counting the pennies till payday

Save_now,_buy_later

Yay! Spreadsheeters anonymous!

I have started doing a monthly budget; I have a section for direct debits, a section for 'spends' which covers everything else and I keep a note everyday of how much I have spent.

I run it from payday to payday and I can't wait for the day before to add up all my different categories in the spends section so I can see if I stuck to my budget in the last month. I get quite excited!

Before doing this I had no idea how much we were spending (especially on groceries) and now it has become indispensible.

hummingbird

Back in the days of my late teens/early twenties we all used cheque books for just about everything, and most of us knew how to "balance the cheque book" by ticking off all the cheques against your bank statement, then deducting the amount of all the cheques that hadn't gone through yet from the end balance of the statement.This would give you your "true" balance.

For some strange reason, once my debit card repaced cheques as my usual form of payment, I no longer remembered to do this:o I think it's because I thought the debit card payment would show up almost immediately, but that is definitely not always the case!

I'm going to start doing this properly again. I've cut my spending down a lot in recent months but am still getting some "surprises" :eek:when I forget about things.

Thanks for starting this thread!
Hummingbird x

wannabehermit

Save_now,_buy_later wrote: »

I run it from payday to payday and I can't wait for the day before to add up all my different categories in the spends section so I can see if I stuck to my budget in the last month. I get quite excited!

Snap! I get quite itchy the last few days of the month waiting to add it all up!

hummingbird wrote: »

For some strange reason, once my debit card repaced cheques as my usual form of payment, I no longer remembered to do this:o I think it's because I thought the debit card payment would show up almost immediately, but that is definitely not always the case!

That's one thing I love about Natwest. Payments show up immediately so there's never any surprises when you've forgotten about something only for it to show up a few days later when you've spent what was showing as being available. DH used to get caught out on his old HSBC a/c a lot like that.

Cherryjack

reading these posts are great!! given me such inspiration.. i never know how much money i have and know i could save a hell of alot if i did a little book and some spreadsheets.. i got my first statement thru today for my savings.. its my car emergency fund.. felt so so so Good :-D... im not going to live anymore thinking say car breaks down (i have no savings) and am stuffed and cant get credit with my score at the moment.. im going to save for the emergency car fund and have the peace of mind that life will go on :-)(this will be for unexpected disasters not a bmw lol .. keep up the good work peeps

Spencerx

quantic wrote: »

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.

Your last bit strikes a cord with me. I have always been careful with money, always had to be and luckily now nearing my retirement and my OH has retired we are comfortably off. Last week my washing machine gave up and I had to buy a new one. On the one hand I felt glad that I could just go out and purchase one knowing I had plenty of money to pay for it. On the other hand I felt slightly guilty that I could do this.
My daughter told me a couple of years ago that she didn't want to live like me, always penny pinching, but now her and her partner are finding it very hard to live and I slightly gloat when I say ' well now you know what it was like for me when you were younger'.
When working in an office I was taught how to do a bank reconcilation and have used this at home ever since as well as keeping a close eye on where my money was going from day to day, making sure that standing orders and direct debits are spread evenly throughout the month. I work with younger people in my office who work full time whereas I work part time, and earn a lot more money that I do, and I can't understand how they are always 'broke' before the end of the month.

One thing I used to do, to try and keep out of debt, was to only buy essentials for as long as I could manage - a month if possible. Like the mantra. It's surprising how much you can save. I did my shopping once a fortnight because I had to have a taxi home (£2) as we had to give up our car. I would go to our nearest town once a week to do any other shopping and bill paying because I couldn't afford to go more than this. A local hairdresser would pass on old magazines to a client who would then pass them on to me, and I would then pass them on to a sheltered accommodation complex - everyone was happy. Now subscribing to a magazine is my treat and it's cheaper than buying every month from a shop.
Well done everyone!

buffster_2

This definitely strikes a cord with me. A year ago my company closed our office and moved us to another one 80 miles away. Public transport is not an option and I have a bit of a gas guzzler. The company was paying us relocation expenses for a year and the last payment is due at the end of this month, after which I'll have to pay for my own travel to work, which will cost me £700 per month.

There was no way I could afford to pay that and pay for my debt so that was my LBM. I've been looking for another job either closer to home or in another location where I can car share, but no joy so far.

I had paid off a big loan in Aug 2010 which I'd taken out to consolidate credit cards, although surprise, surprise, I'd racked up the credit card debt again.

I'd started to make an effort to pay off debt at that point but the closure of the office meant I had to make a huge effort to pay off the rest of my debt by the end of 2011. From around £15k I now owe £500 and will pay that off at the end of this month.

I've also been counting the days till the end of the month, to see exactly where I stood in relation to my debt. I've checked my finances weekly to see how much I had left in my current account, how much I was likely to spend and then paid any extra to my credit cards.

I spread the total of my debt across a couple of 0% cards and today I have closed both of those plus a credit card I had but never used.

I'll now be saving my pennies towards a more economical car, which will be hard with having to pay so much for fuel in the meantime, so I'll still be watching the pennies to the end of the month.

I never thought I'd do it in a year, so to be this close to being debt free is a great feeling. Once I get a car (and maybe a new job) sorted out, I'm going to start on my mortgage and overpaying that. I don't want to get out of this habit and want to keep this going until I am truly debt free, mortgage included, and I can start saving.

Bublin1

freebyfifty wrote: »

Nope, definitely not alone. I have a speadsheet which I update daily and is worked out until June next year (so far). Every penny I get into and out of my bank account is put in it and I check it every morning against my online banking.
I am obsessed with it and am continually playing with the numbers to see where I can save money. Unfortunately I'm not the same as you and don't have loads to play with but at least now I am getting to the end of the month without getting to the end of my money

It has been my life saver and I would recommend it to everybody

freebyfifty or anyone else, could you tell me where you found your spreadsheets or give me some idea what they looks like. I really want to start tracking every penny i spend - my problem is that my office is in the middle of a shopping high street (yep, you know the rest!) and i spend regular small amounts that i need to cut back on.
Thanks.

Cherryjack

Bublin1 wrote: »

freebyfifty or anyone else, could you tell me where you found your spreadsheets or give me some idea what they looks like. I really want to start tracking every penny i spend - my problem is that my office is in the middle of a shopping high street (yep, you know the rest!) and i spend regular small amounts that i need to cut back on.
Thanks.

I would find this usefull aswell..:-)

daniboy

I check my bank account daily using nectar.com so get points for checking!!:)

Save_now,_buy_later

After doing business studies at school I like to think of my direct debits as fixed costs and the cash spends as variable costs, and wrote my spreadsheet as a profit and loss account.
Basically I use one sheet per month and each month I have three columns for daily spends (titled 'date', 'category' and 'amount') and I update this daily.
I then have a section for cash totals which I set out in four columns 'category', 'last month' 'budget' and 'actual'. I set my budget based on beating last months amount, which makes it fun when I'm adding up on the day before payday! Categories include bus travel, groceries, mobile phone top ups etc and I always make sure I have a category for 'misc' expenses as this is where my money dissapears!
I also have two columns for direct debits, 'name' and 'amount'.
I then have a small section that shows income for the month, minus direct debits, cash and money to savings to give me my balance for the month.
Hard to describe it properly but I would advise writing out what you want to keep track of and make one that works for you.