OS money management?

oldtractor

I've just finished going through the finances and allocating virtual pots to every catagory I can think of. I have pared back where it is possible to do so such as presents,going out,clothes . I am going to try to save up quite a large % of wages this year. It will be a huge challenge. I like a challenge :-)

JulieGeorgiana

oldtractor wrote: »

I've just finished going through the finances and allocating virtual pots to every catagory I can think of. I have pared back where it is possible to do so such as presents,going out,clothes . I am going to try to save up quite a large % of wages this year. It will be a huge challenge. I like a challenge :-)

My DH just got a great M&S Shirt for £1 from a charity shop... and he said to think that for his birthday he got M&S vouchers and got three shirts for £27 and this one shirt was better quality!

My point is that you can buy really nice, nearly new clothes at next to nothing in the Charity shops!

For me they never have anything, but instead I get hand-me-downs from loads of people I know. Especially now I've lost loads of weight, my MIL gives me things which are too big for her, and my SIL gives me things which are too small, as does my mum

DS gets new in the sales, because it's really VERY hard to find children clothes in Charity shops around here!

Well done on setting yourself a budget, you should review it from time to time, I find this makes you feel better about what you have achieved, and if you have 'struggled' then you can find out where and how and try and remedy it.

Ps. DH and I go through ours monthly, and see where we might be overspending. After a few months we stopped slipping and started sticking to budget

GreyQueen

I can fly a basic Excel spreadsheet and have an annual one with entries down the rows for the categories of my expenditures ; rent, council tax, gas, electricity, housekeeping, phone, transport etc etc. Across the columns, I have the months of the year and then a total column. I spend less than 5 mins on this each month.

I always choose an A4 diary with a page per month of columns and write what I spend as I spend it, the list being headed by the regular fixed stuff like the rent. At the end of each month, I total the categories and enter them onto the spreadsheet. I do Jan-Dec rather than April to end March like proper financials but it's only to suit me.

Because it's done regularly, it takes minutes. I total grocery spending in a small hardcover notebook and run grocery weeks Mon-Sun then add them up when I get to the end of the calender month. This smooths out some months being nearer 5 weeks' long than 4 weeks' long. The monthly total goes on the spreadsheet.

I'm paid monthly and the big DDs go out a few days after payday and I aim never to spend anything until they've gone so I know I'm not getting into trouble. My net income is well shy of £10k and I'm currently saving circa 40% of income as am a total skinflint.:o

I shop for gifts for birthdays and Xmas throughout the year and keep a list of what I have in "stock" in the back of the diary. I don't have a budget per se but it's as low as possible in a way which tallies with a suitable gift. It helps that the family are avid bookworms and that lovely books turn up even in Poundland of all places...........strange, but true.

Because I am deeply-sad, I make my Excel spreadsheet into a simple pie chart at year's end so I can see where the money went as a proportion of income.

I have several savings accounts; classified as Rainy Day Funds, OMG funds and Deep Savings. The latter is aimed at being my old age funds and is tied up in longterm bonds.

I agree with the poster who said that we cannot count on the state continuing to support those who don't save for their old age, although the other poster has been correct historically in that savings have cost you benefits in the past and the present.

I like the peace of mind of knowing I can replace a dead appliance or fund something without going cap-in-hand to the state, which may well lack the means or the will to help the poor in the future.

I guess we all have to take a punt on the future and hope that we come out on the right side of it.

[Deleted User]

Florenceem wrote: »

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

I know that, as I am one of the older ones who set out to have savings through a thrifty life. There is no way I would want younger people to pay for me. Most younger people are scraping along as it is