Divide your cash into envelopes

camuk81

artyfartyem wrote: »

Going to try the envelopes for grocery budget next month, we are trying to cut it in half. Thanks for the tip!

Someone mentioned on here doing prep work.

Log onto my supermarket and you can shop around on pricing. Never done it myself but going to give it a go next week, when its my weekly shop

missladyannie

I've got paid today and have sat and paid my bills, worked out what is coming out on the DD tomorrow and what i've got left. Suprisingly there is £361 left which to me sounds like a lot after the bills.

Before joining MSE i'd have just wasted this quite quickly after payday but now i'm being much more concious and have divided this by 4 as its a short month so thats £90 for each week which seems like loads!!! To me (like many others) £90 is a huge amount and in my head i'd never dream of wasting this amount of money each week.

I will be going to Tescos today to use my £5 voucher, plus 56p JTD and £1.56 JTD vouchers, plus £2 SSM vouchers, 90p bubbly chocolate voucher, and i'm waiting for 3 more JTD vouchers to come in today hopefully, so maybe my shop will come in at about £30?

Then I have no plans this weekend (which involve spending money), however if i'm feeling better I will work this weekend at my 2nd job, but unfortunately i've been off work this week from my main job with a chest infection. Ive already had to give back my shift tonight for being unwell, and unfortunatley if I dont work at the 2nd job I dont get paid so thats £24 gone :-( I can't really afford to lose both weekend shifts as they come to nearly £100 before tax.

Anyway, enough from me, have a good weekend everyone and happy enveloping!! x

Learning2Budget

I am so sad. Im getting really excited about trying this!! Roll on mine and Dh's paydays then can give it a go.x

Em586

We use envelopes and so far it's working well. I sit down and work out what's going out by DD each month, and what we have left for everything else. I only have 1 savings account for all of my VPs, but I have a spreadsheet for all of the pots saying how much money is allocated for each.

For the envelopes, instead of doing weekly ones, I label them by what the money's for - so we have envelopes for: food, petrol, clothes/shoes, kids stuff, etc. I then keep track of spends on a spreadsheet so I know what's left and can make sure we'll get through the month with the money that's there. We don't have a working debit card as I still haven't changed the pin it was sent with- I can take cash out but not spend on it, so it stays at home. Works really well!!!

LittleMissGiggles123

Loving the gift card idea! I spend far too much on groceries because we do a 'main shop' & then always end up doing at least another 3 'top ups' during the week. I worked out that in January we spent about £500 on groceries, and that was just what we paid on our debit cards, this doesnt include cash spends.

So I'm going to put £300 on a gift card at beginning of March & hide my debit card.

Thanks guys

tiff

Just dont lose the gift card

sexyshark

Today is my payday and I will try this as well, sounds like i great idea

SuziQ1962

Learning to budget

I am so sad. Im getting really excited about trying this!! Roll on mine and Dh's paydays then can give it a go.x

I must be sad too as I have read this ,zoomed off to W*lko's and bought a new folder,some little plastic wallets (80p for 4)that I will hole punch and put in folder to put my months money in and a new pad to work out the months budget-i do that on a regular basis but this will be a dedicated notebook rather than me trying to find the scraps of paper I usually use and lose!
Most things are set up on DD and in a separate account but food ,petrol and spending money will be envelopised and hopefully my debit card shall grow fat and plump with underuse!

Learning2Budget

SuziQ1962 wrote: »

Learning to budget

I must be sad too as I have read this ,zoomed off to W*lko's and bought a new folder,some little plastic wallets (80p for 4)that I will hole punch and put in folder to put my months money in and a new pad to work out the months budget-i do that on a regular basis but this will be a dedicated notebook rather than me trying to find the scraps of paper I usually use and lose!
Most things are set up on DD and in a separate account but food ,petrol and spending money will be envelopised and hopefully my debit card shall grow fat and plump with underuse!

I've raided my daughters dressing up box for old purses. one for fuel, one for food and one for clothing. Everything else is DD:p

mon1o

i love the idea of this!

im just starting out with a dmp through cccs and budgeting is a new thing for me. I use my debit card alot but often this can get me into bother because i cant physically "see" what im spending i can occasionally go a tad (alot!) over board.....:o

so im loving the envelopes idea. might give this a whirl - payday is today so no time like the present! will have to use paper envelopes though until i can get to town to buy some plastic wallets!