You want your budget to be as simple as possible, but some categories can benefit from a bit more detail—groceries is one of them. Now each time one of us shops for groceries, we look at the category balance for the current time period. That’s the amount of money that has to feed...
50% for essential expenses. Consider allocating no more than 50% of take-home pay to must-haves, such as your mortgage or rent, utilities, groceries, and monthly debt payments. 15% for retirement savings. Try to save 15% of pre-tax income (including any employer contributions) for "Retire...
Use our Budget Planner to analyse your spending A spotlight on spending Starling customers can check how much they spend on various spending categories, including rent, bills, childcare, groceries, shopping and entertainment, by going to the Spending Insights section of the Starling app. Whenever yo...
What do Ineedto budget for? What do Iwantto budget for? Your needs are your daily expenses and your short-term spending. Think groceries, gas, car payments, rent or mortage payments – the list goes on. These are the things you need to budget for, because if you don’t – well, yo...
During the second half of the month you still need to buy groceries, buy gas, pay your mortgage or rent, make a car payment, etc. Then you have to go a few weeks at the beginning of the month and pay all those bills as well. ...
It’s not always easy to decide: Are restorative spa visits (includingtips for a massage) a want or a need? How about organic groceries? Decisions vary from person to person. If you're eager to get out of debt as fast as you can, you may decide your wants can wait until you have...
The reality, however, is that you need to have some idea of where you are starting from if you want to set yourself up for success. If you're currently spending $800 a month on groceries or $500 per month on entertainment, it might be really hard to stick to your budget if you lim...
Whether your pay schedule is standard or variable, monthly budgeting is important. Learn more about how to budget in the gig economy.
5. Create a budget Subtract your fixed expenses — rent, food, and other necessities — from your income. Then you can assess how much you have left to put into savings or spend on the things you don’t necessarily need. Rebuild your budget so that the money you set aside for variable...
If, after journaling for one month, you've found your budget isn't where it needs it be, get prepared to make changes. Look at how much you are over budget and decide where you can cut. Don't rule out items that are viewed as basics, such as groceries, utilities, or rent. Cooking...