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• Working budget planner
• Separating expenses
• Taming mobile costs

Working's great because (eventually) you'll earn a stack of money. But it also costs a bit, too. When you're working, you need to budget for a few things that go hand-in-hand with having a job. For example, you'll need appropriate clothes; maybe a few nice smart suits, or perhaps overalls and work boots. Then there's the commute: how much will it cost you to get to work each week, will you go on the bus or in your car? What about lunch? Will you make your own or can you afford to go to the local sandwich shop? And how about budgeting for a night or two out with your new colleagues?

Think about everything you might spend to do with work and then you can budget for it - or ask for a pay rise!

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Keep your business and personal expenses separate

If you're spending money on things to do with work, such as using your mobile phone to keep in touch with the office, you should be able to claim your expenses back from work or claim the tax back.

Start making a record of any business-related calls and get in the habit of asking for a receipt whenever you make a purchase that's to do with work - no matter how small. It all adds up.

It's also a good idea to label your receipts as you go, as you'll find it's pretty annoying when you're staring at a receipt and you can't remember what it was for.

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Taming your mobile

Sometimes your mobile phone can be just a bit too handy. But if you don't want all your wages being swallowed by a humungous bill each month, it might be time to look at ways to cut costs.

So, apart from the obvious one of cutting the chat, what else can you do to keep the bills a bit more under control?

• Make sure the plan suits you. Do you use SMS and voicemail loads or do you just make calls? Go for a plan that offers the lowest costs based on the services you use. Would a pre-paid plan or a capped plan suit you better?
• Check what you get for your money. Find out exactly what you're paying for each month. For instance, are text messages included in the monthly fee? And do you have to pay to get your voicemail messages?
• Keep on top of your spending. Check if your plan includes any options to help you keep track of your spending, such as call alerts.
• Curb the ringtone and game downloads. They're great fun but they're not cheap.
• Find out what it costs to call people on other networks. Often you pay heaps more to call someone on a different mobile network to you. Especially during peak times. Check out the different tariffs available to you to see if you can save.
• Clear your voicemail as soon as you've heard it. It might be a funny or cute message, but very time you re-listen to it, you're paying for it.
• Keep your SMS messages below 160 characters. Generally once you go over that, even by just one character, you'll be charged for two SMS messages.
• Check the costs before you use your mobile phone overseas. Calls and text messages tend to cost much more if you use your mobile overseas, especially if you have a prepay service. Check your contract.

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