Wanting to do a budgeting/finance course and looking for recommendations please

dpearson86

Apologies if this is not in the right board, wasn’t sure where was best.

I’m pregnant with our first baby and got signed off from work when I was 12 weeks pregnant due to work placed stress - to be brief my work management attitude is very anti pregnancy and tried to fire me, my union got involved and I’m on full pay with not going to work until I give birth and my job is secure should I want to return after maternity leave.

I’m not fully keen on returning due to what happened but have an open mind as there’s are changes going on so the people involved may have been moved on, and hopefully it’ll be better, but me and my partner have been seriously talking about me being a stay at home Mum as he’s worried about what will happen with me going back if there’s still the same sort of attitude.

We can afford it on his income and he’s always said me working is my decision so no pressure from him whatever I do. Obviously if I go back to work there would be the cost of childcare but my work would cover that.

However he’s always done the budgeting and finances as he’s good with numbers due to his job, but if I’m going to be a stay at home Mum I’d like to remove this pressure from him, and he’s said it’ll be nice if he doesn’t have to do it at home.

So where can I find a course that can help me learn how to budget and manage finances that will not break the bank for me learning? I’d have to do it as a distance / online course as I’m on crutches and want to still be able to study when baby arrives.

Thanks in advance for your replies

gettingtheresometime

er Moneysavingexpert.com?


Seriously it's not difficult. you just need to keep on top of outgoings and incomings making sure you're always on the best deal for mortgages, utilities & anything else.


Sign up to the weekly newsletter if you haven't already.


You don't need any fancy computers or spreadsheets....mum uses an old fashioned exercise book and knows to a penny how much is in her account

Tabbytabitha

dpearson86 wrote: »

Apologies if this is not in the right board, wasn’t sure where was best.

I’m pregnant with our first baby and got signed off from work when I was 12 weeks pregnant due to work placed stress - to be brief my work management attitude is very anti pregnancy and tried to fire me, my union got involved and I’m on full pay with not going to work until I give birth and my job is secure should I want to return after maternity leave.

I’m not fully keen on returning due to what happened but have an open mind as there’s are changes going on so the people involved may have been moved on, and hopefully it’ll be better, but me and my partner have been seriously talking about me being a stay at home Mum as he’s worried about what will happen with me going back if there’s still the same sort of attitude.

We can afford it on his income and he’s always said me working is my decision so no pressure from him whatever I do. Obviously if I go back to work there would be the cost of childcare but my work would cover that.

However he’s always done the budgeting and finances as he’s good with numbers due to his job, but if I’m going to be a stay at home Mum I’d like to remove this pressure from him, and he’s said it’ll be nice if he doesn’t have to do it at home.

So where can I find a course that can help me learn how to budget and manage finances that will not break the bank for me learning? I’d have to do it as a distance / online course as I’m on crutches and want to still be able to study when baby arrives.

Thanks in advance for your replies

This would seem to fit the bill perfectly - run by the OU and free!

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/managing-my-money

[Deleted User]

Not sure if it!!!8217;s possible anymore because when you click on the link it says !!!8220;sorry this course will not run again!!!8221;.

Willing2Learn

@dpearson86

Firstly, good luck with your pregnancy an your first baby!!!


Have you looked at The Budget Planner - How to manage your money from MSE. It's quite a lengthy read but may prove helpful.

dpearson86

Thanks everyone, I was thinking of a course as it!!!8217;s more motivating for me and if/when I decide to go back to work if I have a course under my belt it gives me more choices of what to do

getmore4less

Why should you going back to work stop you getting involved in the finances?

what happens now you get some pocket money or do you discuss the finances so you know how much is available o spend on what.

why not get involved anyway and start making joint decisions.


The basics are very simple, you are just adding up all the income and allocating it to task some short term like food, some mid term like new white goods, cars, some a bit longer like bigger house more kids, then longer term stuff like retirement.

in it's basic form a budget is just a plan for a year that becomes

income = spending + saving.

in a more extreme form it is how do much do I need to earn to retire at 50, mortgage free, put 3 kids through university and go on 3 holidays a year every year til then.

MSMoney(free tool) has a very good view on personal finances as it models the real world very well and can do both simple and very complex plans.

Why not, while on maternity, just join in with what the OH does now to do the family(finance) planning and carry on what ever happens later.

To motivate create a few goals to improve things over last years budget.

The real trick with budgets is not falling into the we can afford it trap by planing where and how to get the best value from the income.

IF you want a very simple task just try to do a retrospective of AUG 2017 to JUL 2018, work out where every penny of income went.

but use very detailed categories.

o get you started the standard SOA format works quie well but look to break stuff down into more categories, eg if you run two cars how much fuel do you use just for work(if you give up that stops)


Try doing it with as little help from the OH as possible, just go through pay slips credit cards and bank statements to create view over the finances.

Then review together what your results show and how do you want to change improve that going forward.

with a proper plan and detailed analysis you can then do things like know how many toilet rolls you used in the year what they cost and where you bought them from so next years you can use less and pend less on toilet rolls(to pay for the nappies).


Another really good split is needs(you have to spend) and wants(you could give it up)

even something like food can be split need(what could you live on) want (fillet steak once/twice a week)

with this detail you get 2 numbers need to spend £50pw to live, want to spend another £50pw to have really nice food.

MovingForwards

You could do a basic book keeping course and use that as a stepping stone into a different job (providing you like working with numbers, receipts, incomings/outgoings and a bit of bill payment chasing).

pmduk

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

This would seem to fit the bill perfectly - run by the OU and free!

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/managing-my-money

As said by another poster, this course is no longer offered on Futurelearn, however, it is still available free direct from the OU, http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/managing-my-money/content-section-overview?active-tab=description-tab#

They've many other free courses worth browsing.