Staying debt free advice...

Pepperoni

Hi,

Just after a bit of advice. We budget monthly and everything always starts well at the start of the month, but usually half-way through it goes a bit pete tong. I think it's because we probably overspend (i.e. if you worked it out on XX per month = XX weekly) in the first half, so have to always pull the purse strings tighter in the second (and typically fail at doing so).

Just wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation and whether anything in particular worked for you?

gettingtheresometime

Is your budget realistic? Have you really analysised your spending? Are you really committed to the budget?

There's an app called true budget which I found usefully...basically you put in details of your income (amount and the date/frequency that it's received) and the same info for your bills and it tells you how much each day you've got to spend.

Obviously if you spend less on one day that means you've got more to spend on the remaining days and vice versa

Pepperoni

I want it to be realistic! I don't see why we need to spend more than £60 a week on food for x2 adults and x1 toddler for example. I have analysed our spending over the last year, but the amounts were ridiculous so didn't want to budget inline with them! It made it perfectly obvious we spend far too much

HappyMJ

Give yourself a weekly budget for the general spending and always keep under it. Make it a fair figure.

Take your wages/salary deduct all the fixed costs such as rent/mortgage, council tax, gas, electricity, water, tv licence, sky, insurance, mobile and broadband whatever else and transfer that to a bank account and let the direct debits take that during the month. With the remainder divide it by 5 and transfer that to a weekly spends accounts each week and live on that. Anything left over in the spends account transfer on the last day of the week to a savings account and try not to touch it unless in case of emergency or a budgets for large purchase.

gettingtheresometime

Pepperoni wrote: »

I want it to be realistic! I don't see why we need to spend more than £60 a week on food for x2 adults and x1 toddler for example. I have analysed our spending over the last year, but the amounts were ridiculous so didn't want to budget inline with them! It made it perfectly obvious we spend far too much

Sorry what I meant was is your budget realistic whilst cutting down?

To draw an analogy I need to lose weight and would love to lose 3lbs a week but that ain't going to happen so 1.5lbs / 2lbs is a more realistic target

If the spending in the different elements isn't realistic then you won't stick to your budget.

Jagraf

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Sorry what I meant was is your budget realistic whilst cutting down?

To draw an analogy I need to lose weight and would love to lose 3lbs a week but that ain't going to happen so 1.5lbs / 2lbs is a more realistic target

If the spending in the different elements isn't realistic then you won't stick to your budget.

I was going to use that scenario

OP budget too tight and you will fail and become disinterested, taking the stance "oh well, I will start again next week".

£60 isn't a lot actually. I tried to stick to that, upped it to £100 and if I had any left over, banked it for the following week.

getmore4less

DO a SOA based on what you really spend not what you think you should spend.

if you spend more than £60pw on food a week then a budget with £60 will never work put what you really spend and look for cutbacks elsewhere if you are running out of money.


budget(plan) annually far better way to make sure you don't miss things.

mrsbee17

We used to do the same; my husband and I. I now use YNAB (you need a budget) and I really like knowing what money is for what. I always budget £250 for food and as I do a shop, I log it and see what I have left for food. I find it really keeps me in check.

triple_choc_chip

I think your shopping budget may be a bit over optimistic. I shop for two and manage with £60 a week, so adding a toddler (food and nappies etc?) to that I would probably need to spend £70.

I don't buy alcohol and don't include toiletries in my total either, if you do, you will probably need to add another £10 and then £80 would be realistic.

Also don't forget that Feb is the only four week month, so £70 per week is £303 per month, not £280. Not factoring this in will ensure the money always runs out before the end of the month.

Well done on being debt free! I found it then took about 6 months to get the budgeting for annual costs up and functioning properly. More than two years later there is always more in the accounts than I need at any given point and its great feeling in control. Good luck.

Pepperoni

Thanks everyone. I've looked over my budget and re-done it, allowing a bit more funds. Hopefully that will mean it's more manageable and everything will fall into place... we shall see!

Pepperoni

triple_choc_chip wrote: »

Well done on being debt free! I found it then took about 6 months to get the budgeting for annual costs up and functioning properly. More than two years later there is always more in the accounts than I need at any given point and its great feeling in control. Good luck.

Thank-you - that's fantastic, cannot wait for that