Tips for saving money/making money last longer?

bexiboo92

Evening guys.

I was just curious as to what your best tips for saving money and making money last longer would be?

Both myself and my partner take packed lunches to work, we've started budget shopping and we can do a weekly shop on £30-40, yet we still seem to have no money whatsoever.

I need some tips on making money last, so we've at least got a few pennies left over after paying bills and debt agreements.

Thanks

Bex

quantic

This is what I do, divide my money up into pots:

1) On going costs throughout the month - Food, Petrol
2) Bills - Mortgage, utilities etc
3) Whatever is left

I move all of the Left over money to a separate account. I then know this is how much I have to spend. I found in the past that if I leave petrol and food money in my normal account I think I have more money to spend than I do.

For a few months I kept a spending diary to see what I was spending money on, literally wrote down everything to the penny. I also try not to buy anything none essential within 2 weeks of being paid, I found that I would get paid, think I had lots of money so start spending, I only spend now once I know I'm all good for the month and its surplus.

Learning2Budget

I am pretty similar to quantic, i keep a spending diary still and i use an envelopes system. All monies for direct Debs are transferred to the bill account, then i withdraw cash for food shop, petrol, prescriptions and clothing fund. I also give myself a little spends fund so i don't feel deprived. Lol.
Then any spare goes straight into savings account. I also transfer my food shop money into 5 weeks. Then if its a four week month that extra week goes into savings/emergency fund.
Good luck. L2B.x

walker123

I am only learning to budget so I will be reading this thread with interest.

BUT ... every morning I am transferring the "pence" of my current account balance into a savings account and at the end of the month I am going to pay it extra off my debt. May only be a few pounds but every little helps!

flippin36

Sealed pots a good for people who want to save but don't have lots of excess every month. I withdraw £80 every payday to last the month. This is the cash I need for bus fares and any extra stuff like parking, school stuff, spending money for kids. Basically when its done, its done, so we just go without. But more often than not we have a few quid left over that goes in a pot because as far as my spreadsheet is concerned that money is already spoken for/spent. We also had a system that if we did without something - ie hubby cycles to work instead of bus, that bus fare goes in the pot. Or if we manage to park somewhere for free we put the parking charge in the pot. It adds up.

foxgloves

When you get paid each month, deduct all the regular commitments such as bills, then how much you will need for groceries, petrol or essential travel & allow yourselves an agreed amount of petty cash for personal spends (we have £50 each, but if our budget is a bit more flush, it could occasionally be as much as £100). This stops us dipping into the account for little spends such as a coffee here or there, a magazine, make-up or similar). I've found cooking from scratch really valuable at holding the grocery bills down, esp. batch cooking so I can freeze the extra portions for another meal later in the month. Also, in my case, learning the difference between a 'want' & a 'need' was really important in being able to budget properly & finally pay off our joint debts. Planning is probably the most important thing. Sticking to your budget is essential if your situation is to improve so don't be lured away from your good intentions by unhelpful thoughts......For example, last Christmas, I'd already put quite a few presents away in a cupboard that I'd been buying throughout the year to keep costs down. I then did the budget around November & decided we could spend up to another £100 on Christmas but no more than that. We were fine with that, but then my partner started wondering if we'd 'bought enough' for one or two of our relatives. I had about 10 mins of doubts then got a grip & said that we need to base what we spend on what we have, not on what we think we might like to spend in an ideal world.....I think this applies to everything. I never used to go in £1 shops but now I get the boring everyday stuff like toothpaste, toothbrushes, handwash there, as I'd rather free up money to spend on stuff I'm going to enjoy more than those. The most important thing is to find a way of budgeting that works for you......but I'm afraid it's like dieting, it doesn't matter how good the budget is, if you don't stick to it, it won't be the useful tool it needs to be for you. Good luck with it all.