Goi's Fitness Forum

How do you plan your personal finances?

Currently using an Excel spreadsheet to project my expenses; getting some cool software from my uncle later. Never really understood the drag of expenditures until this afternoon at work where I wrote down the cost of things.

For me, I write down everything that i spend on. Sometimes I forget, but most times I dont.

I have a target of a sum to save every month. Money comes in, save first. Then start paying all the bills. Then account for weekly groceries. Then I have a projected amount of how much I can spend every month.

But honestly, for the past 4 months, I have not managed to stay off my savings.

i dont count my expenses coz i always though it's low.

but when i count once 2 months ago, FWAH, not low wor, hit 4 digit easily.

no car, no flat yet sia.

I don't bother. Just make sure I save a fixed amount every month without my spending account going bust.

just spend sensibly but priorities what you need(bills/transport/food) first then what you want(toys/supplement/outings).
common sense i know but not really common for some people.

Doesn't matter what you use (accounting SW, spreadsheet, piece of paper).

Important thing is, especially when you are just starting work, every penny counts. Look at the big picture and see what your regular expenses are, and what your big ticket items are.

Funnily enough, it's not your big ticket items which will make a dent in your pocket, as you will immediately know whether you can afford it or not... it's your regular expenses which will creep up and suddenly you find that instead of saving $1000 this month, you only saved $800, and it's been like this for the last 3 months.

Especially for items like transportation, food, clothing, weekly clubbing, which you may or may not have control over.

So it's good to go through the exercise of listing everything down. As with your workout journal, no point embellishing or hiding the details, you are only cheating yourself... be honest and ruthless, so that you can have a good idea of what you are spending on, and what your sources of income are.

Milk,Diapers and Baby Insurance....tts where all my money goes.... I even stop buying 4d or toto...amazing but true...

Bryan wrote:Milk,Diapers and Baby Insurance....tts where all my money goes.... I even stop buying 4d or toto...amazing but true...

bo buy bo hope, got buy got hope.......

huat ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ok, i admit, i dont pay my hp or transport bills.
so i try to survive on my nsf pay every month.
somehow or another, i am able to stretch it for 4 weeks.

hp so cheap anyway, i pay only like $20/mth. least of my worries...

Difficult keeping my phone bill below $50 since people love to call me all the time at work.

galapogos wrote:hp so cheap anyway, i pay only like $20/mth. least of my worries...

i text quite a lot.

Then don't text so much, and don't answer your calls to chit chat

Derek wrote:Difficult keeping my phone bill below $50 since people love to call me all the time at work.

Not free incoming meh

lol excellent idea, i need to start managing my finances

yah loh, and you need to stop dragging people to cheatttt with you, they also need to manage!

sign up for nsf plan la...starhub....Free incoming, Unlimited sms and mms..... wad more do u want?? hahaha...

galapogos wrote:Then don't text so much, and don't answer your calls to chit chat

i've got to.

Ya, tell me about it. The freaking Similac so expensive lor. My protein powder also not so expensive!!

Bryan wrote:Milk,Diapers and Baby Insurance....tts where all my money goes.... I even stop buying 4d or toto...amazing but true...

shion1 wrote:Ya, tell me about it. The freaking Similac so expensive lor. My protein powder also not so expensive!!

Bryan wrote:Milk,Diapers and Baby Insurance....tts where all my money goes.... I even stop buying 4d or toto...amazing but true...

lol lol.

shion1 wrote:Ya, tell me about it. The freaking Similac so expensive lor. My protein powder also not so expensive!!

Bryan wrote:Milk,Diapers and Baby Insurance....tts where all my money goes.... I even stop buying 4d or toto...amazing but true...

haha $69.50 which only last u like 4days?? I go to those medical or export stores also cheaper by nt much unlike friso but it got this weird smell

i currently save 70% of the pay, so this just goes to an account i don't touch.
of the remaining, 10% goes into another account, which i don't really touch.
the rest,...food, and whatever.

i don't think micromanaging is necessary unless you have absolutely no idea where your money is going.

h wrote:i currently save 70% of the pay, so this just goes to an account i don't touch.
of the remaining, 10% goes into another account, which i don't really touch.
the rest,...food, and whatever.

i don't think micromanaging is necessary unless you have absolutely no idea where your money is going.

Wow, this just shows...either you eat very little, or you earn a lot!

...biggest expenditures are covered by the company. so i guess that's allows me to save.
and i don't drink, which saves quite a bit of money as well.

h wrote:...biggest expenditures are covered by the company...

Free rent and utilities. That has to rock!

how i wish i earn 30k a month den i can sae i only spend 10% of my salary and save 90% of it....hahahahhaa

Just wondering, how many here would maintain the same amount of expenditure, or increase it only by a slight margin, when income goes up?

What? Income go up? At this time? Hahahahahahaha...you're so funny!

Derek wrote:Just wondering, how many here would maintain the same amount of expenditure, or increase it only by a slight margin, when income goes up?

me lor....

Derek wrote:Just wondering, how many here would maintain the same amount of expenditure, or increase it only by a slight margin, when income goes up?

my expense hasn't changed much since i started working.

i suppose there're a few spikes every year, but that has mostly to do with replacing stuffs.