The onset of insanity?

dollparts

BR a whopping seven days now, and I'm still lost in the thick of it.

The one thing I am struggling with is how to make sense of my income and outgoings because everything has changed so much now.

Everything has always been paid by DD and this has now been transferred and coming from the new account.

What has made things more complicated is I have also changed most utility suppliers when moving which, coupled with switching banks simultaneously has been nothing short of a frustrating nightmare!

So now I am receiving some HB/CT fortnightly
Am paid weekly
and all bills are per calendar month

So I am having difficulty allocating money to each week although I have tried to spread the DDs across the month because of being paid weekly.


I never seem to be sure what is there to be spent for food, petrol and other expenses, so I just end up being half scared to spend a penny!

It's complicated and I am struggling to come up with a way that allows me to forecast what I should have in the bank, whats coming in and what's going out.

Any ideas?

Lastly, can anyone recommend some free personal budget software that I could download please?

I have a phobia of excel-not so bad using it but creating spreadsheets brings me out in a rash. I think it was years of staring at them in meetings and now I just can't remember what I'm supposed to do!

Trom

DDs when paid weekly is a nightmare as I recall. Would it be possible to have a week completely DD free to take all money out of the bank to keep for food etc? That way you know you'll have £200 or whatever you need solid till the end of the month and have less to worry about the following weeks.

Would it be too difficult to keep on top of bills if not paying by DD? It might be safer. Have a big list in the kitchen with dates of things that need paying and pay over the phone instead? I know that would never work for me, but others seem to keep on top with no problem.

dollparts

Yeah I've considered this but then I think of CO-OP and its need for banking viagra.

I think I would ooopsy daisy sooner or later as the payments take so long to exit the account after paying by card.

And as for paying over the counter at PO?

I was in there with a friend the other day who paid an installment to next directory, they charged her 2.70 for the privilige:eek:

Holes_in_my_pocket

I have two accounts and set up weekly transfer to bill account and have all bills coming out on the 1st of every month, Money left in 2nd account is for spending, saving.. i use excell and have done for 10 yrs so know where every penny is

dollparts

Maybe it's my mood today, but everything just feels like such pain in the rear to sort out?

Holes_in_my_pocket

Money and accounts unfortnetly need to be managed. Not managng them well in the 1st place led to my bankruptcy

Trom

Everything is a pain in the rear but you'll only need to figure it out and sort it now hopefully and then you won't have to worry about it as much.

dollparts

You are both quite right, was just have a pityful moment back there!

Tinytim

Hi Dollparts,

Although Co-op can sometimes be slow at showing the debits, they can tell you on the phone exactly what is in the pipeline at any time over the phone.

My method is very simple and there have been no ooopsy daisy's yet. I keep a pocket diary and on the first of year month I mark in red the amount of each DD on the day in which it comes out. I then call Co-op to get an accurate balance including what is in the pipeline and write that in on the 1st. I then keep a running total everytime I use the card or get cash, and can immediately see a week ahead which DD's are coming out.

I know it's not perfect, but it seems to have worked so far.

I also like Holes idea of having an account just for the DD's. You can then work out how much needs to be transferred each week, fortnight or month, and would then know that what remains is yours

Darnit_2

I never seem to be sure what is there to be spent for food, petrol and other expenses, so I just end up being half scared to spend a penny!


Dollparts, you really must spend a penny after a whole week! It isn't healthy!:D

dollparts

How very dare you make light of my stressful situation:D

But I suppose not having a window to throw it out of these days makes having a pot to.....hardly seem worth it!