Rent, electricity, gas, insurance: All of this can cause the household budget to shrink considerably. How to divide income and save. For small and large purses.
Receipts here, bills there – sometimes you lose track of expenses and income. This is often associated with stress and anger. Experts swear by various methods of putting some money aside and saving. An overview.
Divide money: A household book can help
Anyone who does not know how much money they need to live on a monthly basis and how much of the income is then left can get into trouble in the long run. The Consumer Center recommends a five-step process.
- Write down earnings: Wage, child benefit, unemployment benefit – gifts of money, for example for a birthday, should not be taken into account.
- Fixed expenses: Rent, energy, telephone, membership fees, insurance and radio license fee (preferably calculated down to the monthly amount)
- Restbudget: Everything that remains after the fixed expenses is the “money to live on”. If you divide the amount by four, you know how much money you have available each week. This money can then be divided as you like, groceries, clothes, cosmetics.
- Draw the balance: A balance can then be drawn up after one month. If the bill has been paid and you still have money left, great. If not, you should look at the expenses again and see where you can save.
Whether with pen and paper, in an Excel table or with various tools online – a budget book can provide an overview of exactly what expenses you actually have. A sticking point where you can possibly save is insurance or mobile phone contracts. Maybe there are cheaper alternatives.
You should also pay attention to small amounts that you spend on the side or to purchases with card payments.
Don’t miss it: You can find everything to do with money in the money newsletter from our partner Merkur.de.
Saving with the 50-30-20 rule: Fixed costs, free time and savings
Some experts recommend the 50-30-20 rule for your own spending. Take your net income and divide it up as follows:
| Fixed costs (rent, electricity, insurance, groceries) |
| Leisure time |
| Save |
The fixed costs should be regularly checked for possible savings, for example through cheaper tariffs chip.de. Ideally, one fifth of the net income should be set aside and saved with this method. This can be difficult, especially if you have a small income. The gender pay gap, for example, could be a hindrance for women, meaning that women earn less money for the same job. On the other hand, high fixed costs, such as rent, could also pose a problem for savers.
Of course you can also adjust the percentage weighting of the individual building blocks individually. For example, you could say that you put 60 percent into fixed expenses, 25 percent on leisure, and 15 percent in savings.
Six glasses method: Spread the budget over several pots
The six-jars method goes one step further than the 50-30-20 rule, with the entire net income being distributed even more precisely to certain pots, the portal reports financial heroines.
| 50-55 percent |
| 10 percent |
| 10 percent |
| 10 percent |
| 10 percent |
| 5-10 percent |
You can also see the above categories as inspiration if you want to divide your own budget differently. It makes sense how financial heroines further informed that the categories will not be too fragmented. If you always put something aside, it’s harder to be surprised by expenses when, for example, the washing machine breaks down.
2023-05-27 06:48:45
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