How do you keep track of your finances?

Kendall80

I use a simple online excel sheet saved on my onedrive cloud account so I can update it from home or work.


I update it on the 14th of each month to the exact transaction before my wages go in. It doesn't really matter when as long as its the same day each month.


Essentially, I record the amount in each account (current, savings, ISAs etc) and the debt on each credit card. I have a few columns for monthly totals and calcs such as total interest earned and change from previous month.


On separate sheets I record things like card 0% expiry rates, flexdirect 5% expiry etc.


Sounds more complicated when I type it. PM me if you like and i'll send you the template.

LeeBalders

I use two Android apps on my phone - Spending Tracker and Expense Manager - and update all our transactions as they happen. It means entering the same info twice but I like them both for their unique features, so it works for me. Spending Tracker does my general overview of income and outgoings and Expense Manager details all my accounts and transfers so I know exactly what's where. And there's pretty charts!

[Deleted User]

I have a friend who had £225 free each month after all the regular bills, so he painted blackboard paint on his wall, drew a 15x15 grid on it in tipp-ex, (15x15=225), and chalked in a square for each pound he spent.

That way, he could see what a big chunk of his monthly money, say, a meal out was.

pete-20-11

I still use Quicken. Over ten years old, but still works - even on Win8.1

I'd happily pay to upgrade, but they left the UK market.

No_6

MS money, old but still works fine.
Running 20 different accounts on mine plus all the old
cancelled credit file data if needed.
If you enter the data, then it can be searched for,
Sainsbury's (OH 1st choice) and other stores plus fuel for our 2 cars
etc etc goes back 10 years !
MIND blowing when you look at the individual totals

6

FireWyrm

I use YNAB (https://www.youneedabudget.com) which evolved from a spreadsheet. It is dropbox enabled and so available directly on a smart phone as well as a more feature rich desktop client. I zero-budget which means that budgets are calculated down to the penny and literally, every penny is accounted for. Every few days I import a QIF file from the bank of latest transactions which can be imported and reconciled against transactions I have entered on the day the money was spent. So far, every account has reconciled in 6 months every time.

thebritishbloke

Bmth100 wrote: »

Nice and simple, iPhone notepad. I chronologically list the money coming into and going out of my account and keep it up to date for around 2 months in advance, with a running total of my bank balance. E.g:

+ £XXX wages November 20th (£1,000)
- £XX Utilities November 22nd (£950)

But primitive and OCD, but really clear and useful.

I also do this. Most of my income and outgoings are fairly regular, so I just stick it on my list and knock it off as it's paid that month.

NotRichAtAll

i use my own spreadsheet, works for me

pb8770

You don't really need a sophisticated sheet, all you want to do is jot down all your out goings and possibly the dates they all go out. It maybe possible to arrange most of your bills to go out on a specific day of the the month, lets say for arguments sake the 15th the middle of the month, when are you paid weekly, monthly or four weekly and work from there.
Once you've totted up your outgoings and lets say its £1000 per month as a round figure and you are paid weekly.
It works much better if you have two bank accounts with direct debit facilities.
So if you are paid weekly and most of your bills go out on say the 15th and today is the 1st you have 2 weeks to get all your monthly outgoings into the account that is paying the bills, it will be hard at first but the rewards will be there the next month. If you can't afford £500 per week for two weeks see if you can arrange an overdraft to help and maybe get a credit card to help short term just until the 15th then after that make sure you put £250 in the bills account every week, then every year you will end up with a months pay to yourself every 12 months due to the way the months fall as you will get paid 5 times in 4 months spread over 12 months.
If you are paid 4 weekly then its basically the same as above only as you get paid every 4 weeks and the date on when you get paid creeps closer to the date when all your payments go out, so when you get paid leave in enough to cover the bills and keep the rest in the other account which is what I call the spends account. Every year you'll end up with one full months (well 4 weekly) wage is yours to do as you please because the next month the bills go out after you've been paid.