Spending Diary?

Bellie_2

Hi, can I ask you guys, I have started a spending diary and was just wondering do you include bills and debt payments etc in your spending diary or is it just to keep track of the vanishing money situation (hopefully now I wil find where it goes and cut down my non essential spending). Thank you, x

moozie_2

Hi there

I use an excel spreadsheet. I keep one sheet for all bills/debts repayments etc....anything planned basically. then another sheet for all the spending I do each day.

I do join the two so I can see where I am at any point.

Well done on starting one, they are great help!

immoral_angeluk

Bellie wrote:

Hi, can I ask you guys, I have started a spending diary and was just wondering do you include bills and debt payments etc in your spending diary or is it just to keep track of the vanishing money situation (hopefully now I wil find where it goes and cut down my non essential spending). Thank you, x

I'm starting to do 3 to keep track of what we spend. One for petrol, one for food and one for anything else except food, petrol or bills (The way we see it the bills don't change so no point including them.)

xzibit

In my diary, I take my bank balance on pay-day, and write it down. I then subtract all the bills from the balance, plus my monthly allowance of £80 for petrol. I am then left with a balance available to me to spend/save/pay debt with.

I decide how much I'm going to pay extra on my loan that month (normally about £400) which then leaves me with another figure.

This figure is divided by 4.33 and that gives me what's available to me to spend per week.

Back to the original question, I write down EVERY penny I spend. Even if I go and buy an apple for 9p. Before I started doing this, my money would just "disappear" within about 2 weeks, but now, I know exactly how much I can spend a week, and if I'm under I add it on to next week for a treat or something. If you don't write down every penny, you'll be surprised how they add up!!

flowerofscotland

Hi and Welcome
A spending diary is a great way to take control of your finances. There are different ways of doing things and I think the key thing is to find the method that suits you and your lifestyle best so you may need to adapt and change as you go along. Just don't give up

I note in my spending diary everything except direct debits for utilities, mortgage etc and debt repayments. I find it helps to keep all receipts so that you can check just what you bought at the supermarket. Like many DFW I discovered that cutting back on groceries is a fairly quick way to make savings.

When I had my LBM I worked out a budget for everything and now manage my finances via 3 bank accounts - one for bills, mortgage etc, one for debt repayments and one for daily living expenses such as food and petrol. Some people achieve the same thing with spreadsheets. It takes a bit of time but while you are doing it you aren't spending money

Unfortunately one of my bank accounts is First Direct and although I won't pay the charge because I have a savings account and a credit card with them I feel I ought to close the account in protest at the charges. I was just about to cancel the credit card as I don't use it but will wait until I decide what to do about the account in general. Changing all the direct debits again isn't something I really want to do.

Sorry for rambling off topic there.

Good luck with the spending diary

Smashing

Take a little notebook in your handbag. Sometimes just the knowledge that you'll have to write it down if you buy it can put you off that impulse purchase. Nowt like seeing it down in writing to make you realise what a load of cack you buy.

jet77

I used to write down what I'd spent at the end of the day in my diary but found that this wasn't working for me. I've found that if I log on each day and type how much I'm going to spend on the 'what have you/will you spend today' thread it really helps. Sometimes I go back on to post whether I stuck to it or not.

The other thing I've found helps is planning money and food for the week ahead (e.g. Monday - packed lunch, beans/toast, train fare to work 3 pounds - total spend= 3 pounds) and also leaving debit card in house and cutting up any other plastic.

Good luck,
Jxxx

Bellie_2

ok, have been thinking really hard about it and i think i am going to write everything down including bills etc. I am trying really hard to stick to my budget so technically there should be no misc spending. I am going to highlight everything that is not in my budget and do two totals, Allowed/in budget and none essential. So I can see where I waste my money and try and get my self keeping to my budgeted money. Thank you for all your replies. X

OneSpike

We do similar to pp and have spreadsheets galore! Your post just reminded me to log my first class stamp and local paper bought today!

david_hellier

I normally do a budget which includes all essentials. Any money left for food, luxuries, going out, booze, fags etc, I put in the diary, subtracting as I go. you can get one on ebay.

postingalwaysposting

my ways a bit mad but it works for me... i have two bank accounts (one bills and one spending)... on pay day i write down all my bills for that month (it runs from the 15th to the 14th so not a true month) on a reporters note pad (15p asda ) which i cross out when the direct debt/cheque has cleared i then add this up and take it off my wages... with the excess i think about what happening that month (ie birthdays etc) and i will then take off my savings... the savings and bill money is then left in the bill account and the remainder is transfered over to my spending account (same bank)...

then each week i join moozies spending challenge and i set myself a target weekly spends... on a monday i will go to the bank and withdraw the set amount for the week... each and every day i then post on the thread and write it on another page in my notebook... this keeps me on track... kindof :rotfl:

then the day before i get paid again i will add up and sort my spending diary into food/chocolate and sweets/magazines/gifts/rubbbish and i set myself a target for each of those to be below the following month... my downfall is ebay though as i will spend on there then not account for it in my weekly spends/spending diary so my budgets have been eaten up... my challenge soon will be how many days can i stay away from ebay :rotfl:

as i said mad but it works for me... spending diarys are a very individual thing so you will have to try a few and dont be disapointed if it doesnt work first time