It’s great when we find something which meets our needs! and the best thing is it’s free! I have tried numerous applications on the iphone on my journey to and from work. And this is the winner! Hands down.
I won’t be comparing other applications as I believe no application is negative they simply meet different needs. For us its iBearMoney superb iphone application with cashflow reporting, budgets, accounts transactions list.
I have yet to completely utilise this wonderful application!
This month although I have captured all data. For the past two weeks there is no update on the data. However I can confirm we went over on our food budget. All other areas where well managed.
December will be more tightly controlled. Due to Allocation of Train Fares and one year full insurance.
In addition in December I will be paying the laptop and from then no more payments ( officially as of November. However to keep it we need to pay one more payment of fair value.)
We paid education expenses on November for mrs piggy’s CPA. Also purchased an iphone 
to better organise everything. Best value plan at $50 dollars a month. Which means as of February we will be saving $500 a month approxiamatly minusing gym which is $64 a month from the $80.
We opened a new bank account to earn more interest. However with our current Bank account we earned $74 bucks in interest happy with this.
Good news for this month was:- I underestimated cashflow for December mr piggys pay will be $2445 instead of $1722.
Currently going to revamp and make our budgeting on the go with the iphone. So its easier and quicker to track our spendings and monitor our budget. Looking forward to this.
Savings have been updated on the side bar as well as v-bill previews.
Paid 3 mobile bill $84.00
Paid electricity bill which we nearly missed ( increase compared to last month) $139.59
Paid CTP $636.69
Paid Rego $278.00
Transferred to credit card to cover for laptop,gym & insurance $264.26
The challenge in this month so far is the unexpected electricity bill that was not forecasted in our cash-flow. Cash flow has been adjusted by the electricity bill. We have put aside money for the train fares for November: Food seems to be just about meeting budget ( which we will be monitoring tightly.) Cash flow below with adjustments.
The key points is : Food Monitor the spending budget is around $130 this month. In addition keep a track of the Virgin mobile bill.
Our house deposit savings have been updated. In addition V-Bill preview has been updated.
Quote: "“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect it’s successful outcome.”–William James
I’ve realised how important it is to keep things organised and in addition keeping a budget! Budgeting has helped us analyse areas where we can make potential savings. Analysing our Budget I just referred back to this post to see how were going along.
This month will be our last laptop payment ( plus an additional 60+ estimated to keep it.) So going forward December we won’t have any laptop payments to be concerned with. Gym change is happening in November so going forward in December there will be a saving of $30. So that’s approximately $120 saving in December.
Insurance will be paid in full in December so going forward in January we will save $135 monthly. Plus train tickets will be paid for 6 months for both of us saving us $280 a month from January.
February we will be saving approximately $30-37 when we finalise our 3 mobile plan ( its the last month of the 24months.)
So going forward January we will save $535 and in February it will be $565.
Without analysing this previously and sitting down and working out our potential areas of improvements the above savings could have slipped through meaning it could have been spent unnoticed.
Quote: “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship"- Benjamin Franklin
Quote: :"Never let the defeat of the past rob you of the success of your future."- Ray Comfort
We would be lost without a budgeting “Finance software” to manage our finances and also without a blog too! There are some great free ones out there to help with the management of personal finance. And also chargeable ones. We are using Microsoft money simply because we had it laying around its 2004 version and has everything we need. It’s ironic though we had it available ages ago however just recently discovered its capabilities! I really like the reporting side of it.
Free Finance software online
Normally if your going to use a free finance software ensure that it has a reporting function. You will be glad!
Ok time to put a stop to over budget “Virgin Mobile bill” How? On the task bar there is now a V-bill preview status. Showing the current amount used. So it will help keep our cap under. And not over.
I have missed a bill for our mobile! Which has wacked out my cash flow effecting December and well at this point reducing my “set aside amount” for train fairs to $1050 instead of the $1464. Plan is to avoid this. But if it can’t be then it’s not the end of our goals. It just means that for our train fares we will have to set aside the remainder from the pay on 1st Jan.
So here is a rough idea of our cash flow
Major points:
- Train Fares 17/12/09 $1050 (transferred to expense fund to put aside.)
- Rent on the 1/1/10 $ 876 ($364 remainder will be paid on 14/01/09 to sum $1240 for month)
- Insurance for car will paid full on 23/12/09.
- 1/1/1 set aside for remainder of train fares. $414
- I have allocated money for bills and the missed bill also in November. So it will be the last month we will be paying for insurance monthly. And the laptop will finish of in December. So we are getting there.
- Note to self: The missed bill was the 3-bill that is shown on the budget snapshot for October. I presumed I had paid this but looks like it wasn’t. Over all it’s great to see that this information could have been picked up before but it was overlooked ( which isn’t great.) However we shall be more detailed in future and query ourselves why?
Quote: "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments."Jim Rohn
In my previous posts we have talked about the major expenses that will be paid out in the month of November.
Just to Reinforce ourselves and remind ourselves below is our major expenses for November.
Side effects:- Also have to allocate money for the laptop. $90
- Pay CTP estimate $636 1 year.
- Pay Registration est. $280 1 year
- Pay Rent $1240
Pay Insurance estimate $1172 1 year
After re-analysing this I have decided to shift the payment of the insurance for the car on December (currently we pay monthly) So that next year we do not have to spend so much in one month. It will smooth out cash flow. And looking at my cash flow forecast it is more manageable if it is delayed until December 17th.
Note:- I have allocated $102 Mr Piggy’s pay to cover train fares for the next few weeks until the next pay. And have also put aside $209 from Mr Piggy’s to cover for RTA Rego and CTP. (Looking at the cash flow) The $209 is the decider between under cash flow or over. And also tight scoring of our budget
The great thing about the last day of the month is the interest you receive from the banks 
. An incentive to save and a reward for your efforts. My salary is paid monthly on the 14th of every month. We hope to achieve approximately 22k by December. (This is actually not our original goal that we started of with this year.) However we paid of the car and we had an overseas trip as well.
The end of this (November 09) month in our savings we should have approximately $18350-$18450.
Quote:"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination." Tommy Lasorda
Comments:
- 3 mobile bill can be ignored as this bill was paid in the previous month.
- Gym cycle for October was 3x instead of the usual 2x per month
- Virgin mobile bill :- Need to reduce this and meet budget. Next month it will be over as well. As Mrs piggy went over her cap without monitoring her spending on the virgin website.
- Overall food was great and well managed. And the budgeted amount meets our needs.
Husband and Wife aiming to save for a deposit on our first home!
Goal is to save $300,000 in 4.2 years.
Writer Mrs Piggy on her Girly Files blog with Mr Piggy as Editor
