Rich Snail » Expenses http://richsnail.com/blog Expatriation in Malaysia & South East Asia Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:00:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Stay on top of your expenses http://richsnail.com/blog/stay-on-top-of-your-expenses?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stay-on-top-of-your-expenses http://richsnail.com/blog/stay-on-top-of-your-expenses#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:03:14 +0000 jacques http://richsnail.com/blog/?p=114 Pfiou – what a mess ! We just spend an hour yesterday tracking our expenses for the current month. We enjoyed some EPF withdrawal which directly lowered our mortgage principal – it is great, but we did not anticipate the additional work we would have to track it! It kind of messed up all of our calculation. It took us 30mn to get a hand on things. We ended up revamping our excel file – the new one is way better! – and sipping a few beers to help our thinking.

What is important here is that we now are back on tarck. We know how much we spent last month, and can better prepare ourselves. Tracking ones expenses can be difficult; especially when you start doing it. What you need is a few easy tricks and some dedication. You’ll find hereunder a few I found useful:

  • Keep all your receipts
  • Take a piece of paper and write the figure down when you forget or lost the receipt
  • Update your tracking file every 2 days – it only take 5 minutes
  • Keep your excel file with you all the time – a USB key is the idea companion
  • Print your budget and stick it somewhere visible (fridge, mirror, TV…)
  • Do it with your spouse / fiancée / GF / BF – doing it together will help you stay on track

Got any other? Please share :-)

]]> http://richsnail.com/blog/stay-on-top-of-your-expenses/feed 0 Why Do You Need a Budget? http://richsnail.com/blog/why-do-you-need-a-budget?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-do-you-need-a-budget http://richsnail.com/blog/why-do-you-need-a-budget#comments Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:49:25 +0000 jacques http://richsnail.com/blog/?p=21 I will continue on yesterday’s subject (Allowance & Budget) by developing my vision of a budget.

What is a budget

A budget is a summary of probable expenses and income for a given period. It gives you a foresight on what expenses you can expect and what you have to plan for. A well planned budget will create a surplus of money which will help you reimburse debt, save, and invest. A badly planned budget will leave you with a deficit of money, leading you to credit card debt (18% interest rate!!!) and bankruptcy.

Budget = Planning

You should see budgeting as the same as planning. I’m sure you do not leave to a party without knowing where it is (I hope not). A personal budget is the same; you need to know where you are going before you can reach there. It is extremely important to know where you are spending money, and how much you can spend.

The real question to ask yourself is the following one. Do you really know where your money goes specifically? Unfortunately, most people don’t.

Interesting link to check from very different sources:
Why Budget – Tulip Tree Press
How Budgeting Can Improve Your Life – Get Rich Slowly
Budget, creating a blueprint for smart spending – Citibank

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