Budget Planner Discussion Area

jysharp2003

dcmbarton,
I hear you.
With years of failing because of manual entry to budget spreadsheets etc, I found importing my bank statement for tracking is the truest way to make a budget work long term. My MS Money application no longer worked so I searched and found a program called bank2budget (search for that phrase). This program cuts my paying bills and tracking expenditures by 90%. I spend about 1 hour a month and can show you trends and many other charts. It requires MS Access version 2002 or higher though.
Good luck to us all.:rotfl:

Doodles152

Would it be possible to have a copy of the monthly food budget planner.

Thanks

Willo78

Hi,

Could someone please point me in the right direction for the monthly food planner?

Many thanks

littleowl

I would like a copy of the food planner too please. Will it work on a Mac?

kelloggs13

hello everyone,
first of all i apologise just in case i have posted in the wrong bit!
i am wanting some kind of software that works on vista that will let me put in household income and outgoings. i was wanting something that will let me add weekly, monthley quarterley as all my outgoings vary and also something that will perfom calculations such as entering a date for car tax, amount due and then having it show me how much i need to put away each week for that. i know i could probably work this out but if there is software out there that could do this it would be a big help as my outgoings are forever changing along with payment dates. also it would be great if it was free lol

thank you

roystonfrance

New lad on the block, don't seem to beable to find where one raises anew subject for discussion, sorry if I am on the wrond subject. We live in France and wish to invest in 3 year fixed rate interest bank accounts. We have 2 U.K. bank accounts but when viewing what is available on this site, we find that one has to live in the U.K. to tke advantage of the offers. Any was round this ?
Regards Roystofrance

redmini03

Why is it that you can no longer print from the online budget planner? I was the thread about using the 'submit to forum' feature but it's not a great work around. Thx

UnluckyT

struggling to budget and have much left over, probably should have a nosy at a budget planner or two to help. not in debt as such but more the case of working my money out okay and could do with it stretching further.
i really like/need to keep things simple as i can, which is why i have a list of direct debits i have (which is everything bar credit card where i can),then i have a food money purse, mobile money (pay as you go topped up each month) then money set aside each month for every thing else from the cat that partly mine, drama, presents, clothes/prescriptions/glasses to replacing stuff indoors, push come to shove emergancies too.
should at least have money set aside for emegancies and hope to sort that out in the comming months

JanetAS

I've read all the posts and and have noticed one familiar running all the way through: it seems everybody wants a computer based planner.

I prefer to use a small cashbook and have done so for many years now. I have two bank accounts (one was as staff and therefore my pension is paid into it, and the other is with a b/society...I use the latter for day to day use.) I also have quite a few investments.

To start off, partition off sections and mark with sticky note tabs. Write in the top of the page what the section is for: name of bank, what investment, what savings account, ISA, etc.

At the front of the book, note down when large outgoings are due: in my case (from January onwards) I have car tax, car insurance, MOT, service, magazine subscription, electricity, landline and TV licence, card protection, plus a few others. If you have direct debits and standing orders, list these at the front too, and from which bank account.

In each section, enter opening balances and then write in each and every transaction! For my day to day bank account I write in everything: salary (where applicable, it's not every week), debit card usage, ATM withdrawals, money transferred in from another account, online purchases, supermarket purchases...everything!! If I don't work and don't get paid, and the balance is getting low then I do an online transfer, and write in that transaction in both sections (outgoing account, and incoming account), changing balances accordingly.

My pension covers 6 outgoings yet I can see at a glance what is left over each month. Out of my day to day account goes the council tax and broadband payment. I know, that whatever happens, that I need to have at least £100 to cover these two debits.

It helps that at the end of 2003 I took voluntary redundancy and so paid off my car loan and my mortgage and also have the pension coming in (I own half my flat on the shared ownership scheme). I therefore have low outgoings now and have invested the remainder.

I have had no work since early May so no salary is going into my d-t-d account, so each month I transfer in what's left from my pension and top it up from savings.

All of this information is in my small cash book. I can carry it about with me, I can see at a glance my networth, I can tell (with the help of the calendar) when the quarterly outgoings are due (electric, phone and TV licence) so budget accordingly.

However, in June I was horrified to see that I'd spent over £300 and that was without considering the purchase of my new laptop, so this month decided to keep an eye on my day to day spend. On a simple Excel spreadsheet I enter everything I buy and use a formula to total this up. I have no partner, am 4 years away from a state pension so really do need to ensure I have enough money to see me through my old age!

Maybe some of these tips can be of help to someone else? They work for me...!

david_hellier

rachch wrote: »

Hi- can anyone suggest a free budget program that will let me input income and expenditure both monthly and four weekly?
We get paid four weekly and I set up standing orders four weekly, but most direct debits- especially for utilities- go out monthly. I've not found anything that'll let me use both inputs. Help please?!

Hi,

All I can suggest is you enter your annual income divided by 13 as a monthy amount. I have an excel sheet with a budget and spending diary on it. It allows you to work with a weekly figure. So you could enter your monthly pay divided by 4 in the weekly column.

If you (or anyone) want to try it PM me with an email address to attach it to.