TOTAL budget, not just household???

kiwichick

Hiya,

A quickie for you regular OS'ers. I really need to knuckle down in the new year and take the reins over my budget. It is out of control (see december grocery challenge posting!).

Do any of you budget for absolutely everything??? I am thinking of saving a little each month toward any birthdays, xmas, holidays ( yeah right!) etc.

I know to the penny the cost of all DD's etc, money going to CC payments etc and now have a rough guide to setting food/household limits.

Where do I start with the rest???

Thanks,
Allison.

calleyw

This comes from a person who does really does not do budgets for birthday etc. But then I tight and only spend about £5 per person and buy through out the year.

The only thing I can suggest is to work how many birthdays per year and then how much is spend per person and then divide by 12 so you know how much each month you will need to put away.

Do the same for haircuts etc.

And once that is done then you will now how much to put a side. I have heard that ING bank allows you to have one account but have up to 10 difference pots with it.

So you could have one for haircuts, one for birthdays, Car Tax etc.

I think we really must do this as we need to get this sorted out for us as well.


Yours

Calley

squeaky

Click on "Budget Planner" up in the blue bar at the top of the page here. That links to Martin's whole budget planner that you can either download or do on line.

It's very good.

halloweenqueen_2

I must say I thought I had budgeted for everything and then put all my info on martins budget planner, because of the things I forgot I now seem to be running above my income, it hasn't been obvious because i pay the bills every month, but then i use the card again, something that won't be happening any more, so I'm using this planner and seeing what better deals I can get and hopefully will run below the income, it was a bit of a wake up call though when i thought I had covered all outgoings.

Katgoddess

I use the ING account and it is fab. Has a good rate of interest. Not the best but good enough for the convinence of having 10 pots. I also use Egg money manager to keep an eye on whats in all of my accounts.

I have a car account for insurance and tax £50 a month.

Birthdays £20 a month

Christmas £20 a month

Sales £20 a month (for clothes mainly summer and winter)

Pin Money - Any dividends, amazon, ebay etc when I remember.

Rainy day - Just an additional account that I put in £10 a month.

I live with my parents, and don't go on holidays but if I had any other major purchases I would open up an account. The birthday and sales accounts I have just opened and I am going to try and and pay for them with my normal money, but if not I know I can transfer back into my current account. Any extra money I'll transfer to my ISA at the end of the tax year.

MATH

I have a 'Projected Spend' savings account (actually I have just completed 2006). All the yearly expenses that are not covered by monthly dd or weekly Tesco spend are covered by this account. It includes for example:

Christmas Gifts & Food
Family Birthdays where the gift is more than £5-10
Car tax, insurance, servicing for both cars
Building and contents insurance
Kidz gymnastics/swimming fees
My contacts/glasses costs
Insurance/utilities for holiday home
Kidz annual school trip/photos

The total is added up and divided by 12 and that is the figure I need to transfer to this account each month. In addition to this account I have a car replacement saving account which I move a set amount into each month to allow both cars to be changed every 6 years without the need for finance.
If I manage to eek out the general account money and use some for a cost which should come from 'projected spend' this surplus then goes into the third savings account called 'real savings' as do any unexpected windfalls (not that they happen very often)

Yorkielass

I want to start putting money away for things like birthdays and Christmas throughout next year. OH's and Mum's birthdays are in December so the end of the year is an expensive time. Particularly important as I don't know where my job prospects lie at the end of February.

As Squeaky and others have suggested I've found the budget planner excellent for getting ideas of how much money I'm spending etc.

I'm interested in this ING account - can someone with one explain how the pots idea works please?

HOLsale

thanks for this post

i desperately need to start budgeting and this is good inspiration

i'll have to have a good look at martins budget plan

this is a bit scary you know... hope you'll all be here to hold my hand

pavlovs_dog

i'll definately be climbing aboard with gusto as my spending has been frivoulous to say the least this past month or so!

but you are not alone, so please dont beat yourself up about it!

my plans so far are as follows:

at present, i "tax" us for use of the car. £2.50 each, hence £5 a week by direct debit into an ING account, and this is to cover car expenses as and when they occur (or at least soften the blow) - tax, insurance, maintenance etc. whilst it does take time to build up, we are trying to save a deposit for a house, and so cant afford to save to cover any eventually if that makes sense. instead we are trying to soften the blow - its a damage limitation approach.

have my eye on a card box/birthday book in clintons which im hoping to get in the january sales. i'll hit the card shops with say £20, and try to get as many (cheap but expensive looking) cards as possible for this to fill the box (or card making stuff, not too sure) so that i can plan in advance rather than rushing out to buy an overpriced card at the last minute (saving money and stress levels) i will also use this as a place to record the bargains i pick up throughout the year, and freebies, which will all live merrily in my present cupboard. i plan to tax myself a set amount throughout the year to cover the main expense of christmas (the family and friends presents), so thats its only OH i have to finance for come nov/dec

have a more more disciplined attitude towards my online surveys, to earn money/vouchers to ease the burden of present buying and so on. IPSOS points are being saved to make a dent in christmas 06 budget (can be converted to argos, boots or smiths vouchers), CIAO money is regularly transfered to the house deposit account. will be more proactive in collecting tescos and nectar points where possible. tescos points are possibly going to earn us a nice break sometime next year, which is an incentive!)

will withdraw a set amount of cash each month, and divide it by 4 to give me an allowance for the week. debit and credit cards are then for sheer emergencies only. i will make friends with my penny jar again by joining the pin money challenge.

i also tax my earnings by 10% each month (normally about £5-10 a week), and anything i earn over and above my normal weekly take home pay is also taken by this self tax, and is put straight into the "furniture fund". i will continue this, and i hope to increase my contract by 3 hours by working an extra shift during the evenings. this will give me in the region of £20 to dedicate to the furniture fund each week. (to explain, i have 2 jobs, my proper job at argos, and a second job working for a friend at both of our convenience - covering holidays and so on. any money from job 2 automatically goes straight into the furniture fund, as i am used to not having it, and dont want it to be swallowed up into nothingness. however as the job is ad hoc, so are the contributions to the furniture fund...which really needs to be growing in proportion with our deposit!)

pavlovs_dog

forgot to add...

what are your aims kiwichick? are you tightening the belt out of necessity, are you saving for something?


making yourself accountable as it were is often a great incentive. my goal is to save a decent deposit and get my own nest..sorry, i mean house

ms_london

Ive just become debt free, and want to save to go travelling (as I am sure you all know by now :0) - so am trying to save as much as I can.

Whilst in debt I was living off a budget of £50 a week for food & misc spending, so even though I have no debts anymore, I find it hard spending over that, as I feel as I am wasting money.

I too have 3 ING accounts, they are so handy to have!! Each account has their own account number/sort code, and to transfer money between the ING accounts happens instantly.. Then I have one current account, but most of my bills come out on 1st, so I know where I am on the 2nd, hehe!!

I am finding it hard to spend money at the moment, which isnt good either.!!