NST April - SPRING INTO ACTION

bebby_n

Hi! Wow this group moves fast, just taken me ages to catch up!
You all seem so clued up on budgeting. I have tried and failed lots of times, but am now at a point where I need to make some big changes as I'm sick of struggling every month. What do you all use for your budgets? The mse one? Also if anyone can recommend any other tips (or other forums if this isn't the place) I'd be very happy! I need to improve on all of the above... spending, diet, exercise and brain activity! Feeling as bit pants at the minute reading some of your posts but they are changes I'm determined to make!

Eager_Elephant

We all start off with poor budgeting skills and we all have to learn them - most of us on here are further down the line than you which is why it probably looks like we are perfect!!!


It is great that you have come to join us and brilliant that you want to learn to budget.


Personally I prefer good old pen and paper (I also use YNAB but that is just to hone my spending).


What I did is wrote down all my bills - things like rent/mortgage, council tax, utilities etc, then I listed my car spends such as insurance, tax and petrol, then I listed my food budget and then I started on items which have to be paid but don't have a set date like car repairs, medical expenses, vet bills etc.


For car repairs and medical expenses I decided that I should put away (by this I mean I have separate savings pots linked to my main bank account and transfer the money every pay day) £30 every month each. Obviously if my car needs a repair in month 1 I am unlikely to have enough money to pay it outright so then I would jiggle the budget so I could afford it. By month 6 onwards you should have enough to cover some repairs - obviously the pot will shrink and grow bigger depending when you spend on it.


Xmas and birthdays are not unexpected spends - we all know when Xmas is and we should know birthdays - could you put away a set amount per month so you start building up a pot ready for the expenditure.


An emergency fund is a good idea, some people put money in here and then use it to pay for car repairs etc but for me an emergency fund is something unexpected like the roof getting damaged in a storm, or family getting ill and needing to visit them in hospital. We all know that the car will need some kind of money spent on it each year.


Once you have budgeted for all your outgoings you then include your debt repayments - if after you have listed everything (inc a set amount for savings for different catergories) you don't have enough for everything then you should review everything and see if you can reduce things but if you can't and you have debt repayments it might be that you need a reduced payment plan or some other way of dealing with debts.


If you have enough to cover all bills inc debts then you would save any extra for your emergency fund until you have an amount you are comfortable with and then start paying down your debt so it gets paid quicker.


Sorry if I have waffled on - if you have any specific questions give us a shout.

dizzyblnd

Well yesterday ended up being a nsd (yay) means today definitely won't be though as I need petrol and food shopping. Going to try to get that done as soon as I can.

Waking up to sunshine is helping but I doubt the sun will last too long.

Eager_Elephant

Sorry should have said that please don't feel pants - you are making the first steps to tackle everything.


I would take it all nice and slow, sort your budget out first and with that you can sort your eating as the food budget will be a big chunk of income and where most people can cut down.


Do not try to do too much at once otherwise you get overwhelmed and then just give up.


We are all lovely and friendly and can hand hold for as long as you need to.


Also, if you have no clue what you are spending on things then you could keep a spending diary for a month or 2 to see where your money goes and then you start trying to budget.


If you have outgoings that some people might think are frivolous that is fine, we all have things we like to spend money on and this should also go in the budget otherwise you end up using money meant for something else or putting it on a credit card.

Calling14

Wow impressive start to the month. Not sure about me did good hilly walk yesterday and then kicked off friends birthday celebrations. Pleased only spent £20 all evenings expensive pub and that included food.

However my head hurts today, bf arriving in a minute and my car still in pub car park.

Read through properly later.

Polly so sorry to hear about your freezer.

Bob bunnystew argh no I have covered Henry's ears up.

bebby_n

The separate saving pots you have... are they actual bank accounts or physical pots of money in your house? If they are bank accounts,how did you go about setting these up,and how many can you have? I think this would help us. Thank you for all of your advice.

Debtfreedolly

Off to do my good deed for the day - volunteering at the hedgehog hospital
Walked to the station to help fitness/bounts points and even walked up and down and up and down the platform till the train arrived! Had to pay train fare but pocketed bus fare by walking and didn't have my usual station Costa so feeling rather good about today. Aiming for no further spends and to hit 21k steps by the end of the day for maximum bounts points

Jazee

Yesterday was ok. No unbudgeted spends. Two dog walks. Today I'm hoping for no unbudgeted spends again. Pouring with rain so not sure about the exercise yet. Been rubbish day so far so not feeling inspired yet to get in our gym. Random act - gave away something that I probably could have sold. Not very MSE!

Eager_Elephant

bebby_n wrote: »

The separate saving pots you have... are they actual bank accounts or physical pots of money in your house? If they are bank accounts,how did you go about setting these up,and how many can you have? I think this would help us. Thank you for all of your advice.

My savings pots are savings accounts linked to my bank account.
I am with the Spanish bank and when I log in I can click on to savings accounts and find the one I want (e-saver) and complete the application form and within a few minutes it shows on my online banking. I then rename it whatever I want it to be.


My DH is with TSB and his account allows him to do that as well.


I also have Halifax and Co-op accounts and they let me do this as well.


I have about 10 different savings accounts linked to my bank account, DH has 5.
Mine are labelled: Household, Animals, Kids, Car Repairs, Car Replacement, Medical, Debt Payoff etc.
The interest rate is only valid for 1 year so after a year I open a new one and rename it and then email to have the old one closed.


My Xmas and Oil savings is with a Building Society that I log into about twice a year. I send £100pm to the account to cover Xmas and Oil.


As an aside I actually have 2 current accounts that I use, one is for joint household bills (DH and I keep separate finances and pay a set amount into the bill account and some savings accounts) and the other is my own bank account that I use for my outgoings.
DH has 2 bank accounts as well - one for his own bills and one for spends - DH is a spendthrift!!.


It sounds complicated but it really isn't.

Fmess

I can confirm 1st direct let you have multiple accounts. I have 3 current accounts and 3 savings accounts, although I've not found a way to label them which would be useful but I already know what each one is for.

In theory, one is the emergency fund, one is for the car and one is for birthdays and Christmas. However, and it's a big however, I've decided that until I have paid off my debt, I'm not really going to have any savings as interest on savings is so low and interest on debts usually much higher (although mine is all on 0% now). So I currently just use one savings account where I put money at the beginning of the month if I know there is a big expense coming up, like car repairs etc. Once I'm debt free, I'll rebudget and start paying into all savings accounts each month.