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

[Statsquestion1]

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

I do this too except I do it to the penny.
Why do you round everything up? (Or down)

I take it this is in € not £?

You don’t need ‘pots’ pots are the modern digital equivalent of old fashioned house wives using the envelope system , they are messy, fragmented and the interest is low , people like them because they are visually segmented off. You can do the same using excel , put your income at the top and minus off all type outgoings and savings until you reach zero. Put all your money between a few high interest accounts , work out what can stay in a fixed term savings, work out what can go in a lower rate accessible savings, and get a current account with interest or similar, use your excel lines to be the ‘pots’ that way you keep your money together earning more.

In ireland your costs seem much more managable. My councik tax is around 300 a month. My rent in london and utilities is double.
I really want to move somewhere more affordable but kids will not do well moving schools.
We earn similar amount overall buy have nothing to save at the end of the month

It’s hardly budgeting when you can save €2k every month from your monthly income.

Do you live in D4?

It’s just easier to do this, I don’t bother with it as I don’t do cash pockets anymore anyway. Things are rounded here too for example, If you buy something in the shop for 1.99 here and you hand over €2 you don’t get 1c back.

No we are not in Dublin at all. Not even close. I think things would be very different if I were.

Yeah but a budget is a budget…

Why, when you earn as much as you do, are you only saving just over the CB for your children? I would be saving more, compounding and all that.

Good for you OP, I wish we’d done this although we’re naturally frugal.

How many kids do you have and what ages are they? I spend way more than that on the kids, but less on entertainment (as mine are old enough now to be going out with friends on their own rather than me taking them to activities).

We are saving just that for now in the kids savers accounts yes, but there’s more there if needed.

They are 10 and 13. The sports clubs that they are in are not that expensive.

Oh my god I just had a minge twinge. I do exactly this but on a lot less cash 🤩. Your budget is my dream budget (I am on my own though). I’m the same as you, I love fiddling about with mine.

The grocery shopping seems quite low

I’ve just read the rest of the comments and I don’t think it’s tone deaf at all! I am a single mum, work full time, get a small UC top up and I do this. It helps you feel in control and not overspend.

I do most of my shopping at Lidl. I cook from scratch and grow some herbs and veggies. This does not include shampoos and body products they are covered under personal spends.
It doesn’t include cleaning products, but for some reason I’m inundated with them, I never really need to buy them. I spend on average 100 per week.

lol! Yay fellow budget lover 🙌

With respect OP, this isn’t “budgeting”. It’s called “buying what you need, and saving the rest”. Your household income is large and you live comfortably with no financial concerns. Your thread title implies that you’re doing something clever that we can all learn from. But in fact we’d all be fine with that income!

Of course it’s budgeting, budgeting isn’t limited to a certain amount of money. Budgeting by definition is a detailed tracking of how you spend and save money. It involves monthly tracking, annual tracking etc.

I think the majority of people interpret the word “budgeting” as needing to keep spending within strict limits, in order to manage a restricted income. Earning a ton of money and knowing what you spend it on is not what most people would call budgeting.

I think for me this type of budgeting works because if I have left over I just spend it, I am naturally a spender not a saver. So assigning everything up front (and predicting what I’ve got coming up cover the year) ensures we don’t spend frivolously.

I’ve recently started a ‘float’ account that I put £50-£100 in a month, this is usually the last £50-£100 a month that’s left over after all money is divvied out and it means it’s tucked aside because if it’s in the debit account we just spend it. Then I dip into it the months where we are slightly overspent ( usually 5 week months where food costs go up as I budget that weekly).

It does sort of feel like you’re always broke because everything is assigned 🤣 but it reigns in my spending. We’re a high income family, but both spenders, so we budget carefully, despite people here seeming to think we wouldn’t need to!

Well that’s a misinterpretation. Even millionaires have to budget if their spending habits outstrip their income. How would you feel about government departments not budgeting for their millions of pounds of funding? It’s very easy to spend poorly if you don’t budget.

I’m sure people on this thread laughing at the concept of budgeting would be the first to chastise OP for not affording Christmas due to money mismanagement. But it could easily happen if she spent all her money on holidays instead and forgot to plan for Christmas.

The Irish constitution enshrines the equality of all children of the state, so child benefit cannot be means tested. Every child, through their parents, is entitled.

Medical cards are, and the op will be paying ~€70 for every gp visit so it’s swings and roundabouts.

No we don’t pay, we have GP visit cards. A lot more people are entitled than they think. It’s based on income vs certain expenses.

Duh. The point is the principle of it, not the amount.

Our household income is half that and we do a similar thing. It’s called living within your means.