Where does the excess money go?????

Catslovelycats

Cherryjack wrote: »

Thank you just downloading it :beer:

Good luck, Cherryjack. Let us know how you get on!

Cherryjack

catslovelycats wrote: »

Good luck, Cherryjack. Let us know how you get on!

Thanks cats x

Angel84

I like that....putting my card into hibernation. Makes it sound less harsh than the thought of putting it away actually is...haha!

But I have to do it. :T

klfairy

I've just started a spending diary too. I also should have money left at the end of the month, when in reality the opposite is true.

lesleyvhalifax

i will be starting my spending diary on the 2nd december (payday)

FireWyrm

For those who don't have an apple product, EasyMoney on Android does the job. The paid version (£1.60ish) has charts and projects into the future, so i know that in December, I should end the month with so much in credit. As you add entries, the future is adjusted. The categories are a god send too. I categorise everything into utilities, food, groceries, petrol, incidental, ATM withdrawal etc and so I can look at the category charts and see where money is going. It also has a reminder feature so it alerts you to upcoming fixed bills. The other thing I did was sent up text messaging alerts with my bank. Now, for anything between minus £1500 and plus £2600 I get a text message every day with balance and transactions. Absolutely invaluable since I have a balance on my phone that day regardless of what EasyMoney says...it's not always in sync, DDs don't always come out when they are supposed to for instance, or vary by some pennies.

I do one reconciliation at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end of the month. I'm ruthless in recording every transaction, no matter how minor and the other half has been trained to give me receipts for all transactions. I also have a slotted money box into which goes various amounts for kids shoes, takaway, pin money and bus pass. Larger savings go into either ING savings by DD or in pound coins in the terramundi on pay day. Pin money in the box doesn't have to be accounted for in the normal sense, it's for things like the odd pint of milk, but when it's gone, it's gone. The hard cash in the box is counted as savings in the phone app. There really isn't any reason to use the card during the month except for petrol and groceries now..all of which is accounted for. I know where every penny goes and it's quite a satisfying feeling.

I've been running this way since March and I now have trends to call on to predict the future. Ive projected costs like new tyres for the car and bus etc, so Im not suprised when it comes due. Before I started this, I used to regularly bust my overdraft limit, but since then, I havnt done it once. It's not always easy and every reconciliation always shows the odd £10 or so I didn't account for, but I can live with that. Much better than having your card declined at the supermarket 3 days after payday and a belt full of monthly shopping to pay for.

klfairy

That sounds like an amazing system you've got going there FireWyrm. I love the idea of the projections, but I don't have a smartphone. I wonder if there's a free version for my laptop. Will have to have a google.

FireWyrm

klfairy wrote: »

That sounds like an amazing system you've got going there FireWyrm. I love the idea of the projections, but I don't have a smartphone. I wonder if there's a free version for my laptop. Will have to have a google.

Honestly, I just got sick and tired of being scared all the time, afraid if the post, afraid of whether my card will be declined and I would have to make some excuse to the cashier and hand over the CC instead, afraid that my card would get declined at the petrol station, not knowing when I was going to get slapped with £50 I couldn't afford in penalties from the bank...the list is endless. I don't know why I didn't do this ten years ago, I shudder to think how many £1000s I've wasted in that time.

What's worse, is I knew. I knew how to budget, I watched my parents struggle in the same way, I knew how to shop properly, I knew how to make the food last, I was just lazy and there is a tremendous sense of guilt there. If I had just done this a few years ago, we could have gone on holiday more often etc. It's not rocket science for heavens sake.

I don't know about an app for the laptop, but I would suggest that even a small notebook would be helpful. I like being able to slap myself with a guilt ride when I reach for the card and then look at my phone for the daily update and realise that I didn't really need whatever I was planning to buy anyway. If it's right there in front of you, you can't mess it up. Rictus was running a 'no spend' challenge a few months back (see my sig) which sounds scary, but really, I was doing it anyway. Today I spent £0 just like the day before and the day before that. I either bought it at the beginning of the month or it's budgeted for in the app. No chance of accidentally buying something I didn't need anyway. I slid some debt onto a 0% card a few months back and just never bothered to learn the new pin. The card physically exists but is absolutely useless for buying purposes which is how it has to be...I know me too well.

Bublin1

Hey Firewrym,
I have tried to find Easmoney but all i can find is a USA version.
Can you post a link please?

FireWyrm

Bublin1 wrote: »

Hey Firewrym,
I have tried to find Easmoney but all i can find is a USA version.
Can you post a link please?

I bought mine on the app Market on the phone, but you can side load it from here : https://market.android.com/details?id=com.handyapps.easymoney10&feature=search_result

Sorry, the price is more than I thought, it's £5.99 but well worth it. You can change the currency, the screenshots are in dollars, but just go to currency settings and change that to GBP...however, it honestly doesn't matter all that much, £15.00 or $15.00 it's still 15.00, the maths is the same when it comes to the budget.