How best to budget

lightbulbtime

lightbulbtime wrote: »

Thanks EH, wasn't aware i could create multiple 'pots' online like that, although I'm vaguely aware of Intelligent Finance providing something like that. I'm phoning them now to find out how they can help.

Spoke to IF, they no longer offer the pots as they used to. However, I do have a current account, savings account and an ISA with them. So the ISA has become my emergency fund, the savings my everything else pot and the current account for fuel and food, no longer any need for a credit card. I get what you mean regarding keeping track of how much is allocated to each fund, I'll contact RBS to see what they can do. It may be that I have to move bank altogether to get what I want and if that's the case then so be it. The bank should work for me, not the other way round.

Yellow_mango

Spoke to IF, they no longer offer the pots as they used to. However, I do have a current account, savings account and an ISA with them. So the ISA has become my emergency fund, the savings my everything else pot and the current account for fuel and food, no longer any need for a credit card. I get what you mean regarding keeping track of how much is allocated to each fund, I'll contact RBS to see what they can do. It may be that I have to move bank altogether to get what I want and if that's the case then so be it. The bank should work for me, not the other way round.

Oh I used to have an account with IF (complete with pots!) YEARS ago. I’ve not come across them for ages. Quite surprised they’re still going tbh!

Anyway. My new Starling account has “goals” which work just like that. You can have up to 10, and make either manual or regular contributions. You can even have one of them funded by rounding up all transactions on the main account :-)

lightbulbtime

Yellow_mango wrote: »

Oh I used to have an account with IF (complete with pots!) YEARS ago. I’ve not come across them for ages. Quite surprised they’re still going tbh!

Anyway. My new Starling account has “goals” which work just like that. You can have up to 10, and make either manual or regular contributions. You can even have one of them funded by rounding up all transactions on the main account :-)

That sounds like a really good plan, I'll check them out this evening and see what they can offer.

lightbulbtime

Today I trialled something out. Instead of driving the 1/2 mile to the shop, I walked there and back. Certainly had me limiting how much I bought as I had to carry it home again instead of just shoving it in the van. I'd say this was a win, so I'll do that as much as possible from now on, weather depending of course lol

girlatplay

I've just spotted this thread. I have numerous accounts for various uses. Salary gets paid into current account, I have a note (spreadsheet) of how much I need to cover dd's and that amount gets left in the account. All the rest gets moved to the relevant account on payday. My accounts look like this:

- Current account for wages in and all bills out. It has a card but I don't use it and don't know the PIN.
- Cardcash account with card for withdrawing cash/transfers to other people/receipts from other people/etc.
- Savings account 1 for the grocery budget.
- Savings account 2 for yearly payments (insurances/tv licence/car/etc).
- Savings account 3 for credit card payments (I spend on the cards all month for points, transfer over the funds from the relevant budget at the time then pay off from this account when the statement comes in).
- Savings account 4 is a slush fund for any extras/entertainment/mini emergencies/etc.
- Savings account 5 for holding funds before overpaying the loan, to be sure I definitely don't need them before they're gone forever.
- Savings account 6 for birthdays/occasions.
- Savings account 7 for bigger emergency fund, it's with a different bank so harder to get hold of.
- Savings account 8 was a spare account which I am now using as part of a challenge that I have unofficially joined.
- Savings account 9 is a joint account with my sis for monthly Christmas savings.

I know it's a lot but it really works for me.

lightbulbtime

Hi GAP, looks like you have quite the system there, looks amazing. Thankfully I'm working with just two current accounts I can use debit cards with (although I'm only using one now as the other is for bills only) and I have a good grasp on what everything else is being used for. Both my loans are just bills to me and when one is done the amount will snowball onto the other then both will go towards overpaying my mortgage.


I have realized that my BofS loan was very high, taken at the last minute in a rush. I realize now I could've had a much better deal. So I'm off to speak to the other lenders this week to see if I can get a lower rate loan to pay off the higher rate one. So 3.4% instead of 7.7%, which would save me around £350 in interest over the time of the loan. That coupled with snowballing the smaller loan payments into this one should reduce it further.


All adds up!

lightbulbtime

So quick update after getting paid. All my money has been allocated and I feel I'm in a far better place now. Thought I had a few months to pay a large dental bill, turns out the work will be complete this month and I'll have to find an extra £150 from somewhere to pay it, total bill is £800 but I have most of it saved already. Thankfully the end of the dental procedures, 9 months worth, and I can look to building the emergency fund instead. So all good.


Felt great to allocate and move money around today, everything went how it should've. Normally I'd go mad spending money on meals or buying stuff I don't need at the beginning of the month, but not this time. I waited till I got home to cook food and have no desire to buy anything unless it's necessary.


I love this budgeting lifestyle combined with minimalism. Wish I had done this years ago when I was making serious money, but I can only go forwards and I'm finally beginning to be happy with what I have instead of always wanting more and being unhappy.

Calling14

I took out a medicash policy I pay £17.50 a month and has worked well covering my dentist, optical expenses. There is a cheaper version but with lower benefits. It also pays out for physio/ chiropody 50% of your claim. Works well for me and a great way to budget.


I did the Martins budget spreadsheet yesterday, horrified how many items I overlooked at in my budgeting lately.



Need to better use of the 3 bank accounts I have but as Santander pays out a percentage of bills you pay, I keep most of them there. Gain £9 each month.


Good luck with the budgeting.