How do you keep track of your Money ?

mi_jardin

My direct debits are the same each month, so that amount goes straight into the bills account on payday. Then its just a case of filling up the car with diesel, after that whatever is left is for food, clothes (generally don't anything anyway) and odds and ends. They are kept track of by checking my account balance online every now and then.

lizzyb1812

It's very OS - I use cash. I know what my monthly income is, and what my regular direct debits come to. I use a simple spreadsheet I made myself. Near the end of each month I check how I've done this month and look at what is coming up in the month ahead that is not a monthly thing, eg car tax and make sure that is included in the column for the coming month. After all regular and irregular expenses are deducted from my income the rest is for food, petrol, entertainment, etc.

I split what is left into the number of Fridays in the coming month and draw that much each Friday in cash. You could do the same using a mixture of cards and cash - just make sure your weekly budget is not exceeded. Keep receipts or a notebook and note all you spend if you're going to use cards - this is not necessary if you use all cash. I aim not to spend all my weekly money.

I used to use a cash back credit card for all my spending but found it too easy to go over budget without thinking about it.

katiecoodle

I do my banking online. I can see at a glance what my monthly direct debits/standing orders are. I can also see when tax credits & child benefit go in, and my husband earns cash. We have a rule that we only use cash for shopping/food/clothes/going out etc. If there is any cash left over, it goes in the bank. The taxman bills us once a year and we make sure we accrue enough for his bill.

cleggie

Call me old fashioned, but i dont use the computer for my budget, i like to write everything down in my 'Money book'. I keep a list of all DDs, dates they go out of my accounts, balances of accounts, what i have to spend that month, running totals of any debts i have.

Any

mi_jardin wrote: »

My direct debits are the same each month, so that amount goes straight into the bills account on payday. Then its just a case of filling up the car with diesel, after that whatever is left is for food, clothes (generally don't anything anyway) and odds and ends. They are kept track of by checking my account balance online every now and then.

We also have separate bills a/c. I don't have to worry about what is about to go out then and adding and deducting to get to left over money.
On pay day money goes in (bills are the same every month, unless they tell me otherwise) and they can go out when they want to, it won't disturb the balance I have to spend as that is kept in different account.
And then you can keep track of your other balance by keeping a notes of spend in shops or keep the receilts and add them up each week to see the spend.
It is all new to you, bit of practice and you will soon find that you do have basic idea every day without a PC.

Very sorry for you loss btw. Hugs.

[Deleted User]

Hi I know how you feel and I send you my condolences.I lost my OH 8 years ago but as I had always 'done the books' and managed the money it wasn't too bad I have always had an A4 size hard covered book which lists all of my outgoings per month and DD via my bacnk account which I use online makes sure that all bills are paid on time I draw £100 in cash per month for my food purse and apart from having the exact amount to the penny in my current account the rest is transferred to a high interest account that I can draw on if I need any extra cash.I have several savings account in building societies for various things Holiday money in one and Christmas cash in another.I find that by using seperate accounts I can keep a clear eye on what my savings and expences are. To the last sixpence I know how much I'm worth and what I can get my hands on in an emergency.I have a 'cash back' credit card that I use for deisel and other bits and pieces that gets paid off every month and in January I usually have a nice little wodge of credit on it and I treat myself to something totally unnecessery, but nice out of my 'cash back' that my own money has 'earned' Last january I bought a nice coat and some boots with it.
My lovely late husband was absolutely useless when it came to money For all of our married life I always paid the bills and sorted out the money .He was happy to let me do that as he knew I was very good when it came to money.my eldest DD is the same and she is a whizz at sorting out all of her and her OHs finances.My youngest DD is very much like her Dad if she saw something she thought would put a smile on your face she would spend her last penny and not think about where the next one came from I only once sent my OH out shopping and that was after I had given birth to my eldest back in the late 1960s I gave him a week housekeeping (then around a tenner) to buy the stuff on the list as I had just come home from the maternity hospital .He came home with some smoked salmon a big bottle of bubbly and a box of chocolates as a 'treat' little realising that he had 'blown ' a week housekeeping just to make me smile Bless him we ate 'bread and scrape' for the next week, but I could never be cross with him as his heart was always in the right place.Even after 8 years I can still look back on what a great laugh I had with him for nearly 40 years.I wouldn't have wanted to change anything though as he could always see the funny side to things no matter how sometimes we had the wolf tapping on the door it never got across the threshold though :):)

Chickenopolis

JackieO - lovely post - thank you

OP - condolences x

Riversong

Im so sorry for your loss. I hope you are ok.

One thing i do is i always get a printed balance from an atm if im passing. That way no one can see my pitiful balance on screen. Also sometimes balances online dont always show fully upto date balances, like if money has been ringfences from a purchase that day?

MonkeySaving?

Gnucash http://www.gnucash.org/ , free but a bit of a learning curve, well worth it once you've learnt it though.

redlady_1

I just use a filofax. It has my diary in the front, loads of blank pages so I can write general stuff down and then finance pages. I stare at a computer most of the time so its nice to have a pen and paper. Then I compare the finance stuff with actual. I also tend to deal in cash so take £200 out at the beginning of the month and it has to last until the end. When its gone, its gone.