{"id":1342,"date":"2016-04-11T09:47:33","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T07:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timslatter.co.za\/contatto-demo\/?p=1342"},"modified":"2017-09-21T12:35:05","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T10:35:05","slug":"drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Drawing up a Budget &#8211; Useful Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-1342\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-1342-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-1342-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-1342-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nowadays, making a transaction can feel somewhat unreal. Just a swipe and a glance at the number displayed on a digital screen. Whilst this seems easy and practical, it poses a big problem that is too-often overlooked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When we stop dealing with physical coins and notes - a mental disconnect occurs between the digital numbers and what they actually mean to you in terms of how much money you have just spent, and how much you have left.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is all the more reason to keep a budget - or a spending plan. Here are some budgeting tips to help you along your way:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>You need to start by making a list of what you spend. Many of us know when we\u2019re not doing well financially, but hide from the uncomfortable reality until we are forced to face it.<\/li>\n<li>First, write down your fixed expenses: rent, bond instalments, union membership fees, insurance premiums etc.<\/li>\n<li>Next, list variable expenses: food, transport, rates, cellphone, entertainment and clothing. (Don\u2019t underestimate costs, you will only be sabotaging your own efforts.)<\/li>\n<li>Now a slightly tricky one, you will need to list irregular expenses: car maintenance, home repairs and so on. Try to work out an average monthly spend. (Again, it\u2019s better to overestimate than to come up short.)<\/li>\n<li>Finally, you need to add together all of your cost estimates. If the total is more than your earnings, you will need to make some changes. At least now that you know exactly where you are with your spending habits, you\u2019re already in a financially stronger position!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Now to get back in the black!<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>List your expenses in order of importance. Some expenses you obviously cannot live without: accommodation, transport and food. But consider whether you can reduce some of your other costs, such as entertainment and clothing.<\/li>\n<li>Now use the money that you\u2019ve freed up from your budget to immediately start servicing your debt, especially store and credit card debts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Once you\u2019re debt free you should establish a basic emergency fund for unexpected expenses. A month\u2019s salary is a good start and it will give you a real sense of security once you have it stashed away.<\/li>\n<li>You should also try to invest some money each month into your financial goals and investments, like saving for your retirement and your children\u2019s education. This excludes your employer\u2019s pension scheme or your own retirement investments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Need some help drawing up a budget? Let\u2019s get in touch!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nowadays, making a transaction can feel somewhat unreal. Just a swipe and a glance at the number displayed on a digital screen. Whilst this seems easy and practical, it poses a big problem that is too-often overlooked. When we stop dealing with physical coins and notes &#8211; a mental disconnect occurs between the digital numbers and what they actually mean to you in terms of how much money you have just spent, and how much you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-budget"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Drawing up a Budget - Useful Tips - Contatto North<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drawing up a Budget - Useful Tips - Contatto North\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nowadays, making a transaction can feel somewhat unreal. Just a swipe and a glance at the number displayed on a digital screen. Whilst this seems easy and practical, it poses a big problem that is too-often overlooked. When we stop dealing with physical coins and notes - a mental disconnect occurs between the digital numbers and what they actually mean to you in terms of how much money you have just spent, and how much you [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Contatto North\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-11T07:47:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-21T10:35:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972\"},\"headline\":\"Drawing up a Budget &#8211; Useful Tips\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-11T07:47:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-21T10:35:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":428,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"Budget\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/\",\"name\":\"Drawing up a Budget - Useful Tips - Contatto North\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-11T07:47:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-21T10:35:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Drawing up a Budget &#8211; Useful Tips\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/\",\"name\":\"Contatto North\",\"description\":\"Moving Financial Planners Forward\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972\",\"name\":\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/author\\\/anthonybtimslatter-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Drawing up a Budget - Useful Tips - Contatto North","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Drawing up a Budget - Useful Tips - Contatto North","og_description":"Nowadays, making a transaction can feel somewhat unreal. Just a swipe and a glance at the number displayed on a digital screen. Whilst this seems easy and practical, it poses a big problem that is too-often overlooked. When we stop dealing with physical coins and notes - a mental disconnect occurs between the digital numbers and what they actually mean to you in terms of how much money you have just spent, and how much you [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/","og_site_name":"Contatto North","article_published_time":"2016-04-11T07:47:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-09-21T10:35:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":280,"url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"anthonyb@timslatter.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"anthonyb@timslatter.com","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/"},"author":{"name":"anthonyb@timslatter.com","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#\/schema\/person\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972"},"headline":"Drawing up a Budget &#8211; Useful Tips","datePublished":"2016-04-11T07:47:33+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-21T10:35:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/"},"wordCount":428,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg","articleSection":["Blog","Budget"],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/","url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/","name":"Drawing up a Budget - Useful Tips - Contatto North","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-11T07:47:33+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-21T10:35:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#\/schema\/person\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Useful-Budgeting-Tips-1.jpg","width":720,"height":280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/drawing-up-a-budget-useful-tips\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Drawing up a Budget &#8211; Useful Tips"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#website","url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/","name":"Contatto North","description":"Moving Financial Planners Forward","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#\/schema\/person\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972","name":"anthonyb@timslatter.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"anthonyb@timslatter.com"},"url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/author\/anthonybtimslatter-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2434,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions\/2434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}