Motivation time! How has keeping a budget helped you?

Niv

andy1886 wrote: »

WOW these are really inspirational . One question , what sort of spreadsheet do you use ? Excel , income column and expenditure column , anything else ? Is there any available to use or do I do my own . I am 2 years into my dmp with 4 to go and am hitting a bit of a sticky point and could really do with budgeting tools and spreadsheets to focus my mind on the task in hand . Thanks , Andy

Hi, I use internet banking and there is an option to download a csv file (this is basically a excel file with no formatting) so the main column headers are given to you. The columns I use are:

date
details of transaction
Paid in
Paid out
Balance
Monthly total spent (only used at end of every month)
Monthly total in
Difference between total in and total out

I then colour the cells in the expenses into different catorgories such as:

regular bills/essentials
personal spends (basically this area is the one I can influence)
Transfers (For if I send money into a savings account)

You can add others as per your circumstances e.g debt repayments etc, but I would say keep it as simple as possible as too many colours and it just gets too silly!

If you have more than one account (e.g current account / savings account / Isa) I have got a monthly total sheet for these so i have a 'total funds'. The headers i use for this are basically:
Date (last day of month)
Current account (end of month total)
savings account (end of month total)
isa (total in account at end of month)
mortgage (remaining balance)
Total
total minus mortgage

I graph my total minus mortgage so it can be trended I also graph my 'difference' column from the total monthly incomings - total monthly outgoings so I can see trends in my spending.

Hope that helps. Once set up it is dead easy to keep on top of.

Niv

(edited to add - Andy, if your having trouble setting up a spreadsheet pm me your e-mail address and i will put something together for you)

foxgloves

Budgeting was something I never ever did. I started getting into debt aged 19 when I was a student & failed to budget my way to......still being in debt in my early 40s. On the way, I met my husband.....guess what, he had a load of debt too & never budgeted either. When I had my LBM, I started doing a basic budget in order to get first my, then his debts paid off. We became debt-free this time last year. I was determined not to let old bad habits creep back in, as was he, so I stepped up the budgeting & now I don't know where I'd be without it. I LOVE feeling in control of our money & can honestly say that we have neither borrowed nor been overdrawn by so much as a single £ since becoming debt-free, even though our income has reduced significantly due to redundancy. So I am no longer a DFW but I am a 'Stay-debt-free-wannabe'. I used to buy so much stuff, most of it not necessary, just stuff I'd see in the shops & liked the look of. No bag of tat I could come home with now would make me as happy as finally feeling in control does. Because budgeting has made me much better at all things money-related, we also started using credit cards again, but this time not for credit. We put some of our spending such as petrol, food & other things we've planned to buy on credit cards which are paid off at the end of every month, so that we can collect M&S & John Lewis vouchers. We decided we've paid enough interest on cards over the years, now it's time to get something back. If I hadn't learned to budget, this wouldn't have been possible either, as the cards would have just mounted up again. It isn't the most interesting way to spend an hour or so a week, but it's made such a difference to us, & I wouldn't EVER want to go back to how we were!

camuk81

By keeping a budget and a spending diary I've taken my spending down, I also have shaved a whole year off my debt.

I no longer get overdraft fee's and late markers from my bank.

I no longer fear phoning the bank. I might be broke but it's my money in the account!

andy1886

Niv wrote: »

Hi, I use internet banking and there is an option to download a csv file (this is basically a excel file with no formatting) so the main column headers are given to you. The columns I use are:

date
details of transaction
Paid in
Paid out
Balance
Monthly total spent (only used at end of every month)
Monthly total in
Difference between total in and total out

I then colour the cells in the expenses into different catorgories such as:

regular bills/essentials
personal spends (basically this area is the one I can influence)
Transfers (For if I send money into a savings account)

You can add others as per your circumstances e.g debt repayments etc, but I would say keep it as simple as possible as too many colours and it just gets too silly!

If you have more than one account (e.g current account / savings account / Isa) I have got a monthly total sheet for these so i have a 'total funds'. The headers i use for this are basically:
Date (last day of month)
Current account (end of month total)
savings account (end of month total)
isa (total in account at end of month)
mortgage (remaining balance)
Total
total minus mortgage

I graph my total minus mortgage so it can be trended I also graph my 'difference' column from the total monthly incomings - total monthly outgoings so I can see trends in my spending.

Hope that helps. Once set up it is dead easy to keep on top of.

Niv

(edited to add - Andy, if your having trouble setting up a spreadsheet pm me your e-mail address and i will put something together for you)

Thanks for all of that , I will give it a go but if I struggle I will take you up on your very kind offer , many thanks , Andy

Sussex_Saver_99

I have kept a budget now for approximately four years and am nearly debt free.
I have a fund that pays for unexpected events and another that covers the car expenses.
I also always use coupons where I can, price check any shopping - then with any returns or savings - I save them in a sperate account. Approximately £60 since Sept 11 - I'll move them into my ISA when I've got a year's worth.

freshstart11

Means I have money for longer than a week past pay day! I made my own spreadsheet on excel

one tab for debts, months to clear etc, another for budget and another for my meter readings and usage, daily avg

Means I have all household things right in front of me and easy to change and play with to make sure things are covered

Dilly

I think when you can see where your money is going it makes you think more before you spend
I also tally my months spending by itemising what I have bought each day. I can see if I am getting near my max target spend and will cut back accordingly. I also get rather mean about where I'm spending when I reach that stage ;-)
Isa ve my bill money each month, but will often let a small bill come out of my monthly spend, rather than 'raid' the building society