You can write down everything you're supposed to.....

vintagegirl

.....but in the end how do you stick to it.

I am a budgeting extremist.
I have SOAs coming out my ears, can tell you to the penny how much i have coming in and have gone as far as piggybanking so i have 22 bank accounts, all named with the monthly sections for everything but in the end, it never works out that way.

I never have left at the end of the month what im supposed to have.
How do you stay on budget?

BillJones

One way is to only take out in cash each week's money, and spend only cash. Do your food shopping at the start of the week, pay your bills, and then only use the cash you have left for everything else. If you've no cash left, you can't buy anything.

Edited to add, it would also make sense to have no credit available. Close your credit card accounts, and don't open any new ones.

mrsscattercushion

Hmmm, a few things spring to mind...


* how did you arrive at your budget amounts, are they realistic?


* are there particular budgets you are going over regularly, any patterns to the areas you end up spending more on or is it a lot of unexpected areas?
* is there any obvious areas you can cut back, spending you don't need to balance the budgets?
do you keep a spending diary?


feel free to post the SOA and others will help you if you want

thecassman86

I do the same as BillJones suggests... At payday, i work out how much i have available to spend after bills (DD's) and then divide that up so i know what is available each week and then draw the cash out. Never spend on my card at all now. Only ever use it once per week in an ATM to get that week's allocation Generally works.

I'm pretty impressed that you budget with 22 bank accounts!! I use 2, could probably keep track of a few more if the situation required it but i think much beyond 5 i'd be getting tangled up.

vintagegirl

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2228.5
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2228.5

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 426.8
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 17.5
Gas..................................... 17.5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 91
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 18.5
Car Insurance........................... 15
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
new york................................ 15
passport................................ 6
arrears council tax..................... 75
charity ................................ 2
sons gym................................ 16
gym..................................... 20
pocket money............................ 21.67
savings................................. 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1585.09


Assets
Cash.................................... 800
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 2300

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
capital one....................300.......5.........26.9
barclaycard....................500.......13.52.....29.9
very...........................158.......5.........29.9
Total unsecured debts..........958.......23.52.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,228.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,585.09
Available for debt repayments........... 643.41
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 23.52
Amount left after debt repayments....... 619.89

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 2,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -958
Net Assets.............................. 1,342

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

thecassman86

vintagegirl wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2228.5
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0 I know you earn a lot, but are you not eligible for child benefit or anything?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2228.5

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 426.8
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 17.5
Gas..................................... 17.5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 91 Erm... Wow! How long is contract for? Any idea why it's this high?!
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 18.5
Car Insurance........................... 15
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
new york................................ 15
passport................................ 6
arrears council tax..................... 75 How much longer left?
charity ................................ 2
sons gym................................ 16
gym..................................... 20
pocket money............................ 21.67
savings................................. 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1585.09


Assets
Cash.................................... 800
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 2300

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
capital one....................300.......5.........26.9
barclaycard....................500.......13.52.....29.9
very...........................158.......5.........29.9
Total unsecured debts..........958.......23.52.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,228.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,585.09
Available for debt repayments........... 643.41
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 23.52
Amount left after debt repayments....... 619.89

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 2,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -958
Net Assets.............................. 1,342

My comments are in red. Generally it's quite a healthy SOA though... How much of the £620 do you really have left at the end of each month?

My surprise is that you're paying massive interests on debts that you're only paying £23.52 towards and yet you should have £620 left each month! If you can find that £620 (or even most of it) then you should blast it all into your debts and get rid of them in just 2 months!!

ybbon66

£17.50 on gas and electric? Also, you have separate items for New York, Holiday and passport - these all sound like they could be combined?

~Beanie~

vintagegirl wrote: »

Electricity............................. 17.5 Seems quite low to me
Gas..................................... 17.5 - ditto
Mobile phone............................ 91 - HOW MUCH???
Contents insurance...................... 0 - You need this
Haircuts................................ 5 -Is this realistic?
passport................................ 6 - What is this for?

Amount left after debt repayments....... 619.89

Why do you need to save £6 for a passport when you have £620 spare each month, can't you pay in full?

I'm guessing that you don't actually have this much left over otherwise you wouldn't need to save for a passport and you wouldn't have debts.

Have you tried keeping a spending diary? Write down every single penny that you spend for a whole month, it will soon show you where your money goes, sometimes its quite shocking to see how much you do actually spend on the little things.

I do like others have said, account for all my bills, transfer savings etc out of my account and then divide what is left by how many weeks until next payday. I then take that amount out every Friday and pay cash for everything.

National_Debtline

Hello there,

How much are your council tax arrears? This is a priority debt as the enforcement options open to the local authority can be quite severe. It is not uncommon for bailiffs to be instructed where the arrears are significant.

We have a useful fact sheet outlining the processes used for the recovery of council tax: https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/02%20EW%20Council%20tax%20recovery/Default.aspx

It may be more effective for you to use the money you are saving to overpay on your credit debts to clear them quickly. You can then save a signficant amount in what would have been interest payments for your holidays and passport.

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

Mr_F_Dorsetty

I'm not going to get deep into your business as some others have but I will say this - 22 bank accounts?

How the hell can you keep track of 22 bank accounts? IMHO you have lost sight of life and you're let money rule you; all money does is give you choice, money is not a life.

I do not having anything to do with money myself but my wife achieves budgetary control with 3 accounts.

* Cash in/spending out for living
* Bills
* Savings

That's all you need surely?


You have £600 a month left over but unsecured debt of c.£1000? Pay it off is my advice.

Compared to many people, really, you're not in a bad place as far as I can see. Have a plan sure, but apart from checking that plan and sorting out your expenses ONCE A MONTH - just forget it and get on with your life.

Believe me, money is the least important thing in life. I've been both outrageously rich and unbelievably poor, in many ways they are much the same - but if no one loves then both places are just lonely and horrible.

Money and creditors do not care about you or remember you, only the people who love you do that.

But if you really must obsess over money and spending then get a notice board and mark it A, B, & C. Use this for luxuries you want, not food etc. Use written notes or a white board

* A = I must have it i.e I have dropped my mobile phone down the toilet and must get one that works

B = I'd quite like one of these when I have the money spare

C = I sort of fancy one of these because I like shiny things

Try it, it works for time management and for spending.

vintagegirl

Hi thanks for all your replies, dont have an excuse for the mobile phones, there is 4 lines in total and 2 are paid back to me me which is included in the income.
as is child benefit.

The council tax arrears are not my fault, we moved in to a new build house which wasn't banded and took them months to do it, so everyone in the building has arrears.

the passport ive put aside £6 a month so ill have enough aside by the time its due for renewal
the £15 is monthly so we can go to new york in time for my sons 21st

The £100 holiday is for this years holiday