Basic C++ Linked list nodes & Pointer Probs - c++

Question

I've been having trouble trying to retrieve data from the first node in my linked list for quite some time now. Forgive me, but I am still new to C++ and especially pointers and linked lists.
Here is how I am reading the data from my text file (working fine so far)
void readFile(ifstream& budgetFile, budgetItem *newNode, int& counter, budgetItem *temp, budgetItem *header)
{
char pauseChar;
int ctype;
string cname;
double camount;
char cleared;
itemPtr listTop = NULL;
while (!budgetFile.eof())
{
//newNode = new budgetItem;
budgetFile >> ctype >> cname >> camount >> cleared;
newNode->theType = ctype;
cout << newNode->theType << endl;
//cout << ctype << endl;
newNode->name = cname;
cout << newNode->name << endl;
newNode->amount = camount;
cout << newNode->amount << endl;
if (cleared == 'Y') {
newNode->cleared = true;
}
else{
newNode->cleared = false;
}
newNode->next = listTop;
listTop = newNode;
if (counter == 0)
{
header = newNode;
}
counter++;
}
return;
}
And here is how I am trying to retrieve the data starting from the first node. It doesn't work at all. Any help on this would be appreciated.
void showBudget (budgetItem *newNode, budgetItem *temp, budgetItem *header)
{
double incomeTotal;
double expenseTotal;
double differenceTotal;
//itemPtr *newlist;
//newNode = header;
itemPtr listTop;
budgetItem *here = listTop;
do {
cout << "INCOME:" << endl;
cout << " Item Amount Cleared" << endl;
cout << " ---------------- ------- -------" << endl;
if (newNode == NULL)
{
cout << "List is empty." << endl;
}
else
{
if (newNode->theType != 0)
{
cout << " " << newNode->name << setw(23) << fixed << setprecision(2) << newNode->amount << " ";
if (newNode->cleared == true) {
cout << "no" << endl;
}
else{
cout << "yes" << endl;
}
}
else{
cout << endl;
}
}
newNode = newNode->next;
} while (newNode != NULL);
cout << "End of List." << endl;
return;
}

Answer 1

// ...
counter++;
// create next node here:
newNode = new budgetItem;
}
For each new element in the list we need to allocate new object in memory. You were using the same object again and again.