Budgeting? How, may seem simple to you. Please help.

moanymoany

I have a simpler approach to budgeting. At the start of the month I take out all payments and savings. That leaves the money I have left for everything else.

Because the income is the same each month I know what I have to spend. I have a meal plan - of sorts - I have a list of meals and I buy the ingredients in an online shop. These I make through the month but not necessarily on specific days.

We spend very little outside of this, and because we have been doing it for a long time we 'know' what we are spending. As a beginner I would suggest you have your payments go out at the start of the month. I know it means you don't get interest etc - but - you know that what is left is yours. You don't have to think - this, that and the other has yet to come out. If you do your online shop at the start of the month it makes it easier as well.

Then you know what is left to divide as you want. Checking your account online every few days or week will keep you on top of things.

We have a Tesco saving account which we have for emergencies. That is separate from our main savings. Also as a starter a small notebook 'spending diary' is a good way to see what you buy - coffees, lunches, bits and bobs.

Everyone does it differently and you will develop your own way. The one thing I would say is that it is worth keeping at it. Money is a good servant but a bad master. Budgeting gives you the best from every penny you have. It gives you control and it gives you choice. It can change you from being always broke to having a few quid in the bank. It gives you the chance to set targets and go for something you really want.

There used to be a poster called MsLondon. She paid her debts and saved enough to go on a round the world trip. She worked as she went and she was on target to come back with cash. All done by controling her money, by budgeting.

tsharp

liz545 wrote: »

I use www.spendingdiary.com (and I've recommended it so often I'm starting to wish they paid me! ).

I recently started doing this. Does it give you total at the end of the month? So far it just seems to be a total for each day, without a grand total, and without many other features. It is easy to use and quite helpful though.

kingfisher1961

We have a spreadsheet that all income and DD's are put in on payday. Then everyday we enter everything else as we go, debit card payments etc so not as organised as some of you on here.

We keep all receipts though and DH balances the bank statement against the spreadsheet every month. He's an accountant so knows what to do whereas I wouldn't have a clue.

liz545

tsharp wrote: »

I recently started doing this. Does it give you total at the end of the month? So far it just seems to be a total for each day, without a grand total, and without many other features. It is easy to use and quite helpful though.

If you click on the button that says "reports" at the top of the page it gives you a pie chart that you can view by day or month, or make a custom report (i.e. 6 months/year). It's a bit lacking in features, but I find that just putting the spends in there discourages me from spending when I don't need to!

tsharp

liz545 wrote: »

If you click on the button that says "reports" at the top of the page it gives you a pie chart that you can view by day or month, or make a custom report (i.e. 6 months/year). It's a bit lacking in features, but I find that just putting the spends in there discourages me from spending when I don't need to!

Thanks for that. I assumed Reports was for bug reporting or something, trust me to be lazy!

It does make for some scary reading when you see it in pie charts!