![]() Give us a call, or, if you want budgeting advice, visit MoneyTalks, which offers free budgeting advice and is run by the national charity FinCap and is supported by the Ministry of Social Development. If you’ve made a budget and you see a big shortfall between money coming in and money going out, then don’t be scared to ask for help. To make things easier, think about automating your banking, setting up automatic payments to a savings account or credit card, or siphoning off some money directly from your pay into a savings account so it never lands in your everyday account. By regularly checking in on how your budget is going, you can make small changes to make it work, rather than just giving up completely. If you’re slipping off the wagon, take a look at why, you might need to adjust things. It’s worth reviewing how you’re going every few months. Try our Goal Tracker, to help you visualise your goals. ![]() It might be to pay down debt, or you might want to build up your savings. Once you know how much money you have left over each pay, or how much spending you could trim back, it’s time to work out where you want that spare cash to go. Start by cutting back to a level you know you can achieve – small changes all add up, and more importantly, they form new habits that could lead to bigger changes and savings down the track. You don’t have to stop every single piece of discretionary spending, but hopefully you’ll spot a few things you could do without. Once you’ve got a clear picture of what you’re spending your money on, look at where you might be able to cut back. If this is too hard to do retrospectively, try tracking your spending for a month, either by monitoring your internet banking, using an app, or going old school with pen and paper. Go through internet banking to see what you’ve spent in the past month, or if you use cash, try and find your paper receipts. These variable costs can be trickier to trace. Other expenses are more discretionary – things you like having or buying, but don’t necessarily need, or costs that only crop up occasionally. Take the opportunity to make sure you’re on the best deals and check out comparison sites like (which compares energy companies) to see if switching providers might be worth it. ![]() Others, like phone, internet and power and gas could possibly be negotiated. There will be some fixed expenses that can’t change and have to be paid, like your rent or mortgage and insurances. Guesstimating at this stage means you could have an unrealistic view of what you’re spending. Go through your bank statements and bills. Set aside a couple of hours and calculate your expenses. When you’re looking at your spending, think about the things you could realistically do without, but also the things that bring you joy, that you really don’t want to give up. Be realisticĪ lot of people have had bad experiences with budgets simply because they go too hard, too fast. ![]() It’s your chance to take stock of what’s coming in, what’s going out, and to look at tweaks you can make to take the stress out of your finances. Think of a budget as a money plan, rather than something that’s going to stop you from ever spending money on fun things again. Accessibility-audio-enhancement accessibility-braille-friendly accessibility-disabled-access android app-store-apple app-store-google arrow-black arrow-d arrow-green-two-toned arrow-green arrow-r arrow-u arrow b-corp-certification Logo-BB bg-warning breadcrumb calculator-big calculator caret-d-thick caret-d caret-l-bold caret-l caret-r-bold caret-r caret-u check-logo-atm check-logo-business check-logo-kiwibank check-logo-local chevron-black chevron-dropdown chevron-green-two-toned chevron-light chevron-medium-black chevron-medium-down chevron-medium chevron-skinny chevron circle-arrow clock close-x content-tip-flip content-tip-orange content-tip-white content-tip csv direction-pointer document email-experts facebook fax filters hamburger info-bg info-with-square info inner-kiwi iphone kiwibank-logo-black-text kiwibank-logo-md kiwibank-logo-print kiwibank-logo-rebrand kiwibank-logo-sm kiwibank-logo link linkedin load-next local-for-kiwibank-logo location-box-marker location-experts location-pin Email_PMS350 marker-small marker menu mobile-experts Mobile_PMS350 mouse padlock-outline-black padlock-outline padlock pause pdf pencil play-big play-black play-rounded Play - sharp Play-small play postshop-logo quote-mark radio_button-checked radio_button rainbow-tick-white rebrand-alert-square rebrand-arrow-right rebrand-facebook rebrand-info-square rebrand-instagram rebrand-left-right-arrows rebrand-linkedin rebrand-list rebrand-location-pin rebrand-twitter search speech-bubble telephone-experts Phone_PMS350 text-bullet tick-green-white-background tick-green tick twentyfour-hours twitter user video-big video warning-with-square warning
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