Household budget affected in all sections of Irish society

It is clear from a report issued today by the Irish League of Credit Unions ‘What’s Left’ tracker December 2012 that the Irish family household budget is under pressure across all sections of Irish society.

The result of the report was that as many as 1.59 million adults are left with €50 or less at the end of a month once their essential bills have been paid.  It also indicated that almost half of adults living in Ireland are struggling to pay their household bills on time and more than half believe that they will be hit with even worse financial difficulty this year.   The recent budget  has had a negative effect on 8 out of 10 adults with property tax, changes in the PRSI threshold, increases in motor tax and cuts to child benefit all having an impact.

Families are faced with very difficult challenges in making their household income stretch to pay for essential day to day living.  41% of the people surveyed said they had to sacrifice spending on other household items such as food in order to pay their energy bills as a result of energy costs increasing with 9 in10 people reporting that increases in this area have had an impact.  Not surprisingly, grocery shopping overtook utility bills as the second most expensive essential bill after rent and mortgage, but this is probably due to the increase in food bills over the Christmas period.

If you haven’t already set up a system of tracking your household spending, now is the time to start.  A household budget will help you to keep track of your spending and let you know how much you need to set aside to pay for your bills.  Billsmanager.com will help you set up a budget plan to manage your household bills.  You can also keep track of income and expenditure and get a 12 month cash flow forecast.