How to budget better!

AmelieAva8

I just cannot budget very well. This is my problem. Some weeks we are quite good and other weeks, like last week we spent ridiculous money on food and I didn’t even notice it until it was too late.

Do you have any online resources you use to try and get better at budgeting?

Is there any cheap recipes or smarter shopping tips area I can look at?

Our basic bills and rent combined total £1,000, we have no debt, and combined monthly income is around £3300 a month and I only save £200 the rest just goes. We are a family of 4: husband, wife and 2 girls 9 and 3 (and two cats!)

Anyway I’ll look forward to hearing your inspirational ways to help me be better. We have recently swapped to aldi and probably went wrong last week by going back to Sainsburys/Morrison’s for convenience as was very busy.

Willing2Learn

I use YNAB. But the foundations for my budget is my monthly SOA.

I've also got a list of savings goals. A mixture of short-term, medium-term and long-term targets. And I have the savings goals set up as a snowball.

Tropically

What about doing an anti-budget?

1. Open up a savings account.
2. Decide on a savings rate. (say 5, 10 or 20% to start)
3. Set up an automatic transfer to move your savings as SOON as you get paid, not towards the end of the month .
4. Spend the rest!

If you want to set up different pots, for example for car insurance, open up a separate account and transfer a monthly amount into those in the same way.

determined_new_ms

I just do a kind of budget plan each month - so there are bills you know what they will cost, bills that are variable that I have to keep an eye on, I work out what I will need for pocket money (any incidental spends/clothes/haircuts etc), I have a figure to put in to various savings "pots" - car, emergencies, holidays, xmas, b'days and long term savings - which once I've worked out what I've I've got coming in I do on my payday and I leave a couple of hundred float in my bank account just in case something comes up.

Because my pots are in a separate account I rarely touch them unless it's one of the annual spends. If it's in my main bank account after all of this and I really want it then that's ok. But to be honest most months the float just stays there

aimeemum

Write everything down - including everything you want your money to do - and then make it fit. You say your expenses are only £1000 - does that include an emergency fund, saving for things like kids uniforms and birthdays and Christmas? Put an amount next to each bill and you'll have your budget - your outgoings and your income should be the same number.

If you are always spending the money it has to be going somewhere - look back at your bank statements for the past month or two and make a note of what you're spending where. How much do you spend on travelling/commuting? Do you own cars? Do your children have hobbies?

Also, while everyone talks about the cheaper supermarkets I prefer to use Morrisons/Tescos. Lidl I find I spend more as I have to buy fresh stuff more frequently and I tend to impulse buy more. I use on-line ordering for Tesco, and I shop at a smaller Morrisons in my local town so there's no 'extra' part to it...just food/groceries - doing this I feed our family of 5 for £80 a week including all non-food. The key is meal planning and sticking to the list you make....do not deviate from it!

Good luck

datlex

Budgeting is pointless if you don't stick to it- I know I have been there in the past. I find what has helped for me is multiple bank accounts (some are easy access savings). My money is divided up on pay day.

Dobbibill

Budget income to zero - so give every penny a job.

The job may be bills, hobbies, food, house savings, emergency fund, birthday, Christmas and a personal spending pot etc - anything that you spend in a month/year needs to be accounted for.

Be realistic when you do the budget - a wish list is not going to be sustainable and will cause you to resent the budget. Review your last few months spending to see where it goes.

I've used a spreadsheet for this that I created myself or you can get templates like this https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/budgets.html others use budgeting apps - find what works for you.