Budgetting

This is a topic i need to revisit, this is a good time as hubby has just been paid. I think i am going to opt for the envelope system but use those cheap transparent pencil cases that you get in the pound shops and tesco etc.
Most of my bills come out of the bank monthly so i only have a few things to worry about. there didn't seem to be enough left last month so that's my reason for budgetting.
my envelopes will be

groceries
petrol
alcohol
cigarettes
dog food and associated expenses
take away's
my crafts (possibly my worst expenditure)
so anyone got any tips on how they manage the money etc
regards

I am trying out a new budgeting system for the rest of this year, give me a chance to see if it works or not.

I have 2 bank accounts, the main one that oh's pay goes in and direct debits and stuff come out from that one i have made little accounts that money goes into every month for xmas, hols,car stuff and fun money.

the second account i transfer a set amount a month over to cover food,fuel,kids dinner money (fortune!), cigarettes,oh's money for going away,so basically all daily living expenses and this is the only account i will "allow" myself to take money out off.

I have a book as well with the amount allocated for things in the month and when I take money out of the account for say fuel I then take it off the fuel total in the book so I should know how much i have left a month to spend on each thing and the totals should (fingers crossed) add up to whats left in the bank and if they dont ive made a mess of things which is what usually happens

Because my money comes in at different parts of the month its hard to keep track, so I have made myself an excel spreadsheet and it runs day to day.

The top section is when money comes in and on what day, the bottom is a list of ALL bills and expenses and what days they come out. The TOTAL is incoming minus outgoing and this is how much I have to play with. I know when I can afford to take the kids out for the day or buy a take away or go away on holiday.

Probably didnt explain that very well but it works for me and thats the main thing

When Dan gets his payslip, before he's paid we have a budget meeting. He likes to use a spreadsheet so on that goes all the fixed costs (including savings as we pay ourselves first). Grocery, pet, my haircut and my pension money go into my current account. Whatever money is left sloshing around after bills, savings and my stuff is dealt with we take out in cash and keep in a pot. That's for all our "other" spending for the month - petrol, socialising, purchases etc. When it's gone it's gone!

As a part of our savings pots we have a perennial fund where we save for things like pet vaccinations, car service, the various bits of insurance, car tax etc so that cash is always there and it doesn't take up all the budget when the time comes. It keeps the monthly budget very simple so the budget meeting only takes about 5 minutes.

For my personal budgeting for groceries I withdraw £20 cash and keep it in an envelope that's not be be opened until 22nd of the month. That way we never run out of money for milk, bunny veg and other bits to keep us going.

I really like that idea of putting money in an envelope not to be opened I am going to give that a go because by that time of the month we are usually quite skint I can budget well on paper just not so well when it counts

The budget is all about trial and error, we tried so many methods before we landed on the one that works. The emergency envelope really works though and has saved us many a time!

I think the envelope one is a good idea.

love the emergency envelope!!!
Will defo be doing that.
i cant really get on with spreadsheets but i envy those who do lol
havent been out for my pencil cases yet but have done my online banking stuff etc and made a list of what i think we have to fork out for.
its great to read what works for everyone else

alec eiffel wrote:
For my personal budgeting for groceries I withdraw £20 cash and keep it in an envelope that's not be be opened until 22nd of the month. That way we never run out of money for milk, bunny veg and other bits to keep us going.

That's a brilliant idea. I wonder how I would hide it from myself well enough not to sneak it out sooner, but easily enough so I would remember where it was when needed!!!!

We do have an e-savings account, where I transfer a certain amount each month. I also have a spreadsheet for this which tells me how much is for each 'pot'. So it covers insurances, car tax, MOT and service, national trust membership, AA membership,Christmas and birthday spending, holidays etc. We have used this method for quite a few years now, but it took a couple of years to really get going, as quite a few things, esp insurances, were paid monthly - so for the first year of transferring each over we had to pay out double - once for the actual bill and once to build up savings to pay it all in one go for the year. This was hard, but worth it as it costs more to pay insurances monthly than one payment.

In my area they run a managing your money course. Its over about 5 weeks. Its at a Community centre.

Thats a really good idea they should do those courses all over the country
it would be nice to have someone sit down and teach you about money mangement rather than trying to sort it all out yourself when you have made a mess of it