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

I have a notebook that I fill in on payday with my outstanding balance. Then I write down all my known outgoings, rent, direct debits, bills etc. Then I know how much of my money I have left.

Every transaction I pay with card I keep my receipts and then update my book with my ongoing balance.

It's really not hard to keep it all balanced.
 
I was completely unorganised until I split my bank accounts - ive now got 6!

1. Direct Debits - wages pay in here, I leave in whats for direct debits and split the rest between other accounts.

2. Day to day spending account - what i allow myself for myself for the month.

3. Tax - put my tax money for the year end in here.

4. Savings - put my savings in here

5. Joint account, the most used account each month

6. ISA - usually keep my tax money in here then save it back up in my savings account so I dont touch it.

Since sorting this out ive never gone overdrawn and got out of debt.
 
i noticed yesterday that on my lloyds online banking i can now see debit card transactions that havent finished processing yet (which i guess is what your needing/wanting to see)
 
I keep a small spreadsheet handy which I add my income and outgoings to and offset the two. I add spending, direct debits, budgets etc for the month and even cash i want to put aside for a something I want or later in the month.

A formula keeps me informed as to the available funds I have after all deductions and I check this back with the statement making sure it's always accurate.

I've used this method for nearly all my adult life even before spreadsheet days and rarely go overdrawn. I've often wondered if I could do without the fuss but i like knowing what money is mine to spend :)
 
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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Perhaps, different things work for different people.

I'm very strict with my budget as I am the only earner in the home now my wife is looking after nipper full time. I reconcile my bank account once a week to my monthly spreadsheet.

As others here, I have separate accounts for different purposes:

1) Current - day to day spending, mortgage, DD's and SO's.

2) Monthly savings - transfer a set amount a month which covers all my annual car/house/life insurance premiums (safe a fortune compared to paying monthly), property rates, oil for heating (not on gas here) and also holiday/presents fund.

3) Long term savings - I transfer whatever I can here which at the moment isn't much but a regular amount of a little soon builds up!

4) Various other accounts for different purposes such as holiday spending money, child savings etc.

Spending and food money is now all cash based so I take out however much at the start of a month and that has to last until the end of the month. It's incredible how much better I shop because of this and also it makes me think twice about buying stuff for myself that I don't really need.

Our savings account is setup in such a way that it isn't easy to withdraw from which makes the temptation to dip into savings that much more difficult.

It sounds to me OP that you need to have some kind of monthly budget and try to stick to that, if you don’t know where you are at any one time then it doesn’t sound as if you have a good grasp on your finances, which isn’t good to be honest.

I always have at least 1 full years worth of budget which is worked out on a month by month basis so I can see how much I will need and more importantly how much I will be able to save if I stick to my plan!
 
It is updated (pretty much all transactions) however you will only see it as an earmarked transaction, until about a day or two later when you will actually see it on a line on your online statement.

Keep track of your transactions.
 
I was wondering this yesterday, It definitely used to be instant to the point the wife could see what i was spending and where on a day to day basis, now though although the available balance goes down on my nationwide account it takes a few days for any more information to get onto my statement.

What has changed?
 
I simply assume that any spending done in the last week hasn't yet come off my balance - usually meaning I have a little extra in my account at the end of the month due to playing it safe.

It requires no constant checking & still allows me to be quite carefree with my money without over-spending.

I know I'm more than happy to blow a huge amount on a good night out/new guitar etc, so to cover this occasional extravagance I'll ensure I've also got at least one months wages to cover my main debit account - with all bill money or savings being put into their respective accounts for the direct debits to come out monthly/savings to accrue.

Pending on your income it can take a little time to setup the buffer - but once done it removes the constant checking/writing things down which I personally have no desire to get into. If like me you are not that great at budgeting them setup a system in which you don't have to be.
 
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lsg1r said:
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.
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My wife and I do that but a slightly more extreme version.

We have 1 account for direct debits. The amount we transfer in to here is always the same, and is always a bit more than we need, so at the end of the year theirs usually 3-400 'spare' in it for xmas etc. And if the water rates changed or elec bill goes up etc we got it covered.

We then have a food and fuel account, which we transfer another set amount of money to, to use for groceries and for fueling the family car.

What ever is left over in the 'main' joint account is our slush/spending money for the month, we take 1/4 of that out in cash and use that each week etc.

It sounds fiddly but its really not, just log in online on pay day, transfer 2 set amounts out and then go to the cash point next time either of us need some money.
 
On payday I put X amount into my savings (40%), then after my DD's (rent, loan, subscriptions etc) work out how much I have to spend on a daily basis. Most days I spent very very little (couple of quid for something towards lunch). If I over spend, I recalculate the total.

Any left over, also goes into the savings account (have been around another 8-10% the last couple of months).

Having said that, I'm saving a house deposit and my wallet is as tight as a ducks arse for this very reason :p

This method works for me!
 
Sounds like op standard of living is higher than his pay can sustain. There is only two options, either stop spending or put off spending or earn more money.

I was caught in the debt trap where each month i would run out of money and have to use up a bit of debt that i had already paid off that month. Never end up paying off debt and end of every month sucks.

You just have to try and end a month with some money in your bank so that when you get paid you already have £50 or £70 in your bank. Do that for as many months as you can.
 
As others I only really got control of my spending and savings by splitting up my money into separate accounts.

I've actually got two bank accounts and have it set up as follows:

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1) Band of Scotland - pay goes in this one
I have many (12 currently!) savings accounts with this one bank all named along the lines of Holidays, CAR Tax, Car MOT, Car Insurance, Christmas Presents, Gym, New Car, New House, House Slush etc.

These are generally yearly costs that that I calculate how much I need to spend and divide by 12 and have a standing order on the 1st of the month to put that appropriate amount into each account.

Some are obviously easy to work out (car tax and gym are relatively fixed each year) but others would depend on your circumstances how much you'd need to put away.

2) Santander 123 - all direct debits come out of this one
On the first of each month I have a standing order from my first bank account to pay into this account the total for all my direct debits that get paid monthly (or for yearly ones just divide the cost by 12).

This is typically council tax, mortgage etc. I'm very lucky in that I have no variable direct debits as I have no land line, electric is fixed amount and I cap my mobile to not allow calls out with my free limit.

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I find this setup perfect because it means on the 1st of the month all my outgoings for the months are immediate taken out of my current account.

If you've set up savings accounts for every possibility (I even set one up over the course of 3 months just to save £300 for some new PC parts) it means the money you actually have in your account you can spend freely.

By keeping your direct debits in a totally separate account it means the money can't be spent prematurely and that it's no longer a pain if it comes out on the 25th of the month because the money is there to pay it - without question.

This is honestly the only way I've managed to save any money over the last 10 years and it's working great!
 
Halifax Ultimate Reward Account - salary,quidco,extras all paid in to this one. Standing order to Halifax Reward account to cover living expenses.

Halifax Reward Account - rent, utilities, home insurance, council tax, unexpected bills.

Halifax Instant Savers account - Holiday fund so paying in a small amount each month.

Halifax Instant Savers account - Car Slush fund to cover tax/mot and repairs.

Halifax ISA - Haven't used or paid in in years.

I really need to bin the Ultimate Reward account as I barely go on holiday (exactly the reason I need a holiday savings account) so don't need the annual travel insurance, emergency home repairs (I rent so it's my landlords issue) so don't need that. The only benefit I have is mobile phone insurance but I've never lost a phone in my life. For £10 a month I really don't think it's worth it.
 
Metalface Mark said:
I was completely unorganised until I split my bank accounts - ive now got 6!

1. Direct Debits - wages pay in here, I leave in whats for direct debits and split the rest between other accounts.

2. Day to day spending account - what i allow myself for myself for the month.

3. Tax - put my tax money for the year end in here.

4. Savings - put my savings in here

5. Joint account, the most used account each month

6. ISA - usually keep my tax money in here then save it back up in my savings account so I dont touch it.

Since sorting this out ive never gone overdrawn and got out of debt.
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Similar to Mark multiple bank accounts has helped me get out of debt although I don't have as many. It's split into 2 x current accounts (1 for bills and 1 for day to day spend) and an online only ISA.

I made a simple spreadsheet to show how much goes on what, the rest get's saved and when I get paid the funds can be allocated with online banking in a few minutes.
 
Salsa said:
If the funds are transferred online then it is likely to be a faster payments transaction.

See http://www.fasterpayments.org.uk/about-us/how-faster-payments-works

If you use your card then the transaction is handled by a payments provider such as Visa or Worldpay.

What this means is that the retailer has an agreement in place with a bank (referred to as the acquirer) for accepting and processing payments.

When you use your card the amounts are checked and authorised with your bank but it is the acquirer (the merchants bank) who stumps up the money to pay the merchant. The details of the transaction are sent to Visa who pass these on to the issuer (cardholders bank) who re-checks the transaction authorises it and then reimburse the acquirer. Once this has all happened then the money is debited from your account and transaction will show up on your statement.

See http://usa.visa.com/merchants/new-acceptance/how-visa-transactions-work.html
and http://www.worldpay.com/products/index.php?page=how

When using Cash Machines it is the organisation who owns the cash machine who asks your bank whether you have sufficient funds or not and pays out initially. Then your bank will double check the transaction and reimburse them within 24-48 hours before debiting the amount from your account.

Batch processing is used because it is so much more efficient to process all the payments info in bulk than individually, even with modern hardware. Batch jobs can still take several hours to run and are often dependant on files coming in from other banks/processing agencies etc. There is just no cost effective and efficient way to process each transaction individually.

See http://www.computerweekly.com/opini...ing-is-the-new-sexy-for-financial-services-IT

While this is not my particular area of expertise (I work in IT Change Management) I hope that sheds some light on how your bank works at a fairly basic level.

Want to know more about payments? Knock yourself out!
/Salsa
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Thank you, makes a lot of sense and I feel much more informed.
 
It's because they run giant batch files at certain times of the day and then the systems do a sweep and update, then they mess the updates up and credits go missing.
 
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