How do you Budget yourself to last the month?

Hedge

Hedge

Hedge

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
19,578
Location
Somewhere in the middle.
Ive never been particularly great with money, but I am steadily paying off my debts and I barely owe anything these days.

However I still struggle to have money left over in the last week before Payday.

What methods do you use to keep things steady?

Also is it possible to change dates on Direct debits so they all come out on the one day?

Do you set yourselves a budget for each week etc.

Any ideas might help me make my life go smoother. Thanks :)
 
most companies will allow you to change the direct debit date.

One thing you could do if you have a 2nd bank account is set up a weekly standing order to transfer x into it and use that for spending, so you're budgeting a week at a time instead of a month?
 
I budget myself to spending less than 'x' a day. I then work out how much that is a month, and move the excess into a savings account by auto-transfer on the 1st of every month (I don't have a fixed pay-day, it's the last working Friday of every month) - I don't have a card for this account; so I literally can only spend what I have budgeted myself, and is in my current account.

Car repairs or similar expenses are paid for by transferring from my savings back to current account.

One day I'll probably pull my thumb out and get my PAYE direct to savings and do everything the other way round.
 
Setting up a second account might be a good idea actually. My work have the ability to pay me into up to 4 bank accounts, I just split percentages or something. Ill have to look into details of that.

I frustrate myself by spending money fast, then somehow surviving okay when I have very little left. If I could just keep the spending balanced across the month my life would be a lot better I think.

Do I just phone up BT/Vodafone and ask them if they can move my DD dates?
 
I just regularly check my balance and that makes me double take myself if I am about to buy an unnecessary item :p
 
Yeah, you'll need to ring around to move DD dates afaik.

As for second account, don't bother getting work to split it or anything daft like that. Just get it all paid into the one account, then have scheduled transfers for the same/next day to shuffle it around. All of my income/outgoing is via my current account. My savings account is the surplus that I put money into every month, and take out of for in-frequent expenses.
 
I have two bank accounts. The account my salary goes into has all the direct debits for my bills. Accounting for those, I siphon some off into savings then transfer the remainder over to another current account.

I then know I have exactly £x disposable income until the next paycheck. It's just a case of disciplining yourself not to blow all that money in a couple of weeks. If you have £1000, don't spend more than £250 a week or if you have a big purchase to make, take this into your calculations. For example you have £1000 for the month disposable. You want to buy £300 worth of clothes and a few bits for your computer at £200. Therefore you have £500 for incidentals which is £125 a week. Set yourself a limit of £100 a week and you might be surprised that by the end of the month you have spare money to put back into savings!

It's simple. It just requires discipline.
 
At the moment I have a lot of outgoings (getting rid of £700 outstanding arrairs due to a house flood messing causing me to buy new (or second, third hand) items as replacements. Luckily not a large amount lost but the cost of moving out and moving back in has cost a bit.

At the moment my budget is very sparse and financially "struggling" until I pay back the full amount. I hate debts but need to be sure my outgoings are lower than my ingoings this month. Plus switched jobs recently and working from home. Soo big lifestyle change there.

Hoping to have 1.05k/mo incoming and £800 outgoing a month and save £50 a month in a savers account for a rainy day. It's tough but I should be clear of my debts (minus a £2.5k student loan) and arrairs. Aiming to get everything sorted in 2 months or less depending how much work I can get.

Most of my money as I found went on eating out and food. Severely cut back on that. Went from £200~ a month on food to close to £80~. Drinking every week cost a bit down from £150~ to close £40~. Obviously some money left over in case I get hit by anything.
 
I always start a month spending highly and reduce it as the money also reduces.
So usually do the most import spending first and remain with those that make no sense.
But surprising i have noticed the more i spend the more money i make its kind of obvious but its strange though.
 
How do you Budget yourself to last the month?
Click to expand...
I don't.

When the cash machine says "Insufficient funds available", usually about 5-7 days before payday, my heart sinks for a moment, but then I just ask my mates to lend me some cash.
 
Erm, spend less? :p

You want to buy £300 worth of clothes...
Click to expand...

See that ^ would last me maybe a year or so in clothing... even including footwear I'd say, so rather than spend that I'd just buy 1 thing, or 2 at one time.

It's not easy, I'll agree - but maybe you could setup a 2nd account, for NOT paying bills? Set it up and DD £100 a month into it, then live with whatever else you have, and not touch that second account. In a year you'll have put aside £1200.
 
I work out how much I have after phone bills,car insurance and paying my mum some cash. Then work out how much per day I can spend. Usually I can stick to no more than £10 a day. Some days I'll spend less some more but it seems to balance out.

This is whilst I put aside £250 per month to clear my overdraft!
 
rG-tom said:
most companies will allow you to change the direct debit date.

One thing you could do if you have a 2nd bank account is set up a weekly standing order to transfer x into it and use that for spending, so you're budgeting a week at a time instead of a month?
Click to expand...

A 2nd account is a useful thing for recurring bills, and its a nice way to get a feeling for how much money you actually have to work with every month after bills.

Every now and then I go through my on-line banking to review what I've spent over the previous month. The only debt I carry is a mortgage, and a student loan, but I fritter away significant amounts of cash without ever really thinking about it, at the time and this helps me learn about what I really spend.

For me its like this (its possible I missed some things as I did this off the top of my head for the idea):

Money In
---------
Salary

Money Out
---------
Home Insurance
Life Insurance
Mortgage
Groceries
Required Travel costs
Electricity / Gas
TV License
Council tax
Virgin Media (phone, TV, Internet)
Mobile Phone
Tuition fees
Pocket Money***

Whatever I have left is the money I should be saving each month.

*** You need to live you life as well as save some for the future, the easiest way to do that is to assign yourself some cash to play with, which can be saved up for bigger things. I'm not so strict with myself, as I don't usually have Money problems, but if you do, it might help you.
 
I have an excel spreadsheet listing every regular expense and net that off against income. I have spreadsheets up to the end of 2013.

As the spreadsheet is monthly then things like annual insurance renewals are shown in that month, rates as well as semi-regular payments.

From there I have a schedule of savings and if I'm trying to save for holiday or whatever then I can factor in how much I need to save each month to achieve that, as well as of course having an amount to spend on food/expenses.

I know where I am at any given time, to the penny. Works perfectly well for me over the past 14 years, and is now even more vital as my missus won't be working after she has the sprog.
 
I never bothered budgeting at all, I just never bought loads of stuff. And if I did want something I would check my online banking and see if I have enough money.

Now I'm living with the rents saving money, so I'm always loaded now. :cool:
 
Some good input guys thanks.

When I think about my disposable income compared to most here, its actually high..yet I somehow manage to blow it too fast.

Need to bring it down to a level and just pay off my debt quicker I think.

My debts are..

1250 Credit card
150 Overdraft
800 Loan off Mother.
40pm Internet
40pm Mobile.
50pm Car insurance.

Its not really much when I think about it, yet I seem to make a pigs ear of it every month :(.
 
godinman said:
What sort of income do you have if you don't mind me asking?
Click to expand...

My income isnt big but with being in the RAF living on Base and Eating here my Wage comes out at around 1100pm after deductions.

Bare in mind that my Accomodation and 3 meals a day have already came off that :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom