lot

 

[Generator]

I'm lucky enough to live at home and not be forced to pay board. The odd items (specs, my negligible phone bill, clothes, etc.) aren't an issue as such, although they do lead to a tightening of the purse strings when necessary.

I earn $190 to $210 a week (part-time), and of that $50 is sent off to a savings account and $40 (soon to be $50) is sent off to my mum and dad as I slowly chip away at the amount owing on my car. Transport costs range from $20 to $40 each week (train ticket and petrol when necessary) and then I end up wasting however much on food as I'm alway too lazy to bother making use of the kitchen at home the night before. Basically, I'm happy with saving $50 a week and maintaining a minimum balance in my regular account that also carries a bit of slack for the odd 'bugger the price, i want it' purchase.

I'm not as cheap as I would like, but given my circumstances I can't really complain at the current time.

 

[LaZy_KoReAn]

I'm a big spender, so what i do to make sure that i at least save some good amount of money is put away 30% locked into my direct saver account, which i've done for a few months now from last year.

70% of $535 = $375, BIG MONEY are spent all other things i'm confused why in hell i'm spending so much money >_<!! I'm being more financially smart compared to last year, so that's at least an improvement in being money conscious! I'm gonna try attemp to put away another 20% for travelling for Christmas, once i get my tax return as a kick start for my travel fund

I have no debts! Which is awesome to!

 

[ToO LaZy ^*]

i spend the tips i get from working 1 day a week (which ranges from $25-$40 a pop) and (try) to put the rest into my bankwest account
i'm saving towards a car, so that is the reason for my economical spending

 

[Smokey_22]

I try to save about half my earnings.

 

[Emily.]

i save just over 30% of my pay
i get paid monthly so i deposit it straight into my savings account