I admit I'm rubbish at budgeting. But why....

estebanrey

estebanrey

estebanrey

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...aren't online bank statements up to the minute? The balance is but not the detail.

I'm with Barclays. I can check my balance, walk into a shop and spend some money, then check again on my phone the second I walk out of the shop and my balance will be updated which is brilliant, but then if I go on to my account and look at the detailed list the last one on there is from a day or two ago.

If they can update my balance instantly, why not the statement with where the cash went????

I'm desperately trying to manage my finances better and having a banking app is awesome but when the amount and the detail are constantly different is becomes a nightmare because when I have less than expected, I can't tell why for a couple of days as I can't track my spending.

The worst thing though is that as well as making you wait two days to see the detail of each transaction, it will also move when events happened to when the detail shows and not when the money was spent. Just checked my statement and have seen things that I know came out on the 28th of January (my pay day) and reflected as such in my balance when I checked that day; but now they are showing up on my statement as coming out on the 31st!!!

Why can't it all be instant? This is 2014 after all.
 
I try to stick to cash only in the last week or so before payday just in case I forget about something I buy.
 
Just work out how much disposable income you've got per month and withdraw 1/4 of amount each week for spending, and don't use your card.
 
Yeah never bother doing day to day micro managing with your bank accounts, it might register on the balance but some things take a week to physically show up in the itemised list and this is from someone using Barclays for both work and personal accounts :) I try to check weekly.

Best way of 'managing money' that I've found (well it works for me) is to have multiple accounts, one for bills and one for 'leftovers'. The bill one has all the monthly bills (divide up any yearly outlays etc) and then the rest goes into the leftover account, showing what I can spend.

You can even add in another account (say an isa) for long term savings.
 
i used to grumble about my bank (halifax) taking a few days to show my transactions but in the last few weeks it's started showing pending transactions immediately. it's very handy indeed. :)

it would show here if i'd used it in the last few days. :p

bank.png
 
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It's more a question of controlling your spending. Personally I stick "important" stuff into bank, and have cash for the rest. It's a lot easier to keep a track of cash, rather than sub consciously whipping out the card.

Then again, my income a month is less than 600 euros (studying) so I'm not particularly useful for real money. :p
 
Rroff said:
If your trying to micromanage your finances within a day, day to day, thats where your going wrong :S
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Maybe so, but you didn't answer my question which is a technological one.

Your advice is based on the current situation, if online bank accounts updated instantly there would be no problem.
 
We've only just done away with bloody BACS transfers, the aged infrastructure will eventually be upgraded. Just don't bank on it (lol) in the next 10 years!
 
Rroff said:
If your trying to micromanage your finances within a day, day to day, thats where your going wrong :S
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My friend did something like this manually, started writing down every single penny he spent in a small notepad.

Problem is, I'd rather go unexpectedly overdrawn every now and then than have to go through all that rigmarole.
 
Slobbo said:
I don't see how an answer would improve your budgeting :confused:
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I don't see where I asked in the OP what you thought of my budgeting :confused:.

But can't you not see how having an up to the second statement to go with an already up to the minute balance and not having them out of sync and outgoings move dates would make tracking my spending easier?
 
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estebanrey said:
My friend did something like this manually, started writing down every single penny he spent in a small notepad.

Problem is, I'd rather go unexpectedly overdrawn every now and then than have to go through all that rigmarole.
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This is how my gran has done for years, tedious but seems to work.

Op has a point, it would be better instant.

Saving for a wedding, so using the draws cash weekly method. (mainly for other half)
This works well.

Like another posted though I any see up a spending account in the future, though i dont think that would help Op as he still wouldn't know what was spent instantly.
 
marc2003 said:
i used to grumble about my bank (halifax) taking a few days to show my transactions but in the last few weeks it's started showing pending transactions immediately. it's very handy indeed. :)

it would show here if i'd used it in the last few days. :p

bank.png
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yeah Lloyds have just implemented this its great, but you can always just look at available balance if you haven't before and work out what you've spent, budgeting isnt hard OP
 
estebanrey said:
I don't see where I asked in the OP what you thought of my budgeting :confused:.

But can't you not see how having an up to the second statement to go with an already up to the minute balance and not having them out of sync and outgoings move dates would make tracking my spending easier?
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Why mention your budgeting then?

You're complaining about something you have no control over.

I understand your point; I think we all do. But there's ways round it.
 
estebanrey said:
My friend did something like this manually, started writing down every single penny he spent in a small notepad.

Problem is, I'd rather go unexpectedly overdrawn every now and then than have to go through all that rigmarole.
Click to expand...

No need to do that, just use cash, you'll be a lot more aware of your spending (at least in my experience).
 
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