Monthly Budgeting Advice

macleanal

Hello

Looking for some budgeting advice if possible.

I am paid by my employer every 4 weeks (13 payments throughout the year) and, as a family we find it really difficult to budget. My wife is a stay at home mother so my wage is the sole income.

Over the years, we have done our best to alter the date in which the usual payments such as mortage, council tax, phone bills etc come out however we have been caught out once or twice.

Im the first to admit that I am not great with finances but I feel the best solution would be to have an account where all of our expenses are deducted from and whenever I get paid, make sure that ‘bill’ account has sufficient funds to cover those expenses. Is this correct or is there any other alternatives? Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks.

frolic

Hi - I use 2 bank accounts for this exact purpose.

My main bank account is with Barclays - for all income and bills. Just before each pay day I sum up ALL bills and regular expenses (e.g. childcare) due to be paid until next pay day - and I keep that amount plus a very small buffer in Barclays. I use an Excel spreadsheet for this, but there are apps such as Yolt or YNAB that you could use.

I then transfer the rest of the money to my "spending" bank account, and some to savings. This way I know exactly how much money I have until next pay day for food, clothes, fun, and so on.

DCFC79

OP are you eligible for any benefits, have you looked into it ?
If you haven't looked into it maybe do so.


I dont know of an account as you describe OP.

You could do the same as frolic does, Ill be using a similar method.

Willing2Learn

macleanal wrote: »

Hello

Looking for some budgeting advice if possible.

I am paid by my employer every 4 weeks (13 payments throughout the year) and, as a family we find it really difficult to budget. My wife is a stay at home mother so my wage is the sole income.

Over the years, we have done our best to alter the date in which the usual payments such as mortage, council tax, phone bills etc come out however we have been caught out once or twice.

Im the first to admit that I am not great with finances but I feel the best solution would be to have an account where all of our expenses are deducted from and whenever I get paid, make sure that ‘bill’ account has sufficient funds to cover those expenses. Is this correct or is there any other alternatives? Any suggestions welcome.

For your type of circumstances, I normally recommend working out your average monthly salary from which you can set a monthly budget.


Multiply your 4 weekly salary by 13 and divide by 12 for your average monthly income.