How do you budget?

Etherelda

Hi

I am intregued as other folks budget themselves.

I use this stragegy now, to stop me getting to the end of the month and being broke.

On my monthly pay day, I calculate all my DDs and other nessecary expenditures- e.g a gig ticket, or winter coat, train season ticket, and then subtract pay from this total.

Whats left over- I go to the bank and ask for the amount to be split 4 or 5 ways, depending on how many weeks in the month.

The cashier thinks I'm a nutcase, asking for 4 piles of £75 approx, put into little money bags.

I hide them away in the house, and only allow myself a new stash on the monday.

On the other hand, my other half, just keeps the money in his account, and uses his card as and when, and never seems to run out. He must have a really goof understanding or routine of his spending habit.



What do you do?

Mark7799

Etherelda wrote: »

Hi

I am intregued as other folks budget themselves.

I use this stragegy now, to stop me getting to the end of the month and being broke.

On my monthly pay day, I calculate all my DDs and other nessecary expenditures- e.g a gig ticket, or winter coat, train season ticket, and then subtract pay from this total.

Whats left over- I go to the bank and ask for the amount to be split 4 or 5 ways, depending on how many weeks in the month.

The cashier thinks I'm a nutcase, asking for 4 piles of £75 approx, put into little money bags.

I hide them away in the house, and only allow myself a new stash on the monday.

On the other hand, my other half, just keeps the money in his account, and uses his card as and when, and never seems to run out. He must have a really goof understanding or routine of his spending habit.



What do you do?

I'm probably similar to your OH (do you know if he has his own money management system:D )

I use a spreadsheet and when I get paid, immediately deduct ALL my s/o & d/d due for the month - both the regular monthly ones and the irregular ones that may be due before next payday.

I have two additional savings accounts, one is a stash and withdrawn from rarely - xmas, hols etc, the other gets money transferred into it every time I spend on a credit card so when the bill comes in it's paid off in full.

Spreadsheet is updated every time I spend money and reconciled via on-line banking probably once or twice a week. I've probably spent more time typing out this response than I spend on money management now I've got this system set up. It's worked for me for over ten years.:j

[Deleted User]

I suggest getting a notebook and writing the w/c dates for a month down, then under each date write what goes into your bank in that week and what you have to pay out that week. Divide things up between the weeks in the month and it will give you a clearer picture of what you have available and when and also you can be sure to remember things!

For Example:

w/c - 8/9/08

+ 150 wage
+ 100 extra
- 40 shopping
- 10 water
- 8.80 gas
- 11.20 electric
- 10 mobile
- 85 rent
- 15 tv/broadband
- 20 travel
- 8 insurance

= £42 - I have £42 left at the end of this week - put it towards debt?

^^^just an example btw !
This system really works for me.

Any

As I live with my OH we have a joint account where all the bills are paid from - including food. That I've done by adding all the bills and averaged spend for food + £50 reserve.
I have SO set on my own account for the pay day so my part of this expenditure goes stright into our current account.
All the rest of the money in my bank is mine to spend. As there are no DDs or anything, I know how much I have for the month so won't go over and also I check at least once a week on internet banking.

You can call all the companies you have DD with to set up their DDs on a specific day of a month and after this date you will know what is your SPENDING money.

truescot

I have an account to cover all direct debits and shopping/fuel. I have a standing order which goes into this account to cover it (with a few quid spare) on the first of each month.

The rest is mine to spend (and save a little if i can).

I also have a spreadsheet with all DD's on it, so if anything changes I can instantly see how this will affect my two accounts.

easy...

hels123_2

Im a bit like you OP, once the money has gone it has gone! I use a spread sheet to keep a track on DD etc, but Im rubbish at updating it.
My DH gets paid really strangely, he gets wages on week one, week two, nothing week 3 and then wages again on week four iyswim. Its really hard to budget, drives me nuts.

doelani

we get some money weekly, some every 2 weeks, some every 4 weeks and some on 28th so have to be very strict with budget. Some money can also vary dur to overtime so we.....................

have a spreadsheet which I do for 6 months at a time and all money stays in bank and we take same amount out each week for

groceries
spends for hubby
money for ex wife

sons housekeeping every week covers..electricity and petrol

On 28th of month depending on extra money we moves spare between savings and a few £ for hubby and myself ( well usually about £50 each)

We know minimun we can save each month for emergencies, christmas etc so any extra is a bonus. We always keep a "spare £100" in current account to allow for the way our money goes in so out account in theory never goes below this £100 and we NEVER touch this.

If we want to buy anything extra for ourselves, house etc we do not do it until 28th to see how mcuh spare we have lol

Etherelda

Any wrote: »

You can call all the companies you have DD with to set up their DDs on a specific day of a month and after this date you will know what is your SPENDING money.

I tried to change my DD date with orange for my phone contract and they wouldn't have any of it. In the end, I told them I would cancel it, and ring them on various days to get the right set up date for the right date for me, if you see what I mean. Which meant more work for them, and more agro for me.

You'd think if they wanted to take my money they'd make an effort to make it easier.

Etherelda

doelani wrote: »

We always keep a "spare £100" in current account to allow for the way our money goes in so out account in theory never goes below this £100 and we NEVER touch this.

That sounds really sensible. I don't think I could resist the urge to spend it though. Good idea to prevent going over limit and getting charged. :money:

[Deleted User]

All of my standing orders and direct debits go out three days after payday.

I allow myself to spend £50 p/w on petrol, £40 p/w on groceries and then I give myself an allowance of £10 per day to spend on food/snacks/drinks then whatever is left over is mine to do what I want to with it.

I put the petrol on one credit card and the groceries on the other, then just clear them in full at the end of the period.

Surplas goes into the ISA at the end of each month to make sure I've got at least three months salary stored away for emergencies etc.

doelani

Etherelda wrote: »

That sounds really sensible. I don't think I could resist the urge to spend it though. Good idea to prevent going over limit and getting charged. :money:

although got into debt as you will see from my signature we have NEVER had a bank charge. Sometimes our bank account has over £1k in ti but just we have got into the habit of knowing that is not our money lol If we overspent we would not be gaurenteed the money to make it up so no choice but to do it this way because of how we get paid. Works for us lol