I know, I know, it’s a topic that some people find boring & others find it downright stressful.

But that’s where I come in!

Most people when you say the “B” word, I have found people get emotional, their stress levels rise and in turn you can almost see (or in my job HEAR) their blood pressure rising. 

My day job is and has been working in a bank call centre for the past 6 years, so for 40 hours a week I help people with their finances.

I started out in a servicing capacity, helping people transfer money, set up savings plans and most recently I help people with their lending/borrowing needs.

I like to think that I am quite good at what I do and for the most part, the feedback I receive from my customers is that I am.

So I would like to share one of my most common tips to take control of your own money.

I would say at a guess, 70% of people these days have most of their payments set up by a direct debit or automatic transfer. In this day and age that can become somewhat of a nightmare to manage when it’s all going through your main everyday banking account.

Now I am not going to name specific products that the bank I work with uses (primarily because I’m not sure of the legalities of doing so) but it’s a simple theory that can be applied to any banking institution!!

So budgeting 101 with MrsJRad!

Step 1 – know what you have coming in and out. 

Sit down and write down what you pay weekly, fortnightly and monthly. 

You need to include how much each one is. 

*Some people even like to be extreme and include annual payments in to this method but let’s start with the basics!

Step 2 – set up a secondary everyday bank account that we will call your “bills” account. Worst case this should cost you around $5 a month but think of how many $9 dishonour fees or account overdrawn fees you may save by having this set up!

Step 3 – calculate what those weekly, fortnightly and monthly bills total.

Then if you are paid weekly, divide that whole amount by 4, fortnightly by 2 and monthly just leave as the whole figure. 

Step 4 – now you need to set up ALL direct debit and automatic payments on to your new “bills” account. 

Step 5 – when you get paid, move the said amount from step 3, in to your bills account, some people even like to have payroll disburse it there for them so it’s out of sight, out of mind.

Step 6 – RELAX!! It’s truly that simple!! Now you know when you look at your everyday account balance you know that is your spending money (I have even called mine my spendings account) and your bills will all be taken care of!! 

This is incredibly important for the upcoming reforms within Australia regarding credit reporting. From March 12 onwards, under the new privacy rules, credit providers will be able to provide your repayment history to anyone you seek further borrowing from, so now is a fantastic time to get on top of your budgeting and ensure you don’t miss payments!!

Read more here – http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-law-reform/credit-reporting-reform

I hope this has helped and for anyone who needs or wants any further (General Advice Only) help, please email me radfordramblings@gmail.com

Now budget away my pretties!! 

Mrs J Rad

xxx

P.S – to try out my favourite budgeting tool, go to moneysmart.gov.au and try their free online budget planner