For almost 5 years, buying a new house around Euro 220,000 - 300,000 is a common practice already in Vienna. People specially those migrant from Phillipines decided to be wise by investing in buying a property such as house or lot. Some friends always say 'Mahirap mag budget sa una, laging gipit kasi madaming gastusin' (It's really hard to budget at first because there are too much expenses). But is it really hard to budget? Here are my tips:
1. Joint Account vs. Not to Spend Account vs. Emergency Account
Make a joint account for your monthly salary and create other accounts for 'not to spend' & 'for emergency'. Why? In your joint account, that is where you will get all the monthly expenses for electric bill, food, mortgage, car, insurance, etc. 'Not to Spend' account is where you will save a certain amount of money like Euro 50 monthly and you can withdraw it only if your 'for emergency' account is zero balance. What is the difference between 'not to spend account' with 'for emergency'. Every 3 months or once a year there are some bills coming like car check up/repair, house repair, kids expenses (teeth, eye glass etc) and so forth, those are not in budget, so you have to get it in your 'for emergency' account.
2. WANTS OR NEEDS
Ask yourself everytime that you will make a decision to buy something if it is a need or want. A car is a need if you will use it going to your work or driving your kids to school. It will be a want if you will buy an expensive car like Euro 25,000 rather than buying a middle class car worth Euro 12,000
Buying also expensive clothes like a designer one is already a want because you can buy the same comfort of a normal shirt for only Euro 25 rather than buying a Euro 55 worth of designer shirt.
Another example is exercising, don't buy an expensive 'high-tech' machine if you can be healthy for only Euro 50 to 100. It is a need to exercise but it will be a want if you buy a Euro 1, 950 worth of gadget.
3. Food(What is necessary?What is not?)
Every family needs food to live but the average expense of it weekly could make your budgeting worse also. But just saving about Euro 20 a week, can be converted to Euro 1,000 a year and could be a budget already for a simple vacation in nearby country like UK, Italy, etc. How?
Stock up when Sale. This is applicable to those items that we use in a daily basis. Do not stock items that will be consumed only once a year, not only will it be not ideal for the space at home but also rob your spending money.
Shop where is the CHEAPEST. If you are residing in a place where there are two or three markets, compare the prices from each store and always buy items in a cheaper one. You can save at least 15%-20%. If you are spending Euro 80 per week, that will be Euro 320 per month, that will be Euro 3,840 per year and compute for 20% less, that will be Euro 768 savings a year. Can you imagine that!
Consider GENERIC BRANDS. An Italian noodle about 1000 g. cost Euro 2.99 but a generic brand which is also 1000 g. cost only Euro 0,99 . See the difference!
Use COUPONS. Some newspaper especially on Sunday publish some advertisement and coupons could be acquired. Have a little time to clip and cut some coupons. Use it for your future shopping lists.
Advance PLANNING. Buy in a large quantities and avoid convenience food, it is much expensive.
I always remember what Inay said to me 'Magtiis na nakabaluktot habang maigsi ang kumot' ('Do not spend too much if you think you are just earning a little!')
