To not budget

Downside is you become the kind of person who can write this much about their budgeting 😂

I hear you 😀

People who don't actively watch their finances are always almost shocked on how much money goes out on things they don't really think about - a coffee here, a lunch there etc.

Even if you just download your bank statement each month and add up all the ins and out that's a start.

I use starling too and it's so easy. My wage comes in, I pay mortgage and credit card first. Then the spaces for each topic top up to the level I've set them to or add the amount I've set (varies based on monthly spends like childcare or yearly spends like car tax). The direct debits come out of the relevant space. Spending money stays in the main bit so I know how much I have, or goes to my cashback card so I get money back for spending. I keep an eye on spending through the little pie chats that monitor how much you've spent.

It's a faff to set up but so handy knowing how much you've spent. If you're on it you can categorise every spend and watch how it's going to tweak as you go. I managed to budget a recent big holiday to within 1% of the budget using it a couple of months ago which I was pretty proud of, and that includes the little bits and bobs like holiday clothes bought months in advance.

Downside is you become the kind of person who can write this much about their budgeting 😂

I use my cc to budget. After bills I have 1200 to pay food/ petrol/ fun stuff. That sounds a lot but food petrol is £600+ I try and keep cc balance to under 1k and save what’s Left for car mot/ Christmas

I don't keep a strict budget. If I see the money getting low, I don't buy coffee, clothes, anything unnecessary until next pay day. I also move à bit into accessible saving account at the beginning of the month for émergences like house repairs and to save for summer holiday. I also set monthly direct débits for things like gas/electrics, mortgage at the beginning of the month, so I know how much i have left to spend.

I don’t track our budget, even though I’m an accountant. Every once in a while I will list our outgoings and see if we’ve got enough going into the joint account. We’re not spenders by nature so as long as we keep in realistic parameters for the food shop, treats etc, the joint account is fine. We both keep an eye of what’s going in and out so we’d pick up any anomalies.
Years ago when I only had £110 free money once a month I wrote it all out in a little notebook.

I have automatic standing orders that transfer a set amount every month into funds: Christmas, holidays, treats. Then I'll have Alerts about the DD that comes out and track everything at the end of each month.

Anything left over as of the day before payday is transferred into a rainy day saving pot. So every month I start effectively on 0. If I need more money for whatever reason, I'll need to manually transfer it. Doing that action in itself has helped me budget "oh, I've only got £60 left and I need to still do a shop so I won't go out for lunch/order a takeaway etc".

I've also found online shopping rather than going to a physical shop has helped me as I'm not tempted to add "extras".

I've just bought a budget book from Amazon, I want to start overpaying on my mortgage so plan to track and control spending. It's so easy to waste money here and there throughout the month and have nothing to show for it whereas this money could make a real difference over the months/years.

I don’t budget, but I do track the coming and goings of all accounts using excel. I’m in the fortunate position of not needing to budget, but tracking money was what my parents did (despite being comfortable financially) so I do it too.

I don’t micro-manage my spending. However, once a year, I’ll go through a couple of months bank statements and consider how much I spend on food etc and consider expenses such as Christmas, holidays, etc.

Then I will set up a direct debit to a second account to cover these one-offs, plus extra for unexpected expenses. Eg car stuff, new washing machine. So you have the money there if you need it.

I think part of it is a personality thing— if you're the kind of low conscientiousness person who risks running into problems frittering away money then you're going to need to find a strategy to make sure that you can save and you're not broke all the time— but that strategy is very unlikely to look like counting every penny, keeping up with spreadsheets, or writing out things in columns every week as people with these kinds of personalities will struggle to maintain that kind of meticulous detail-oriented approach.

I use excel and go through all transactions every Sunday night

I'm so shocked by the amount of people who don't budget! We are are high income household that don't need to worry about money perse, but still find budgeting really important to maximise our earnings and meet our goals.

I don't. If I feel my income isn't matching my lifestyle, I think of ways to increase my income.

I don't budget, I am also a SAHW (soon to me SAHM) so I don't have my own income.

I just spend what I need to and consult DH about any larger purchases. It works well for us because he trusts me and I dont feel controlled.

I don't budget, but I'm not a big spender and have a decent income. All my spending goes on my credit card, gets paid off by DD the day before pay day, and anything left goes to savings.

Excel spreadsheet for working out monthly budgets and a little notepad for keeping track of day to day spending - I have pretty much always done it this way and it helps keep track of things. We don't have a huge budget to start with so keeping it fairly well in order allows for us to 'plan in' treats, holidays and that sort of thing. I think even if you have a lot more to 'play with', as I have in the past, it's still good practice to keep a budget/plan a bit.

I've tried various apps but always come back to pen and notebook.

I just write down every single penny that I spend.

I have also put it into the notes section on my phone. It has helped me so much.

I'm a single parent so everything is down to me. I keep a rough budget in my head for monthly essentials and check my banking apps regularly.

I also think about future payments like annual car insurance, tax, ground rent, insurance etc (all those annual payments) and transfer a lump out each month into a separate pot to cover them.

Finally getting a grip on what I was spending was huge for me. Accounting for annual spend, car maintenance, Christmas, birthdays, holidays, insurance in a monthly budget was my eureka moment of why I never had enough money….

went through my bank account, found stuff I’d forgotten about, cancelled direct debits I didn’t need, set up a transfer to savings, and tracked everything on an app for a year. Toshl lets you put n planned expenses.

I now have, substantial savings.

All income goes into one account. This is the 'bills' account where , as the name suggests all bills are paid from, including a set amount on savings.

A set amount from the 'bills' account goes into a 'spending' account which is used for anything we use cash or bank cards for: food, petrol, travel costs, going out, clothes, etc.

I have spent many years trying all sorts of different ways, and this for us is the easiest. The spending money is separated from the bills money.

I budget the amount that goes into the 'spending' account. But I don't have a budget for each thing paid for by that IYSWIM.

I check my bank accounts every morning before I get out of bed to make sure the balances are where I expect them to be.

The other thing I do is only put half of the 'spending' budget into that account at the start of the month, and the other half halfway through. This is to stop us overspending at the start of the month.

Other than that, the look after your pennies saying comes in. I think twice about the small spends (coffees etc) and plan ahead to some extent. Ie, We are going away for the night in 2 weeks, so we didn't go out this weekend. I also look for discounts etc.

I don’t budget but just try not to go too overboard.

I track.

I budget less than i used to because i earn a lot. But also I'm not very extravagant, i don't spend that much relative to my income