Not sure if this is the right category but I need help on managing my spending if poss please?

Marinis

On paper after paying essential monthly bills such as energy, council tax, utilities etc I should be left with approx £750 per month to pay for food, petrol, savings etc yet at the end of every month I’m withdrawing the savings £100 to get me through to pay day. I live on my own, I don’t have rent or mortgage to pay, I’m 63.  don’t socialise, I don’t spend money on clothes, I have my hair done every 6-7 weeks at £75. My luxury in life are owning 2 dogs.  Can anyone please help me to get me on track. Should I be using separate cards/accounts to use like pots of money for the hairdresser, food, holidays ( I wish 🙏) . I’m prepared for some criticism here but please May it be constructive. Tia. 

Nasqueron

I have a spreadsheet of balance, minus every DD / SO going out and cash coming in and then adjust as and when I have variables, like supermarket or CC bill, drag it down for as long as you want (mine runs to Sept. 25 at the moment).

You can then see everything - that is the only way you'll be able to really add up and keep track of where you're losing money - it doesn't need different cards or accounts, just willpower to record everything (and check your CC every few days for anything you're spending and not keeping track of) 

I also use it to stick cash into a Kroo account to earn interest until bills are due, better getting paid and having say £1000 in my other account earning 4.35% for 10 days then move it before a bill is due on the 11th than in the main account earning nothing

zagfles

Best place is the DFW board here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe even if you have no debt. Do a "statement of affairs" / SOA, you'll see example threads there and template, you'll get people analysing your spending forensically without judgement.

blue.peter

You might find some of the comments in this thread helpful.

Marinis

I’m not very savvy in doing spreadsheets or Soa’s unfortunately. Where do I find a blank SOA template please? 

blue.peter

Marinis said:

I’m not very savvy in doing spreadsheets or Soa’s unfortunately. Where do I find a blank SOA template please? 

You could use the one at https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php .

prettyandfluffy

Marinis said:

I’m not very savvy in doing spreadsheets or Soa’s unfortunately. Where do I find a blank SOA template please? 

If you can't set up a spreadsheet, what I would do is get a small notebook.  Break your spending down into categories e.g. food, council tax, hairdresser, vet and write that heading at the top of a page (one page per category).  Nice and big write the budget for that category.  When you spend something write it in the relevant page of the book with the date, add notes if it helps.

it will be long-winded at first but you will soon start to see where your money goes.  You may find you're spending on something you've forgotten about. 

I started doing this (in spreadsheet form) in 2020 and it's really helped me improve my money management.

Yorkie1

Marinis said:

I’m not very savvy in doing spreadsheets or Soa’s unfortunately. Where do I find a blank SOA template please? 

Years ago, perhaps before we were all expected to be so savvy with computers, I did a short budgeting course. We were encouraged to use a little notebook to write down everything we spent, and tot it up at the end of a week. 

If computer documents aren't your thing, you could always get a piece of paper and draw a table on it with the different categories on it, and then use a little notebook to record your spending as you go, before transferring amounts to the main paper table.

The main idea was to get an idea of everything you spent, so you could be informed as to future decisions / choices. The mechanism of the recording is less important than the information in the record.

You can then list the info in a post on the DFW board if that works better for you?

I did it more recently, albeit using a spreadsheet, and it was eye-opening!

blue.peter

Yorkie1 said:

Years ago, perhaps before we were all expected to be so savvy with computers, I did a short budgeting course.

That sounds really useful. I've never come across anything of that sort. It might have saved me a lot of stress if I'd had the benefit of such a course 50 years ago. Who provided it? I'm wondering if the OP would benefit from going on one if it's available to her/him/them. It sounds like something that could usefully be promoted to other forum users in similar positions.

Kittylou1

Get yourself a diary and put in columns or just record how much you spend under a separate heading. Each week I enter under the following headings food, household (cleaning products etc), car costs, wine (for the hubby!!) Cash from bank, newspapers/TV magazines and the big one 'extras'. The last one records any other spend which does not fall into my regular categories and I mean anything!! If you purchase a 30 pence carrier bag, you record it!! Total up each category at the end of the week and then say at the end of four or five weeks total up the figures and believe me, you will soon see where your money has gone!! I also withdraw cash at the start of the week instead of tapping a bank card and if it's actual money in your hand then you do stop and think, well I do!!! Good luck with a new budgeting system what ever you choose!!! 

Nasqueron

Marinis said:

I’m not very savvy in doing spreadsheets or Soa’s unfortunately. Where do I find a blank SOA template please? 

Honestly, I work with them quite a bit and don't know much either, I detest Excel.

The basic stuff is really easy though, it just needs the confidence to approach it right

e.g. your current balance is in cell A1, you have a direct debit for car insurance and put the value in B2

Cell A2 therefore is =SUM(A1-B2) - probably there is a better/shorter way but that is how I do it - that gives you the total now of your new balance after the direct debit

You then have your pay come in thus cell A3 is =SUM(A2+B3) i.e. your new balance after pay

Once you have the hang of that, it's just a matter of listing all your income and outgoings and running them down as long as you can do and it'll show you where your costs are. Then you can add lines in every so often when you need an extra item like a one off cost