The purpose of this Board

RG2015

MSE describe this board as follows:

Budgeting & bank accounts

Discuss bank accounts, banking apps, budgeting hacks and how to organise your money.

Following on from a recent thread questioning the combination of these two quite distinct topics, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the purpose of this board

The first two sub-topics are self evidently logical and probably account for about 95% on the threads on this board.

I have no idea what is meant by budgeting hacks and would love to hear what others may understand by this.

Until now I had not even noticed "how to organise your money" in the heading and do not recall any threads or posts on this.

Despite all of the above I believe that the board works well and is a very useful source of information.

Gers

Someone got there before you.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6478213/whats-budgeting-got-to-do-with-bank-accounts/p1

eskbanker

RG2015 said:

I have no idea what is meant by budgeting hacks and would love to hear what others may understand by this.

Can't say I'm a huge fan of the term 'hack' in this context (there are already far too many meanings of the word!) but my understanding is that it's typically used to describe tips, tricks, loopholes, etc.

RG2015

Gers said:

Someone got there before you.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6478213/whats-budgeting-got-to-do-with-bank-accounts/p1

Hmm, interesting that you should think this. This is the thread which prompted mine.

In my opinion the topics while related are quite distinct.

RG2015

eskbanker said:

RG2015 said:

I have no idea what is meant by budgeting hacks and would love to hear what others may understand by this.

Can't say I'm a huge fan of the term 'hack' in this context (there are already far too many meanings of the word!) but my understanding is that it's typically used to describe tips, tricks, loopholes, etc.

Agreed. Sadly I don’t think there are any tips, tricks or loopholes that could help you to keep to a budget.

Unless you include using focus, belief and willpower as tips. And that is hardly a hack.

eskbanker

RG2015 said:

eskbanker said:

RG2015 said:

I have no idea what is meant by budgeting hacks and would love to hear what others may understand by this.

Can't say I'm a huge fan of the term 'hack' in this context (there are already far too many meanings of the word!) but my understanding is that it's typically used to describe tips, tricks, loopholes, etc.

Agreed. Sadly I don’t think there are any tips, tricks or loopholes that could help you to keep to a budget.

Unless you include using focus, belief and willpower as tips. And that is hardly a hack.

It's a fairly broad subject and it could be argued that most aspects of a money saving site contribute to budgeting (which isn't just about keeping to a budget), but there are more specific tips like controlling spend by 'piggybanking', putting cash in envelopes and so on, as discussed in articles such as:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

There are often threads on this board about accounts that support savings 'pots' and so on, which again overlap between budgeting and bank accounts....

RG2015

eskbanker said:

RG2015 said:

eskbanker said:

RG2015 said:

I have no idea what is meant by budgeting hacks and would love to hear what others may understand by this.

Can't say I'm a huge fan of the term 'hack' in this context (there are already far too many meanings of the word!) but my understanding is that it's typically used to describe tips, tricks, loopholes, etc.

Agreed. Sadly I don’t think there are any tips, tricks or loopholes that could help you to keep to a budget.

Unless you include using focus, belief and willpower as tips. And that is hardly a hack.

It's a fairly broad subject and it could be argued that most aspects of a money saving site contribute to budgeting (which isn't just about keeping to a budget), but there are more specific tips like controlling spend by 'piggybanking', putting cash in envelopes and so on, as discussed in articles such as:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

There are often threads on this board about accounts that support savings 'pots' and so on, which again overlap between budgeting and bank accounts....

Excellent points!

I keep forgetting envelopes and pots.

Martin Lewis says the following on his budget planner page.

The problem with most budgets is they don't work. While they look at a typical month's spending – what about birthdays and other one-offs? This guide gives you some helpful tips and tricks and includes a free budget planner, which analyses your finances to help you manage and control your cash.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

I guess any advice, however left-field could help, hence the term hacks.

And I accept that it's not all about sticking to a budget. It would never get to that point if you hadn't taken the first step.

And finally, many bank accounts have budgeting pots and tools, so it does look like there may be a closer link between budgeting, bank accounts, hacks and organising money. 

eskbanker

Perhaps worth noting that the budget planning article linked above (by both of us!) is within https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/ so MSE are at least being consistent with where they feel it should live....