Keep spending organised....? But simply!

KazLA

Hi - looking for some advice please...

At the moment we only put big purchases/bits we haven't got the money for at the time on the credit card, but pay it off each month.

I'm hoping to start putting all our food and eventually everything else on card at some point (to get more clubcard points/cashback).

We have a seperate account for food spending and put a certain amount each month and try not to go over an agreed amount each week (we keep track of the spending and how much is left for the week in Excel), I'm worried about mixing everything together with what we already spend and taking ages sorting it out when the bill comes in...

I seem to spend far too long keeping track of my money, paying credit card etc anyway - i.e. when the bill comes in, I see there is £14 on there for something that my mum has given me the money for, so I know £14 has to come out of my current account, then there is £20 that is clothes that I bought as a treat, so I transfer £20 out of my 'Extra's' account over to my current account, etc etc. I would then have confirm how much the food shopping was and transfer this to my current account and how much the rest of the spending came to etc etc... :think:

I guess if I record it all in excel at the time, the info would all be there, but there's always somethings you pay for and forget about...

Would it be better to have seperate cards for seperate things? Or is that just going to mean more hassle having more cards to pay each month - I already have a 0% interest card that we paid for a sofa on and only pay the minumum each month, but also put aside an agreed amount to ensure we pay it off at the end of the interest free period.

How am I getting in such a muddle? I can spend 90 minutes a week just sorting out how much money I have and working out which accounts to pay the credit card from, transferring money from my savings to cover any overspending etc etc.

I used to feel I was quite organised... But now feel I'm spending too much time organising my money and sure that time could be better spent making/saving money!

HEEELLLLPPP!!!! :mad:

Anyone have any suggestions / advice pleeeeaase.... :beer:

DestroyingAngel_2

The simplest way is to get rid of your credit cards completely and just live within your means. Every time you use your credit card, you're merely borrowing money with interest. Use either cash or a Debit card and you'll never have to keep track of what you need to pay/budget for next month etc.

If cutting up your credit cards is not possible, I'd suggest getting a consolidation loan. Put all your debts into one basket and just deal with that basket. There's more to life than spending time poring over Excel sheets!

KazLA

Thanks for that, but we always pay the credit card off at the end of the month, we don't NEED to use it (99% of the time), but want to get the points/cashback, just feel the organisation is getting a bit complicated...?

We don't have loads of money and try to keep a strict budget for food etc so we don't over spend, but don't ever put anything on the card that we won't be able to pay off...