Personal Budgeting Assignment

PERSONAL BUDGETING PROJECT You are to imagine that you are 21 years of age and have decided to make it on your own. You earn $606 a week and are looking for an apartment/unit/house to rent. Your parents have generously given you $2,000 to help pay for furniture and the bond on your new residence. You will need to calculate your weekly repayments and cost of living arrangements. Remember you cannot spend more than you have and you cannot borrow money. TASK ONE: As it dawned upon me that $606 was quite limiting I realised that I would have to find a job that would not be an option for my life.

I was lucky enough to find a job that’s interesting as a hairdresser in Melbourne City. The qualifications needed are experience and reliability; fortunately both of which I already posses. I earn the exact minimum wage of $31,512 per year. TASK TWO, TASK THREE & TASK SEVEN: When searching for an abode, with my new-found job wage burning away in my back pocket, I again contemplated the obvious. It wasn’t much! As I searched and searched I came across a god-send in disguise as an apartment. At just $60 per week it barely scraped away at my weekly wage, leaving me after paying the initial bond and $546 for the weeks after.

With the extremely cheap price I was blown away when I saw that it was in the same suburb (Melbourne) as my previously stated job- could this 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment get any better? Apparently it could. As I looked up pictures of my abode I saw it was very modern looking; with sleek, homely wooden floorboards, white painted walls and skirtings and stainless steel taps. All of these traits contribute to why I chose to ‘move in to’ apartment number 15; 22-24 Jane Bell Lane, Melbourne. http://www. realestate. com. au/rent/between-50-100-in-melbourne/list-1? source=location-search TASK FOUR:

There are many things to keep in mind when renting a property, especially if you are renting at the same time. 1. Lease Agreements: Are listed in contract signed by both parties, they are terms of agreements. 2. Time Period: The time period of which the tenant signs the lease stating how long they will be occupying the property for. Either party can terminate the lease if they have a suitable reason. 3. Right of Entry: The landlord is given permission to enter the premises during normal business hours regarding maintenance issues. However the tenant should know 24 hours beforehand. 4.

Rent: The tenant must pay the amount listed on the lease agreement. 5. Pets, Maintenance and Discrimination: When leasing the land lord is legally not allowed to reject someone on the basis of age, gender or sexual orientation. There may be pet policies either allowing or not allowing. 6. Insurance: The tenant is responsible in case of fire, theft and flood insurance yet the landlord is responsible for insurance of the tenants belongings. TASK FIVE: PICTURE| DETAILS| WHERE PURCHASED| WHY I BOUGHT IT| | | GUMTREE| To store my books and other trinket items in. | | | GUMTREE| To store my clothing and put my television on. | | GUMTREE| To sit on while I’m at the desk. To do my work at. | | | GUMTREE| To put things on in the lounge room. | | | GUMTREE| To sleep on. | | | GUMTREE| To cook food in. | | | GUMTREE| To sit on in the lounge room. | | | GUMTREE| To sit and eat at. | | | GUMTREE| To watch television on. | | | GUMTREE| To wash my cloths in. | TASK SIX: item| Price and why I need it| | To cook toast| | To cook toast| | To blend| | To beat food| | | | Price- $35. 45To clean. | | To clean. | | To clean. | TASK EIGHT: UTILITIES| SUMMER| AUTUMN| WINTER| SPRING| TOTAL| WEEKLY COST| COMBINED WEEKLY COST| ELECTRICTY| $181| $174| $180| $172| $707| $13. 9| $47. 06| WATER| $150| $138| $164| $270| $722| $13. 88| GAS| $122| $150| $251| $172| $659| $12. 67| PHONE| $90| $90| $90| $90| $360| $6. 92| Bills are a part of life in the adult world; everybody gets and needs to pay them. After paying my rent and then my utility bills, each week I am left with $498. 94 for other everyday expenses such as food and transport. I am left, out of the total $31,512 a year, $25,944. 88. INCOME ($606) – RENT ($60) – UTILITIES ($47. 06) = $498. 94 TASK NINE: When travelling to work most people use some form of transportation.

Walking or riding a bike isn’t always appropriate; after taking into consideration the pros and cons of owning a car and taking public transport, I have opted to use public transport to get to and fro. A car is very expensive as you have to pay petrol, insurance, registration and maintenance! Taking into consideration the fact that I live in the inner city, traffic at peak hours (the times I would most likely be on the road heading to or from work) would be ghastly! Not to mention parking. The less costly alternative of travelling trams and trains allows me to always be on the go, with no traffic!

The general pricing is listed in the below table, though I would spend $32. 80 on weekdays and if I go out on both days on the weekend $6. 60 (total of $39. 40) Public transport is also very eco-friendly. INCOME ($606) – RENT ($60) – UTILITIES ($47. 06) – TRANSPORT ($39. 40) = $459. 54 TRIP| FARES| Daily Zone 1+2 Full Fare (weekday)| $6. 56| Daily Zone 1+2 Full Fare (weekend)| $3. 30| TASK TEN: FOOD & PRICE| QUANTITY| TOTAL COST| | 1| | | 3| | 1| | 3| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 500g| | 6| | 1| | 3| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| 1| | 2| | 4| | 4| | 5| | 5| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| | 1| INCOME ($606) – RENT ($60) – UTILITIES ($47. 06) – TRANSPORT ($39. 40) –SHOPPING ($221. 61) = $237. 93 TASK ELEVEN: I am finally free to live the way I please and do the things I like! Out of the $2,000 given to me from my loving, caring parents I have $1,225 much money left and I am choosing to save it so I can go on holidays in the future, or in case of an emergency. Out f my weekly wage after paying everything I need to I have $237. 3 left, which I am also saving. I believe it will be good for me to have that money left over in the bank, it also proves to my parents or any other people whom have doubts of young people making it on their own! TASK TWELVE: The real world can be a hard, gruelling place- especially if you go at it on your own! In this budget review I will talk about what I expected, how I mad our decisions, problems and difficulties, things I have learned, influencial changes and some advice to those starting out. This project has given me a right taste of that world, and let me tell you it was not what I expected.

I always thought it wasn’t that hard to find a job or a house- but it sure is. After hours of looking I found my job and house, both in the appropriate area. It was hard finding food and understanding the terms of leasing a property but I managed to get through it all. I did not expect that I would have budgeted so well though! The amount of money I have left shocked me to the core as I am usually I am an extremely rapid spender, yet this project has taught me that you can’t go spending all your money on silly little things and that money doesn’t grow on trees.

Those learning curves influenced my decisions throughout the project greatly. If I were to give advice to anyone starting out, I would let them know that yes it is a hard place; but once you’ve got it all sorted you feel so proud. Don’t ever give up! Also, buy stuff from gumtree. com. au- massive bargains! I am so looking forward to moving out of home an putting to use the lessons I have learned in the past weeks.