OS money management?

MandM90

Can anyone who uses virtual pots direct me towards a spreadsheet/information site I can use? For the next 9 months we are just saving towards a house deposit (and have an umbrella emergency fund) but after that would like to divide up into mortgage overpayment, holiday fund, car repairs fund etc etc. I'm just not sure where to start and how to manage it, how often to update it and how to make sure the spreadsheet corresponds to the bank balance.

lushlifesaver

I've had to leave my part time job (for a combination of personal and professional reasons) so now I just have the remains of my career development loan to live on until I am able to get a new job so I will be watching this thread with great interest!
I need to save up for a deposit (moving in with a friend in the summer) and also want to be able to go on holiday this year with my parents (last chance before getting a 'real' job/hoping to get elected to be an officer at my student union so need to have this planned before I take office!)
I'm heading up grocery shopping and cooking in the house at the moment so I'm hoping that we can all save more this year- I'm sure I'm be able to pick up lots of tips from you all

Florenceem

anguk wrote: »

What my Grandma did was have lots of little pots or envelopes to put money in, so one for rent, one for coal, one for electric etc etc. My Grandad would come home every week with his wage packet and the money was divided up straight away into those little pots. Savings were always classed as an essential weekly expense and a small amount of money would be paid into the post office account every week by my Grandma. Anything left over from the wages was for food.

I'm going to start classing savings as essential, until now I've always paid the bills and bought food and if there was anything left at the end of the month it would be saved, I'm now going to pay the bills and put a set amount into a savings account and anything left will be spent on food. The older I get the more I realise how important savings are, I'm sick of having an unexpected expense come up and not having the money to cover it.

Thing is - when you get older - if you have savings - you don't get all the available help - just because you have been thrifty.

JulieGeorgiana

I had to give up work early because of illness during pregnancy, and before that I was made redundant and had a huge pay decrease. Then my DH overtime got cut (which was £50 - £200 a month) and now his pension is about to go up too! And in April Child Tax Creids are about to change, and we loose those. So overall we have less then 50% of our previous income... and yet with the help of this site we manage, and we still save (although very little!)

First I have a Spreadsheet with 'Pots', when the wages go in my 1st Current Account I check all my bills and put the correct amount of money for Rent and Bills into my 2nd 'Current Account' which is for outgoing DD and SO only. It's called my 'Bills Account'. I do not touch anything in there for the month and just let it run.


Then I have 'virtual pots' for the following:

• Church Donations
• Savings (for my Children)
• Pocket Money (For my son)
• Milk Savings (This is a pot to ensure if I need formula for the baby I have the money)
• Nappies
• Pet Savings (This covers Routine Vet Bills, Flea and worm treatments)
• Hobby Pot (This is for my DH Hobbies)
• Emergency Savings (this is a set amount which pays for haircuts, shoes and anything which pops up during the month)
• Holiday
• Presents (I have a set budget to pay for Birthday/Christmas gifts for friends/family, includes buying supplies for making cards... add it up for a year and divide by 12 for your set amount)
• Petrol
• Car Costs (This is the cost of Service, MoT, Breakdown, Insurance and Road Tax... add together and divide by 12)
• Food

This money pretty much covers everything and I place this is a 'instant savings account' and let it build up or drop down depending on what you need to actually pay for each month. I don't dip into the money for something else because it's earmarked.

Anything left after this is for the ISA, and I have a strict policy that what goes in does not go out unless it's an emergency (like when the car went badly wrong!!!!) If you budget for everything you KNOW you will spend over the year and set a sall amount aside each month to cover the cost, then you can live much tighter.

Tips:

Pocket Money (To teach my DS the value of money, he buys his own gifts for people, and if he wants a treat he saves and buys it himself. If there is a school trip he covers half the cost. This really does work, because DS really thinks before he buys. His last birthday he asked everyone for money and saved and bought a Trampoline, and recently he bought a scooter and a few books. He never buys sweets, he tells me it's a waste of money)

Emergency Savings (I only use this pot if I NEED something, it's not for when I WANT something)

Holiday (This is a small amount which pays for camping a few times a year, and petrol to visit my gran in yorkshire too, I set a realistic budget. When on Holiday I take the money in cash, and take 1 card with me for emergency. So if I have no money left... I can't have it)

Presents (I have a £5 a head budget for friends and family, and I stick to it ridgedly and using 'grabbit' and 'sales' the value of my gifts are all around £15 a head... I may go a little over for some, but then that happens ONLY if I have gone under for others. I will not exceed my overall budget. Also I have bought all my Birthday gifts for 2012 already, and I am working on Christmas... it's the only way to keep costs down. My DH and I have £20 a head budget and DS get's £100)

Petrol (I have a set budget, if I don't have the petrol I don't drive. DH parents live 65 miles away and rarely see us nowadays because of money constraints... but we are honest and tell them there is not enough money in the budget)

Car Costs (I let this build up, and pay for Insurance in full to save on interest. I also buy Road Tax yearly as it's cheaper. I over budget services and unless there is a fault we normally come under budget and the money can be saved)

Food (I have a set £50 budget for 2 Adults, 1 Child, 2 Cats and 2 Rabbits. I Meal Plan, use mySupermarket to write my shopping lists, I stick to my shopping lists ridgedly and today my weekly shop is due to be 18p below budget. I am very strict)

Lastly, I have 2 credit cards... each of which offer loyalty points in different ways. When I pay for ANYTHING I use one of my credit cards, I then transfer the money from one of my 'virtual pots' to a 'credit card virtual pot' (ie. I pay for food today, I would take the cost of my shopping out of the 'food' pot and place it in 'credit card 1 pot') Then when the credit card bill comes in I have the full amount in my account and I will pay it off.

This avoids interest charges, but gives you loads of 'bonus points' which I use for treats for the family

Sorry to go on, but this is how we survive on a montly basis... we buy so little of what we want, and often get second hand clothes, use charity shops and ask for things we WANT for Birthday and Christmas.

I hope something in there helps someone

VickyA_2

Wow! Fabulous post from JulieGeorgiana :j :j As I was reading the beginning of the thread I thought that I'd reply with what I do, but JulieGeorgiana's post is fantastic so I won't try to compete.

However, I would like to support what she says. I also have virtual pots of money which I put on a VERY basic spreadsheet (honestly, it's embarrassingly basic! ). This tallies with what is in a second account which is linked to my current account. Whenever I am paid, I move my money around and update my spreadsheet. If I need to purchase something, eg presents etc then I update the spreadsheet again. It's an as and when type thing.

I also have a credit card which earns me points. As with JulieGeorgiana, as soon as I have bought something the money is transferred into my credit card pot and I have enough to pay the bill at the end of the month.

My spreadsheet is quite addictive and I do enjoy just looking lovingly at the figures when I feel chuffed at what I manage to do - and all my friends moaning that they don't know where the money is going to come from to pay their car's MOT/servicing/new tyres... I do!

Enjoy being a moneysaving geek. It's fabulous! :j :j

mardatha

Well, can I offer the more OS way mainly because I dont understand bloody spreadsheets and if the power went off or the bank got into trouble then I cant get at my money!
I use the Granny Method. Go to the bank on the same day every week and take it all out, apart from the week's money needed for DDs (god how I hate DDS!)
Bring it home and put into wee jars -
Coal
Elect
Petrol
Food
Food, use a list and stick to minimums, don't go mad. I only hit the shops once a week. Anything left over at end of the week I stash away in the house, I don't leave anything in the bank apart from one months DDs. Just in case

MandM90

VickyA wrote: »

My spreadsheet is quite addictive and I do enjoy just looking lovingly at the figures when I feel chuffed at what I manage to do.
Enjoy being a moneysaving geek. It's fabulous! :j :j

I look lovingly at my accounts; I have five with one bank; ISA, 2 savings accounts, joint account and personal account and I've named them **House Fund**, Emergency Fund etc; I love watching them grow as I feel like I'm literally watching my family grow in security

JulieGeorgiana

I admit to looking lovingly at my spreadsheet too!

I always have money in my accounts (because when 1 pot is empty another is full) and I am so proud of our savings (we are £10k towards a deposit on a house... I only became debt free in June last year when we got married, I spent a year saving all my wages after paying childcare and car costs!)

I am incredibly proud, so try not to have my spreadsheet show a negative value.

I think being proud makes you more determined to stick to budget, and to save, save, save

Spendless

Is a modern day twist on OS anyway someone was reminising of
I really love the idea of having a £5 present budget with the 'value' 3x that. I did do some of that this year either from me or from someone else, some perfume reduced from £20 to £10 in Boots netted down to £5 when using a Boots £5 perfume voucher, spotting a camp rock ds game at the tills at Morrisons for £5 became a pressie for my DD from my nan, and i discovered hardback glossy Disney story book in WH smiths for £5 with a RRP of £12.99 for her from my other nan and the new percy jackson book DS wanted was 1/2 price in Tesco at £6.49 but could have been netted down more using points. All these I more 'stumbled' on that set out to delibrately do, so that's something else to add to my to do list for 2012.
another thread about a doll they ahd as a child and all the clothes were HM and with labels attached saying 'exclusive from Paris' and stuff like that.

oldtractor

I think the present idea is brilliant. Looking forward I wonder what future generations will think of all this. My gran who was born in 1903 and lived well into her 90's was very thrifty,making her own aprons and all her meals and buying second hand. my mum was the opposite. anything homemade was looked down upon as not being good enough. shop bought was the thing! so I never learned to sew or make do, I had an extravagant childhood as dad had a good job,holidays abroad,new car , new clothes,nice house in a good area,whereas gran was still in her council house in a run down inner city area.I wonder what our children will make of our thrifty ways in the future?
florenceem I think thats all going to end. The countrys bankrupt. I cant see the welfare state bailing old people out,there will be too many of us. This is why I am trying to amass savings. Me and DH retirement age is 67 and it may rise. if I can get enough put by mayvbe finishing work a year early and living off the savings might happen.
juliegeorgieanna what a fantastic system.