counting the pennies till payday

vintagegirl

I wondered if anyone else does this.
I am getting slightly obsessed with saving money. Every day, i write in a notebook every penny i am getting until the end of the month and then write down every bill i have until the end of the month, then work out what i will have left.

Is this pathetic? Using this method though i have paid off my £1000 overdraft last month.

For example, I take what i have in the bank, what i will get in the bank until 31/11/11 and then deduct the bills.

If i am very careful and have no fun, i will have £1878.07 by the end of the month.

Am i the only one who does this?

rachelhen

I think its brilliant Vintage girl and maybe I should try it. well done!

XXSCOTSLASSXX

nope your not the only 1 lol I have a monthly budget spreadsheet working on exact same basis and am checking and rechecking it many many times a day to see where I can save the odd 5p or more lol MSE OCD should be a medically recognised condition

I must say tho It certainly beats the days when come end of the month counting down the minutes till pay hits the bank as so skint...is much more rewarding so am not complaining!

vintagegirl

Don't feel so daft now.
Of course i Know i won't have all that left but hopefull £100 max here or there and can still have a bit of fun between now and then with my child.

I date it every day in the book and go against the online banking, and what's due in then compare it with the day before.

I hate seeing it go down so much, so i know where you're coming from, I remember having to borrow £20 for petrol.

Never again.

Having said that though, Although i have paid off the overdraft, I am still too scared to remove it although i am not paying any interest for it

linz

I don't write stuff down to the penny, but I do budget for regular monthly outgoings and any meals out or weekend stuff I have planned, that way I know what I have to spend on 'me' after all the bills have gone out. Then if i've budgeted say £20 for a meal out and only spend £15 i'll move the £5 to my savings account.

njk1012

yep, I do this on a monthly, weekly and daily, lol. Write a budget once a month to the penny and re write it every Tuesday including the savings and double check it every morning to make sure everything is going to plan. So nope your not the only one who is debt OCD.

Chrisblue1962

Vintagegirl

There are probably thousands who do the same or similiar to you and my thoughts are 100% "Good For You!! :T !!!"

I have a spreadsheet which contains both my monthly budget and also a record of ongoing expenditure, not unlike a bank statement, which I check every day against my online banking, and it seems to work ok....for now .

Whether it's a notebook and pen, spreadsheet or bespoke software like Microsoft Money dosn't really matter...the most important thing is finding a system that works for you and that it works i.e it does what you want it to do!...

Keep doing what you do as it's obviously working! :T

quantic

Me and my OH do this, we have managed to pay off quite significant debt as a result and are now debt free, however - struggling to enjoy spending money now, even tho we have it. Has become a good curse if that makes sense.

Cherryjack

linz wrote: »

I don't write stuff down to the penny, but I do budget for regular monthly outgoings and any meals out or weekend stuff I have planned, that way I know what I have to spend on 'me' after all the bills have gone out. Then if i've budgeted say £20 for a meal out and only spend £15 i'll move the £5 to my savings account.

I like that idea!! :-):money:

Cherryjack

vintagegirl wrote: »

I wondered if anyone else does this.
I am getting slightly obsessed with saving money. Every day, i write in a notebook every penny i am getting until the end of the month and then write down every bill i have until the end of the month, then work out what i will have left.

Is this pathetic? Using this method though i have paid off my £1000 overdraft last month.

For example, I take what i have in the bank, what i will get in the bank until 31/11/11 and then deduct the bills.

If i am very careful and have no fun, i will have £1878.07 by the end of the month.

Am i the only one who does this?

I think this is a brilliant idea!! im starting maternity leave... im gunna copy and do the same :-) the amount of quick Mcdonalds coffees, silly shop buys and stuff i was doing! it was really adding up... its a much better feeling waking up knowing you have some money behind you ..(once debts are paid off) just gives that peace of mind etc... also im too nice, i would meet up friends and pay for them to get into places like a play centre for the kids, or id fork the bill for the coffees all the time.. I cant carry on like this ..so your plan will help me xxx:beer::A

rising_from_the_ashes

I have a budget tracking spreadsheet which has separate sheets for monthly spends on different things (groceries, household, pets etc) where everything gets noted usually I've kind of mucked it up as September went a bit wrong (which has affected the totals sheet at the front) - really must try to sort again.

I'm paid monthly so check that's gone in my bank but then unfortunately no other payments in each month!

I have a wee hardback book that goes everywhere with me which I keep track of everything I spend - it means I can quickly add up what I've spent wherever I am and is handy if I'm away from the pc.

Regularly household payments don't get noted in this but I know what these are/when they come out.

I have a separate "household" bank account which I transfer money into at the start of each month and covers all the bills. I've found this great as it means I can't accidentially take money from my main account and miss a direct debit payment.