Creating a budget for 2

FoxandStar

Hiya everyone,

I've always been very controlling of my finances, but over the last few years since me and my husband opened a joint bank account I find money is like sand slipping through my fingers! We are lucky in that our joint income is ok, but we have no savings.

I've tried all sorts of ways to limit spending, weekly cash, monthly, and we have just opened another joint account to separate spends and bills

We have about £2000 a month after bills, not including food or petrol. But never have any money left at the end of month. I tend to shop around for best deals/discounts etc and don't tend to impulse buy, but my husband... Well... Ha! :rotfl: I see multiple purchases most days.

So, I had two queries really, I feel lost on a budget for food we completely over spend here and would love some advice on how much I should be spending per month.

My other query relates to managing two people spending, and what has worked for you in the past. Do you just have another spends account that both of you use, or put some money into individual accounts? I feel a bit lost

grumbler

FoxandStar wrote: »

I feel lost on a budget for food we completely over spend here and would love some advice on how much I should be spending per month.

Nobody can tell you how much you should spend.
IMO £200 is a realistic target for perfectly healthy food. The upper limit doesn't exist.

My other query relates to managing two people spending, and what has worked for you in the past. Do you just have another spends account that both of you use, or put some money into individual accounts?

Get a joint account (and a CC) for the bills and essential joint spending.
Use personal accounts for all personal spending.
For all extra approved joint purchases either add money to the joint account/CC (if needed) or use personal accounts and then 'bill' each other. E.g. if you spend your £200 on agreed something, you husband adds £200 to the joint account or sends £100 to your personal account and vice versa.

FireWyrm

I'd do it other other way around to Grumbler.

Open a bills account into which both sources of income go and then, as part of that, it pays out a 'salary' to personal accounts. That way, bills are never missed and no one can overspend the bills account. I never spend from my bills account - I have 'running' accounts for that purpose with clear budgets set monthly. You might want to consider a very popular budgeting programme called (https://www.youneedabudget.com) which you can try out for 34 days and occasionally buy for as little at £7 on Steam...although, I consider full price completely worth it.

Food for two people? Not a clue, I've never needed to feed so few. Grumbler suggests £200, I would say that is a generous budget. I feed 5 on that, with good whole food and organic vegetables as well.

Make it your New Years resolution to get control of the budget and you'll be set all next year. I did it in earnest last year and this year, we have thousands spread across banks for different purposes. I cannot overstate the power of a solid budget plan that is adhered to throughout 12 months. If you do, you will wonder where you were spending all your money after a few months.

mashedavocado

I'm in a similar boat to you, OP. We have one big joint account that everything goes in and out of, and a savings account that we put money into when we remember.

My plan for the new year is to have:

Main account that salaries are paid into and bills come out of (this will be the current account we already have, so we don't have to faff around moving direct debits)

Savings account that we move a set amount into each month, incorporating an amount for things like road tax, Christmas, insurance (eg. the things that don't occur every month but need planning for)

Spending account that we transfer money into weekly for all of our living costs (so food, petrol, bus fares, clothes, etc). I think doing it weekly will work for us as we both get paid at different times of the month, and it also means that if we mess up we have a new "payday" the following week.

The hardest part is making sure that you're both on board with whatever system you put in place. It's taken some time but I think I've won DH round with this one. Time will tell whether it works!

As to food, it's quite a personal thing. We don't eat meat at home (I'm not veggie, but DH is), so that saves us a little there. I did a big cupboard stocktake last weekend and planned meals from there, and was surprised how little we needed to buy at the supermarket to top up. I'm going to start keeping our receipts over the next few weeks just to get a better idea of how much we are actually spending.

Consumerist

Why not agree on how much you should be able to collectively save per month and incorporate your savings into the monthly budget? If you put your savings into a savings account at the beginning of each month, the money won't be a temptation in the current account.

FoxandStar

Hiya,

Thanks for your feedback everyone! Lots of good ideas there!

I feel a bit horrified over our food spend now, I think it's about £600 a month (please try not to judge me!) my husband has a love affair with sainsburys. I'll certainly need to think about where we shop/what we buy.

After reading your answers I'm swinging between a joint spends account or individual. It would be nice to have some financial freedom with the individual... Think I'm just trying to think of the best way of sectioning off my husbands spending

user1168934

I have a slightly different approach. I have a saving target each month. At the start of each month I move the saving amount into a savings account and budget with the rest. Never ever touch the money moved into savings for normal expenses. Always keep the budget tight and borrow (from my own account) if you go over budget, of course you have to return the money you borrowed next month or the month after. Any money that remains at the end of the month goes into another savings account which I borrow the money from. Sometimes the monthly spending does go over the top but over the whole year it normalizes itself.

Of course you need to set realistic targets but keep it tight. Buy things for daily use in bulk and when they are on special offers.

My monthly food budget for 3 is £150 but normally £120 is enough for a month.

Dobbibill

FoxandStar wrote: »

We have about £2000 a month after bills, not including food or petrol. But never have any money left at the end of month. I tend to shop around for best deals/discounts etc and don't tend to impulse buy, but my husband... Well... Ha! :rotfl: I see multiple purchases most days.

My other query relates to managing two people spending, and what has worked for you in the past. Do you just have another spends account that both of you use, or put some money into individual accounts? I feel a bit lost

Hi FoxandStar

I totally understand having a DH who loves to spend, it can be challenging on times but a good budget can make things easier, how you do this is totally individual and has to be something you find works for your own circumstances.

Just to give you another idea to work with, although it is very similar to several things already mentioned....... savings accounts have become part of the budget and I put funds in them via standing order from the joint account. (this includes Christmas, car tax, car/ home insurance which are annual bills and Emergency Fund) The joint account is made up of myself and DH paying in a 50/50 split and the same for the groceries budget.
After this any money we have left is our own so have our own choices on spending for the rest of the month. As we both have a vehicle each, a necessity for work, we pay our own fuel and maintenance.

I know this doesn't work for many but does work for us. You will find what works for you in time, best thing is to get that budget in place ASAP, it gives your finances structure.


DB

FoxandStar

Thanks everyone,

I've downloaded the budget program YNAB, brilliant stuff!

SeduLOUs

FoxandStar wrote: »

After reading your answers I'm swinging between a joint spends account or individual. It would be nice to have some financial freedom with the individual... Think I'm just trying to think of the best way of sectioning off my husbands spending

We have individual.

The joint account is under a tight budget maintained on YNAB.

Every month we transfer an amount to our personal accounts. We both get the same as each other but the amount can be variable depending on what's going on (we have a slightly higher one this month because of the Xmas social obligations!). It's categorised in YNAB as 'personal spends' and beyond that we can spend it on whatever we want without keeping all the receipts.

Joint nights out/restaurants comes from the joint account only if budgeted for. If not, we have to pay from personal, either one treating the other or going halves.

It's nice to have some financial freedom, and not to have to check with each other if we want to buy shoes or go out for drinks after work. It's also nice to have a bit of splurge money as a mini-escape from the confines of the budget.

enthusiasticsaver

We have a joint account for everything and I used to put money into a savings pot at the beginning of each month usually a cash isa. At the moment though we have a Santander 123 current account which pays 3% on £3-£20k so we are leaving our savings money in our current account.
I set out a budget at the beginning of each month although I would have to say it is me who mainly does the food shopping as my husband is not brilliant to sticking to a budget. We pay around £250 for food, toiletries, cleaning stuff etc per month although this can vary according to whether I shop at our local Waitrose or Lidls.