I entered the Moneysmart Budget Challenge which started this week and ends on Monday. If I win, my selected charity will receive R10 000! The idea is to budget how you will spend your R1500 allocation over a week. Points are awarded for staying within your budget and also for social media engagement. So readers, you can help me win by voting for me at the Facebook page.
Here is the breakdown of my budget.
Fuel: R250
My car is quite heavy on fuel, so I have to think carefully about whether I should drive or catch a bus. As I live in Seapoint a bus to town or Waterfront is only R8. While the petrol and parking costs if I drive are much higher. I do on average about 1000kms a month and each km costs me approx R1, so I divided 1000 by 30 days in a month and multiplied by 7 with a little rounding up.
Parking: R70
Parking can be quite expensive, but luckily I work from home. I occasionally have to meet people in town or go to a shopping centre, so I allocated R10 per day. Which would be an average of 1hr a day of parking. I’ll have to watch this one carefully. I was at the ICC for 3 hours this morning which would have cost about R25 but luckily the event provided prepaid tickets.
Entertainment: R70
I wasn’t sure what to put under this category as most of my expenditure when I am out would go under Restaurants. So I have used it for my potential taxi & bus far. One night out in town will cost me a bus trip there and a taxi back which is R8 plus R60. The other nights I won’t drink so I can drive.
Internet banking: R0
I’m very lucky to have been allocated to Capitec which offers free internet banking #Winning.
Transaction Fees: R35
Transaction fees with Capitec are really low. I thought if I did 2 transactions per day, my fees would still be below R5 per day. So R35 should be fine.
ATM Fees: R7
Again, Capitec fees are super cheap. So even if I withdraw from another bank’s ATM, it will only cost me R7. I will make one withdrawal for cash expenses.
Restaurants: R750
This is a big one. I eat out a lot as I do reviews for my website (www.relax-with-dax.co.za). I thought maybe 3 evenings out at R250 each. But there is also possible lunches to consider so I must watch this category carefully.
Groceries: R300
This is a category that can be big or small depending on how disciplined I am. If I want to eat fancy foods and shop at Woolies, then it will be a lot but if I am sensible and shop at Pick ‘n Pay, I should be alright. I will try eat healthy, chicken breasts and fresh veggies are on the menu. Some bread, eggs, cheese and cold meats will cover breakfasts and lunches.
Charity: R8
This is the amount left over of my R1500. I thought seeing as I’m going to win the charity will get R10 000 so they don’t need a contribution from me too!
Moneysmart is a website which aims to help people take control of their finances. A person can upload their bank statement (including credit cards) from any bank, and then allocate the expenditure into categories. It is then possible to see how much of your expenditure goes to the various categories. You can then set a budget (which is what we have to do for this challenge) and you can also set longer term goals to help you save up for something like a holiday or retirement, etc.
It’s totally free and you can check it out at www.moneysmart.co.za