It’s no secret that in order to purchase a home, you need savings and to save you need to budget. If you plan to purchase a new home in PNG’s expensive property markets (especially Port Moresby and Lae), a healthy budget is essential and smart.
Wondering where to start? Hausples has created the following guide to creating and sticking with a monthly budget and we have even created an online Budget Planner to help you – Click Here to see it! We believe every Papua New Guinean should be able to afford a home and this is our way of helping you to keep more money in your pocket and getting a handle on your finances so that you can make your new home a reality.
How to budget for a home using the Hausples.com.pg Budget Planner:
1. Examine your monthly income – You will notice that the first tab of the Budget Planner is titled ‘Income’. On this tab list the anything that earns you money each week, fortnight, week or year. Once complete you will know exactly how many kina you earn each year.
2. List your monthly expenses — The next 6 tabs after income are where you enter your various expenses. For example, ‘Living’ expenses might include food, clothing and medical expenses. In these tabs include all of your various expenses such as your rent, power, car repayments, mobile telephone, food and anything else that you have to pay for regularly.
3. Look at your summary – Once you know your total income and expenses you can click on the ‘Summary’ tab of the Budget Planner to see your income, your various expenses and how much is left over (the ‘surplus’). The surplus is the amount you are currently saving.
4. Remove expenses you can avoid to increase savings — If your savings are not what you hoped for, you now need to revisit the various expenses tabs and remove expenses that you can avoid. This is the hard part! Expenses you might be able to cut-down on include entertainment, shopping, alcohol or takeaway food. Try to find places you can cut back without dramatically changing your lifestyle.
5. Revisit the summary to see your new savings amount — Examining this should help you review your spending patterns and make better decisions about spending.
Tips save more money and improve your budgeting:
– Keep a list of everything you purchase over a 30-day period. You will be amazed at where your money goes.
– Always overestimate your expenses. This way you are pleasantly surprised by any miscalculations.
– Be organised and thorough — Don’t guess your expenses. You need to track how much you have, down to the last kina.
– Examine your bank statements on a regular basis to track your spending.
– Be conscious of what you buy by making a list before you shop and stick to it. Compare prices before buying and never buy on impulse.
– Live the simple life – The less money you spend on things you really don’t need, the more you will have to put toward your new home.
– Once you do start saving money, put it away! Deposit it safely into an account you can’t access from the ATM.
Unsure how much money you need to buy a home?
If you are unsure the amount of savings required to secure a home loan or would like to know your likely repayments, we recommend speaking with a BSP home loan expert who can provide you with all of the information you need – Click Here to start the process.
Once you know how much you need for your deposit, use the Hausples Savings Goal Calculator to determine how long it will take you to save the deposit you need.
Best of luck saving and house hunting from Hausples.com.pg!
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