Is there such thing as a spending account?

colsten

Westy170 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I had thought about this but credit cards don't give a 'live' balance and we are looking for something that allows us to see current spending. Thank you!

Please DO NOT think any bank account will always show you how much money you REALLY have left to spend! Not all purchases will necessarily be reported to the bank instantly. The only person who can possibly know how much money you can still spend is yourself.

You need a budgeting app / spreadsheet / pen & paper to manage your budget. If all that sounds too daunting, do all your spending with cash.

agrinnall

colsten wrote: »

You need a budgeting app / spreadsheet / pen & paper to manage your budget. If all that sounds too daunting, do all your spending with cash.

Hence my previous comment. Although if the OP answers the questions I asked we might be in a better position to provide more helpful suggestions than that.

bigadaj

OP - spending shouldn't really be a target every month, of things are that tight then you need to review your spending, maybe do a statement of affairs and see where the money is actually going.

You should always have an emergency fund of a few months salary, not having this makes even the slightest change, error or mistake potentially very serious.

System

A savings account with an ATM card will always have an up to date balance...
Who provides your main account?

A NatWest Reward account for bills and a Select account with overdraft control would seem to be a good combo for you.

colsten

Heng_Leng wrote: »

A NatWest Reward account for bills and a Select account with overdraft control would seem to be a good combo for you.

Are you sure that "control" will guarantee no overdrafts ever? I am not.

System

The 'control' account can still have an arranged overdraft.

colsten wrote: »

Are you sure that "control" will guarantee no overdrafts ever? I am not.

anotheruser

But Natwest are shoddy.
Their banking is prone to stop working every few years...

Westy170

agrinnall wrote: »

Hence my previous comment. Although if the OP answers the questions I asked we might be in a better position to provide more helpful suggestions than that.

Thanks for your interest... I will mainly be spending with card and online payments. I completely agree that pen and paper and spread sheets should be used, and will perhaps try that again (need to get in to good habit) but we thought a spending account may help us see the wood for the trees.

agrinnall

Westy170 wrote: »

Thanks for your interest... I will mainly be spending with card and online payments. I completely agree that pen and paper and spread sheets should be used, and will perhaps try that again (need to get in to good habit) but we thought a spending account may help us see the wood for the trees.

In that case just find the best account, because there's no way in the long term that all of the transactions will show up immediately.

I'd recommend using financial software (I use MS Money, others have alternative recommendations) and updating it as often as possible with the transactions you have done so that your personal records are as current as they can be.

I try to do updates every day, but I also keep receipts and email confirmations so that if I do miss a day or two I can easily check what transactions I did.

You can do the same thing with paper and pencil, and for a single account it might work for you, but once you start including multiple current and savings accounts, and credit cards, it'll quickly become too much without some sort of software to help you.

System

I don't usually recommended RBS/NatWest but piggybanking using those two accounts will be fine as RBS issues an online debit card that doesn't work at pay at pump for basic/control accounts.

No procedure is 100% though.

agrinnall wrote: »

In that case just find the best account, because there's no way in the long term that all of the transactions will show up immediately...You can do the same thing with paper and pencil, and for a single account it might work for you, but once you start including multiple current and savings accounts, and credit cards, it'll quickly become too much without some sort of software to help you.