Page 3 | Ask me anything about zero-based budgeting and our monthly budget

Statsquestion1 · 2026-04-28T20:31:11+00:00

I love budgeting. I have always done it. Been meaning to post here for a while. I do a based budget, so everything is accounted for. I have posted on many “money matters” topics but thought it might be different to post an AMA. I am currently revising the budget as I do it every 6 months or so. as it currently stands its *Me 3100* *DP4100* *CB 280* *Total 7480* *Housing* Mortgage: 1900. Insurances(life, house): 150 Property tax: 50 Total Housing: 2100 *Utilities* Electricity 150 Waste collection: 25 Broadband & TV: 70 Mobile phones x3: 60 *Total Utilities*: 305 *Food & Groceries* Groceries & household food: 500 Dining out / takeaways: 200 *Total Food*: 700 *Transportation* Fuel: 150 Car insurance & tax: 150 Maintenance & NCT: 100 Public transport / Parking: 20 *Total Transport*: 420 *Education & Kids* School books, uniforms, fees: 50 Activities, sports, clubs: 55 Pocket money/treats: 60 *Total Kids & Education*: 165 *Entertainment & Lifestyle* Family outings, hobbies, gifts: 250 Subscriptions: 20 Miscellaneous expenses (haircuts etc): 60 Personal spends:250x 2 = 500 Clothing: 200 *Total Entertainment*: 1030 *Savings & Miscellaneous* Emergency fund / Savings: 2,000 Holidays (monthly allocation): 500 DC Savings: 150x 2= 300 *Total Savings & Misc.*: 2800 *TOTAL MONTHLY SPENDING*: 7,480

Bluegreenbird · Yesterday 06:15

Including savings in a budget is weird. Should be allocated money then what’s left over has a separate plan for saving or investing or putting in to a pension. A strategy rather than a budget.
Or you’re just spending ordinarily for your income with no long term plan.

Watercooler · Yesterday 06:27

My budget is

Salary:£20
Chocolate bought: £70

Am I doing it right?!

Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 06:37

Oleoreoleo · 28/04/2026 23:07

How do you manage for variable expenses?

We went to level pay for utilities but the way it was calculated was ridiculous and the companies ended up holding a surplus which could have been working for us instead of them.

Also I couldn’t predict insurance costs in advance. Even the grocery shopping keeps creeping up.

Yeah we just pay a set amount with the electricity company. That will change soon though as we are getting solar panels.

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MyGhastIsFlabbered · Yesterday 06:43

I’m sorry but I agree with others, if you have £2k a month to put into savings I don’t really think you need to ‘budget’. You are saving more each month than I get paid. Mind you, I’m crap with money so it’s a sensitive subject atm.

Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 06:45

redboxerclub · 28/04/2026 22:57

What do you spend your personal spends on? What about Christmas, health, dentist, medicines, decorating, home furnishings, gardening

200 die everyone’s clothes?

how much savings do you have

Personal spends is anything I want really.

Christmas and birthdays are covered under the “outings, hobbies and gifts” when I say hobbies I mean like when we all go bowling etc.
health and dental would be miscellaneous and personal depending on the situation. We have health and dental insurance paid through work so a lot of that is taken care of in that we get it refunded.
we don’t buy a lot of clothes tbh. Last month I bought dd some items and that was 70.
the clothing pot is one of the pots I let build.

we do have a lot of savings - about 120k between our accounts. Over 40k for the dc.

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Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 06:47

CherryBlossom321 · 28/04/2026 23:01

Do you seperate out the spending categories into virtual “pots” on an app? Or cash envelopes? Or track by recording all transactions?

I do pots and I just watch the account and categorise. I used to do cash but have been doing it so long now it’s just ingrained in me.

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Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 06:49

LikeASoulWithoutAMind · 28/04/2026 23:08

What do you do if you go over budget on one category? I don't find I can be that precise about some categories so always need to leave a bit of contingency.

Petrol is a good example.

All of the car categories are over budgeted, so there’s always a surplus there.

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Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 06:50

Penguinnnn · 28/04/2026 23:11

Do you have to pay for water in Ireland? My water bill is £80pcm. What about heating? Are you entirely electric or do you have oil/ gas?

I hadn’t heard of property tax before but I’d much prefer that to our ridiculous £300pcm council tax bill! It just seems so much cheaper in Ireland.

No water charges here no. Our whole house runs on electricity.

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GloiredeDijon · Yesterday 06:51

WeCantBoardYouFromACoffeeShop · 28/04/2026 21:46

yet another tone deaf thread in a cost of living crisis with an OP boasting about how much they earn and how much they save each month 🙄

Yep.
I think we could all “budget” with this sort of income.
Some people have no idea how most in our society live.

Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 06:52

TwoPurpleChimps · Yesterday 04:25

I would like to ask what you both do for a living to have such comfortable incomes?... I agree with a PP , budgeting would be much easier with such a hugs joint income.

My second question is - are you sure you should be entitled to CB?

Show quote history

We work in pharma. Neither of us are at the top of earning potential or our current bands. My dh is lower management.

CB is not means tested here

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SundayMondayMyDay · Yesterday 06:55

@Statsquestion1
You have nearly £1000 each month for fairly discretionary spends, way over £1000 if you add takeaways / restaurants in as well… do you find that by setting a budget for personal spends you spend up to that amount, regardless of whether you need to or not? We don’t have set ongoing ‘budgets’, but reasonably regularly check what is happening to discretionary spends, with the aim of reducing it. £500 for the two of you seems a lot for personal spending - what do you normally spend it on, that isn’t accounted for elsewhere?

And is your aim to minimise spending, or to maximise savings, or to pay off mortgage? If so, I wouldn’t have expensive phone contracts, they are a waste of money ( we have £7 sim each, and a second hand phone each) :)

Givemeausernamepls · Yesterday 06:57

What do you do if an unexpected / not monthly cost comes up? And what happens if you want a spontaneous day / meal out etc.

I have broad headlines, small saving pots (to cover things going wrong or sav for Xmas or hols) and seperate accounts. But my budget is a lot lower than yours

Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 07:02

BabyJaneDoe · Yesterday 05:21

I do find this interesting, as we earn similar, actually iust slightly more (in the UK - and yes, we’re still entitled to child benefit as we both earn over £60k but not after pensions!) and I’m also the budgeter. I do it slightly less for our joint money but more strictly with my personal money. We don’t have as high of a mortgage but we are still paying nursery fees so our fixed outgoings are similar.

However in the spirit of AMA, my first question is - did you know that the totals of your categories add up to £7,520 ie more than your income? It’s a minor thing, but it presumably means you’re either underspending enough not to notice a £40 budget shortfall (if so, can you identify in which category?), or you’re spending more than you’ve accounted for and are having to manage that each month.

Second question is how do you physically manage the pots? (I see someone above saying these threads can become a selling tool for YNAB - I hope not as it is absolutely not necessary to pay for a budgeting app in order to do a zero based budget!) I use Monzo savings pots for all categories so my money accrues at least a tiny bit of interest while it’s in the pot. We do all our spending on a free airmiles-earning credit card and pay it off as we go.

Third question is, you said when you have surplus at the end of the month, you just pick a savings pot and chuck it in there. How do you pick? Do you invest at all to manage the effect of inflation on what must be significant cash savings?

I am reviewing the budget and noticed that. The truth is we usually earn more than what is there. That is our base amount with no overtime. So we usually do have extra. I need to reduce a few categories so it will be the parking and probably the car tax as they are over budgeted.
I just use the joint account. I know the budget off so I know if something is over under. I sit at the end of each month and move over a surplus required and leave other ‘pots’ there.
investment opportunities here in Ireland are not great tbh. Last month we chose to pay 60k off our mortgage.

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Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 07:03

Givemeausernamepls · Yesterday 06:57

What do you do if an unexpected / not monthly cost comes up? And what happens if you want a spontaneous day / meal out etc.

I have broad headlines, small saving pots (to cover things going wrong or sav for Xmas or hols) and seperate accounts. But my budget is a lot lower than yours

The spontaneous meal/day out is covered for in the budget.
What would be unexpected?

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AstheCrowFlies89 · Yesterday 07:05

Hallywally · 28/04/2026 22:07

I’d find it easy to budget to the penny too if I had over £7k a month coming in 🤣

I was thinking this 😂 i'd love budgeting then too!

Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 07:05

SundayMondayMyDay · Yesterday 06:55

@Statsquestion1
You have nearly £1000 each month for fairly discretionary spends, way over £1000 if you add takeaways / restaurants in as well… do you find that by setting a budget for personal spends you spend up to that amount, regardless of whether you need to or not? We don’t have set ongoing ‘budgets’, but reasonably regularly check what is happening to discretionary spends, with the aim of reducing it. £500 for the two of you seems a lot for personal spending - what do you normally spend it on, that isn’t accounted for elsewhere?

And is your aim to minimise spending, or to maximise savings, or to pay off mortgage? If so, I wouldn’t have expensive phone contracts, they are a waste of money ( we have £7 sim each, and a second hand phone each) :)

No I don’t spend it all each month at all. I bought nothing from my personal account last month except a coffee for me and a friend.

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Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 07:07

Bobloblawww · Yesterday 04:43

Agree this is really tone deaf. If you have 2k left over every month you don’t really have to budget do you?

Well if we didn’t budget/keep track then we wouldn’t be managing our money.

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Dox9 · Yesterday 07:08

Life in Ireland is much more expensive than UK in general so your numbers, especially in euro, are not a good direct comparison for UK-based posters. The salaries you have a good but not crazy high.We have similar and this gives us a pleasant modest middle class life in Dublin.
Most interesting question so far was of other people in the house find the control over finances too much. You just said personal spends are not monitored. That's basically pocket money for your dh. Does he get a say in general budgeting? Would he maybe like more spent on holidays rather than being accumulated in savings.
Agree with investment options not being great.

Cheersminesalargeone · Yesterday 07:15

Worked out our monthly spends years ago and adjust yearly as bills alter, put that amount plus £50 or so just in case spends into a joint account each month. The rest is ours to do as we please with. Don’t see what all the fuss is about with listing everything. But with the price if fuel I’m surprised £150 covers it, fuel comes out of our personal accounts we’re retired so careful with our mileage I do around 4/500 miles a month (live in a village) hubby more no way could we stick £150 between us. I save any excess but often dip into it as required.

shshs · Yesterday 07:16

MyGhastIsFlabbered · Yesterday 06:43

I’m sorry but I agree with others, if you have £2k a month to put into savings I don’t really think you need to ‘budget’. You are saving more each month than I get paid. Mind you, I’m crap with money so it’s a sensitive subject atm.

Of course you need to budget on this kind of income. OP still needs to plan holidays, Christmas, birthdays etc, that’s what she’s doing. 7000 sounds a lot but it’s not an unlimited pot.

Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 07:21

Dox9 · Yesterday 07:08

Life in Ireland is much more expensive than UK in general so your numbers, especially in euro, are not a good direct comparison for UK-based posters. The salaries you have a good but not crazy high.We have similar and this gives us a pleasant modest middle class life in Dublin.
Most interesting question so far was of other people in the house find the control over finances too much. You just said personal spends are not monitored. That's basically pocket money for your dh. Does he get a say in general budgeting? Would he maybe like more spent on holidays rather than being accumulated in savings.
Agree with investment options not being great.

@dox we are pretty similar
minded to be honest he would spend less on holidays if he could 🤣🤣 we have the same into our personal but we both have a surplus so it’s just topping it up as such.

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peepsypops · Yesterday 07:21

You should mention you’re in Ireland - your salary would never allow for CB in UK

Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 07:23

Cheersminesalargeone · Yesterday 07:15

Worked out our monthly spends years ago and adjust yearly as bills alter, put that amount plus £50 or so just in case spends into a joint account each month. The rest is ours to do as we please with. Don’t see what all the fuss is about with listing everything. But with the price if fuel I’m surprised £150 covers it, fuel comes out of our personal accounts we’re retired so careful with our mileage I do around 4/500 miles a month (live in a village) hubby more no way could we stick £150 between us. I save any excess but often dip into it as required.

Our work commute is 15-20mins. We don’t do masses of driving tbh. I also have a hybrid. I spend about 50 a month, dh is maybe 70ish. And then I budget 150 to even out for trips to the airport/visiting family etc.

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Original poster

Statsquestion1 · Yesterday 07:24

peepsypops · Yesterday 07:21

You should mention you’re in Ireland - your salary would never allow for CB in UK

but that’s not what the point is it’s about budgeting, not whether I’m entitled to CB or not.

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shshs · Yesterday 07:26

peepsypops · Yesterday 07:21

You should mention you’re in Ireland - your salary would never allow for CB in UK

It would, you can earn up to £80,000 each and get some CB in the UK.