Create a Monthly Budget

A budget will help you save, shrink debt and take charge of your money.
  • Ideally, you should use a spending diary (see Step 2). This way you will find out exactly where you are spending your money. You will need these figures to create your realistic monthly budget.
  • A monthly budget will help you to change your spending habits so that you can save money and shrink debt.
  • A monthly budget is an empowering tool that allows you to take charge of your money and save to achieve financial wellness and create wealth for your family and your future.
The most important thing you can do for yourself and your family is to achieve financial wellness – one step at a time.
Click on the forms below to start budgeting.
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Set your financial goals

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Keep a spending diary

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Create a budget

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Shrink your debt

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Download PDF

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Download PDF

Some Cost-Cutting Ideas

Useful tips to help you reduce your spending. Remember, every little bit helps.

Home

  • Move to a smaller home
  • Pay off your bond
  • Reduce your electricity bill – insulate your geyser, lower the temperature, install a timing switch, use energy-saver light bulbs, insulate your roof, don’t leave lights on
  • Use the stove as little as possible
  • Don’t waste water – shower, fix leaking taps
  • Watch telephone costs – call during off-peak times
  • Use free internet connections
  • Maintain your home yourself – if you don’t know how, learn
  • Do the household cleaning yourself

Furnishings

  • Look after your possessions – replace only if necessary
  • Buy second-hand if possible
  • Sell what you no longer need
  • If you buy new, buy a brand with a maintenance contract
  • Repair what you can yourself – if you can’t, learn
  • Negotiate prices if you have to use a service
  • Steam clean carpets and furniture yourself

GARDEN

  • Learn to service your tools yourself
  • Reduce pool pump usage or get rid of the pool
  • Choose indigenous plants
  • Get cuttings from friends – avoid the nursery
  • Make your own compost
  • Grow your own veggies and herbs
  • Do the gardening yourself – you will enjoy it

Transport

  • Drive slower and allow time for your trips
  • Use a bicycle for your local errands
  • Learn to do minor maintenance on your car yourself
  • Make one trip, not multiple trips – plan ahead

Personal

  • Haircuts, colouring, perms – what can you really afford?
  • Learn to do your own beauty treatments
  • Learn to repair your own clothes
  • Do the expensive creams and lotions really work any better than the cheaper ones?
  • Club memberships – reassess their value

Health

  • Stay healthy – walk regularly, it's free
  • Eat properly – cut down on unhealthy food
  • Quit smoking
  • Set a budget for alcohol
  • Ask your doctor and chemist for discounts
  • Plan your doctor's visits – don’t rush to the doctor for every pain but also don’t leave a problem until it is a crisis
  • Have free preventative tests

SHOPPING

  • Plan a weekly grocery budget – and stick to it
  • Use a shopping basket rather than a trolley
  • Cut down on cleaning products – vinegar and water cleans windows just as well
  • Plan meals
  • Cut down on impulse purchases – stick to your list
  • Avoid treating yourself to coffee and cake while shopping
  • Put spare change in a jar

Entertainment

  • Learn to enjoy life's simple pleasures
  • Join the library
  • Gym membership – do you really use it optimally?
  • Cook at home more – rather than eating out
  • Reassess and decide what you really need