terrible at sticking with a budget, please help

KimLouise17

hi all,

money is all over the place at the moment and i really want to get it sorted before baby is here in jan

i would love to have a proper monthly budget but it is just awkward that money comes in weekly as well as 2 weekly and hubby gets paid 4 weekly

i was just wondering if i put our dd dates and prices and when money comes in etc, someone could help me set up a proper monthly Budget?

thanks
x

eskbanker

There's a tool at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning that may be worth a try....

KimLouise17

I've just done that and its says we should have £214 a month and thats with paying money out for new clothes, christmas, birthdays etc, but when i do my budget i just can't see that money

pmduk

Perhaps you need to start noting down exactly what you spend? I found my budget was leaking a fortune on coffees and magazines whilst commuting.

grumbler

Budgeting means spending less then earning, not making sure that you spent everything you earn and balancing on the edge of the overdraft at the end of each week.
Build a small buffer and it wouldn't matter when money comes in and out as long as the total amount coming in during a month is bigger.

trailingspouse

Work out what your total income for the year is, then divide by 12. This is 'roughly' what you earn each month.

Then work out your total known expenditure (mortgage/rent, council tax etc) for the year, and a sensible guesstimate for the rest (gas/electric, phone, broadband, etc etc). And divide by 12. This is 'roughly' what you spend each month.

Obviously your expenditure will fluctuate from month to month, so if you spend less than the average one month you need to put the rest aside ready for the months when you will be spending more than average.

All the best with the baby - a lovely start to the New Year.

getmore4less

The trick is to drop the idea that budgets should be only monthly

No one has purely monthly outgoings.

Some things are weekly, some monthly, some quarterly, annual or even longer cycles.

The timings of money coming in/out is cash flow...

A budget is a plan of how you want to spend your money

As above posts suggest work on annual numbers plan how you want to distribute your income,

Build up a buffer to manage the cash flow.

As you money comes in weekly, by weekly, 4 weekly the simplest way to change to start with would be to Just do a 4weeks worth is a for a month, and have a spare 13th 4 weeks period per year.

If the money is the same every pay period you could pick one of the weeks/bi weeks and use the pay yourself first putting that away.


If you do the annuals/12 on a SOA that will give a picture of where you are.

The trick with finances(although obvious many forget) is not what and when you earn but what/when you spend.

getmore4less

KimLouise17 wrote: »

i was just wondering if i put our dd dates and prices and when money comes in etc, someone could help me set up a proper monthly Budget?

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php
Format for MSE

Do a SOA(annual/12) and the basic info(dates/amounts) on income and expenses I can have a go at some plan to get your buffer.

Dobbibill

I agree with getmore4less, put the SOA together but also after that tell us which funds come in when. There are good people on here that will support you and give you hints, tips and advice. The SOA has to be done first though.

Good luck

DB