Matariki budget review
In the past I've tended to wait until the New Year to do a quick look at my budget, but seeing that there's so many things going on at the moment and we've now got another public holiday to celebrate, conveniently mid-way through the year, I've decided to start a new tradition and take a little time to review my budget now.
I run a very simplistic Monthly budget, with pretty conservative assumptions. While my income is up a nice amount, my expenses have risen almost exactly as much - with more likely on the horizon. The biggest movers are Car +50%, Power +60% (although I'm probably overestimating this, based on a June bill) and Groceries (+40%). My housing costs haven't moved yet, and I've got a fair bit of buffer in there already thanks to overpaying so probably won't be much of an issue.
The bottom line for me is I've decided to increase my e-fund by 50% (from $10,000 to $15,000) to cover the higher expenses. I know I'll be losing a bit on inflation, but I'm pretty risk averse (and have a family to think about). I'm curious what others around here are doing.
Posted Jun 26, 2022, 10:12 PM UTC
Compared to this time last year, we cut our grocery budget by $25/wk from $175 to $150. No junk food at all. No exception.
Car remained the same - started walking, biking, or carpooling. Mostly we just plan our drives better.
Power has the same. We've been more aware of our power usage.
Rent went up $20/wk. But we countered that by reducing our "fun" budget by $20/wk
Everything else has remained the same.
We decided to take control and not allow inflation to affect us financially. Those are some big increases your seeing.