Free Budget Service

At Save My Bacon we believe a good working budget is essential to achieving your financial goals. It is the first step to freedom from any past or future money problems.

If short-term debts keep causing you havoc, don’t panic! To tune your finances, it is a good idea to use a budget calculator to create a plan that’s right for your situation. We recommend using Sorted's Free Budget Calculator to get you on the right track and it could also help you decide whether you can afford to take out a short-term loan.

Managing your money may seem a daunting task, but sorting out your finances is crucial for any successful debt solution. And remember the reason we try to plan and live on a budget is to create money that is not spent, but saved!

A good Budget Tool provides a simple monthly budgeting process to help you establish key facts about your financial situation quickly. It looks at:

• Your monthly combined income - such as salary and any benefits you receive

Against your regular outgoings such as:

• Your debts - like bills, household costs and entertainment

Once you have this information, a Budget Tool can help you work out your current monthly spending.

If you’re left with a negative figure – in other words your monthly outgoings are regularly higher than your monthly income – then you should think carefully about whether there are some monthly costs that you can reduce or remove altogether, especially if it means you can settle your current debts more quickly.

Cutting back on luxuries such as your daily coffee is well worth giving a go at and the money saved soon adds up over a month! 

Remember, it's important to prioritise when planning a budget. This varies from person to person, but as a general guide:

• Pay your bills first – cover your most important expenses each month
• Cover your day-to-day needs such as groceries and transportation
• Cover those occasional costs that come up quarterly or yearly
• Save some money for emergencies
• The next step is to set aside some money for future goals: SAVINGS

Debt problems & debt management

The truth is, most of us will overspend at some point or other in our lives and will get into debt. Sometimes it is only a little debt and we can get our finances back on track pretty quickly just by cutting back on a few luxury items. However, that is not always the case. Sometimes debts build up to a point where you can no longer keep up the repayments and the stress of the situation is overwhelming.

If you have rising debt problems, this is the time to be honest with yourself and seek debt management help. Debts compound rapidly over time so the sooner you sort your spending, reduce your outgoings and deal with problem debt the better. To help manage your debt you could visit the below websites:

• The Citizens Advice Bureau
• Sorted
• NZ Family Budgeting Services

If you are concerned that you are falling into a bad debt situation, then please do not apply for a Save My Bacon short-term loan as our loan will only exacerbate your situation.