Managing your money

I keep an eye on my bank account. I know roughly how much disposable income I have each month, and if my balance gets low, I stop spending money on crap.

Never had the need to keep a formal record.
 
This is what I use. Ive just blanked it out. Its currently in its 5th revision (It seems to get more complex every year!)
A recent addition was the 1st of the month breakdown.
Last years revision was the full tax calculations (Which do need updating every financial year.
I colour thursday green as thats my traditional pay day (Im now monthy paid, so it doesnt really count!)
Reference your pay date to the appropriate column in the Wages calc column. Yes, its only monthly paid as thats all I need now, but it wont take long to extrapolate it to weekly. No doubt you will get the idea. You probably wont use the pebnsion, bike and bus pass (As some are tax / ni free etc i forget which!).
Enter your initial bank balance from 31st of march into B2 on April. It then calculates the whole year.
I balance mine with my bank account and put all payments for the year. (Council tax, water rates, gas / elec start of the month) all upcoming bills are enetered for the year, including expected phone bills, food bills, card payments etc. Thats the only way I can budget!

Heres the excel files:

http://www.phillydee.me.uk/ocukfiles/blank.xls

Even though the full wages calc is there, its usually a couple of pennies out. Sometimes there is a rounding error creeps in, which annoys the hell out of me, coz I cant find where it comes from!
No doubt the gurus in here will pick it apart and comment on its lack of elegance, or the fact that the columns arent all the same from sheet to sheet. Guess what? I dont care :p
 
My gf sorts out the finances for me.

Couldnt tell you how much I get paid on a weekly basis, or how much I have in the bank at the moment. Saving for a house at the moment so all I get is £50 a week pocket money! The rest goes into savings/bills!
 
Microsoft Word -> 3 Tables (Weekly, Fornightly and Monthly Budget) -> Sorted.

It's not actually difficult. Just work out what you have coming in, and then minus what goes out. Done.
 
What we do is have most of our shared bills coming out of the joint account, then every month we fill it up with whatever's necessary to cover the bills going out at the start of the next month.

Joint spending (shopping, fuel, furniture, holidays etc) goes on the joint credit card which is then paid off each month.

Generally speaking that means that fairly soon (within a week or two) after payday we know there shouldn't be any surprises financially as the bills are covered for the next month.

I've never actually budgeted per se, I see money as being fluid, I spend different amounts every month. Some might say "oh he's obviously earning loads of money" but that isn't the case, it's just that if I've been saving money some months, it means I can spend it in future months without having to worry.

Perhaps the key is that I always look for bargains and never base purchasing decisions on what I can afford, only on what I think is good value. That's good for my finances, but maybe not so good for my quality of life (i.e. I don't always buy the best of everything just because I have the money, I might buy something 90% as good for half the price).
 
I don't budget but in the back of my mind I know generally what is acceptable, when money starts looking low then find ways of making more is generally my principle.
 
HangTime said:
What we do is have most of our shared bills coming out of the joint account, then every month we fill it up with whatever's necessary to cover the bills going out at the start of the next month.

Joint spending (shopping, fuel, furniture, holidays etc) goes on the joint credit card which is then paid off each month.

Generally speaking that means that fairly soon (within a week or two) after payday we know there shouldn't be any surprises financially as the bills are covered for the next month.

I've never actually budgeted per se, I see money as being fluid, I spend different amounts every month. Some might say "oh he's obviously earning loads of money" but that isn't the case, it's just that if I've been saving money some months, it means I can spend it in future months without having to worry.

Perhaps the key is that I always look for bargains and never base purchasing decisions on what I can afford, only on what I think is good value. That's good for my finances, but maybe not so good for my quality of life (i.e. I don't always buy the best of everything just because I have the money, I might buy something 90% as good for half the price).
Click to expand...

I agree with not budgeting to strictly, it is better to buy stuff when a bargain comes along sometimes, but if you save enough I suppose you will have enough for these occasions anyway, just don't spend because your budet tells you.

I do it in my head, I know how much I get paid every month and I know how much I usually spend, most of my outgoings are monthly anyway. So as long as a few hundred quid is added to my account each month then it is fine. I don't go out every weekend so I am quite good with money anyway, I would rather have it when I need it if say there was a month with a birthday parties or a festival etc nor would I want to be a position when I can't pop round to my mates house for a few hours because my petrol budget has run out.

I will probably set up a direct debit for this money in to a savings account and eventually an ISA.

Also I have a DD paying rent + estimated bills into my mates account every month, and he pays them.

Next step is to cut out my spending on fast food while at work, gonna start doing more shopping and take a packed lunch. :D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom