Budgeting help

Why not start with the idea you want to do proper budgeting and work back to implementing something that makes that work for you.

Budget==plan.

What you need to do is plan in advance where you want to allocate your money.
This needs to be longer term than a month, a year is the minimum for most people and that should also include longer term stuff that will need saving for.

Make a list of everything you want to include (categories) and save for longer term. if you think you may miss things you need a catch all(emergencies/forgot) catargory


Add up all the income for the year and start to allocate it to all the things you will be needing during the year then start adding in the wants till the money runs out, keep adjusting till the numbers balance.

many use the SOA format which does annual/12 the advantage of using a full years spends it normalizes* the totals for the year.

once you know where you need/want to spend the money, then all you need to do is track you are on plan and manage the cash flow to make sure the spends happen when you have the cash.

The trick is to only spend(keep a diary) on planned stuff and avoid the impulse buys, if you think you need/want something think about how the plan needs adjusting if it is not in the plan.

you can go into detailed sub categories splitting need and want/nice to have.

Take food, you can have a need budget the amount you need to spend to live OK, then have on top a treats budget, you can use that to buy really nice stuff or have a take away on top of the need to spend.

Clothes, look at the wardrobe and you can work out what will need adding over the next year, knickers, pair of work shoes, then along side that you can have an extra amount for the wants stuff.

by splitting needs from wants you can start to make value choices for the want money rather than spend when you want something and then have nothing when you want the next thing.

Make a priority list for wants.

If you are not sure start with the last 12 months and try to work out where all you money went, often the first time people do this they have a significant amount of their income where they have no idea where it went.


it is all about the plan that prioritises where you want to allocate the money you have that makes budget successful in gaining control over the finances.

K80_Black wrote: »

This is more of an 'anti-budget' since I'm just documenting, not actually planning as such - but it might be a good place to start for a few months to see what you actually spend vs what you think you spend.

good points

As I said the key is the plan but as you say that has to be based on reality and that comes from iterations of real spending.

A look back at the previous 12 months can kick start the process but a spending diary tracking is critical to a plan succeeding going forward

What many people find is the biggest side effect of a spending diary is they think more about each spend and without realising spend less anyway.

Another essential part of the process is the value for money.

This can be as simple as reducing food waste.
Using stuff you already have more often like clothes.
Reviewing the regular outgoings to make sure you are using them fully.
bulk buys


One thing on the saving side is motivation, very good idea to have goals for the savings, so they have a priority/value against the other things the money could get spent on.

good shorter term one is holiday, every time you pass on the coffee that's another few £ in the holiday fund. longer term might be get a house or get rid of the mortgage once you have a house.

I use a bank called " Monzo "
It has an app which shows you exactly how much spent on groceries/bills/shopping etc