How do you stay organised with finances?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

I am aiming for financial organisational perfection for 2020.

Im generally fairly organised and we don't spend a lot generally but we are absoloutley no way on top of finances. Always in the green (ish) but never know how much and no savings etc.

I need all your best tips to get on top of this.

I have multiple bank accounts and it was revolutionary for me in helping me organise myself financially.

1. I have my main account where all my money comes in. Salary and tax credits come in here. Only money going out is weekly shop (from weekly tax credits) and the odd Starbucks etc.
2. I have a Bills account where I send a set amount per month to pay all bills. All direct debits/standing orders come out of this account. I have a monthly spreadsheet totalling what goes out each month and on pay day I simply check my spreadsheet and move the set amount into the Bills account. I colour code my spreadsheet (turn the cell green once it comes out the bank) so I can easily check that what's remaining in the account is enough to cover what has still to come out.
3. I have a general saving acct where I send money that I know I need to keep by for social events throughout the month. I have no card for this account so I have to transfer amounts as & when required throughout the month
4. I have a specialist savings account for future events i.e. my sons upcoming football event. Money goes in there and doesn't get touched as I know it is for a set thing several months ahead
5. I have a Credit Union account which I pay a weekly payment via Direct Debit.. This goes towards Xmas or summer, and can only be touched by requesting funds 5 days before I need it. I put money in this account that I want to be really secure and "untouchable".

The multiple accounts and spreadsheet make life so, so easy. The accounts take a bit of time setting up (but not a huge amount with todays online world), and most banks will change all direct debits etc for you. If you can dedicate a bit of time to setting up the foundations, it takes care of itself after that.

Oh it's helpful to know the bank will sort the switch of all direct debits.

We currently have two accounts, one salary goes into one and the other salary goes into the other (both joint acc), and I think step 1 is to make sure all direct debits come out of one and all day to day spends come out of the other.

DH and I have separate finances. But know what each other has got and where we are up to.

My DH has a spreadsheet that he exports his cc and current account information to once a month or so so he nows where's he's up to ... and has a budget for christmas, house etc.

I used to do nothing and only had a rough idea. Started using an app called Toshl (other app are available). It's on my phone, I log everything I spend and from what account, you can show transfers, put in regular bills etc.

It revolutionised my spending and saving. Can't speak highly enough about keeping track of stuff. Wish I'd done it years ago.

I also have a standing order set up into a savings account on pay day, so its gone just like any other bill. I know have two savings account, one long term and another rainy day one.

Are you competent with excel? If you set up a file with a main tab as a high level of finances by month (current accounts, savings accounts, investments, equity in property etc) then use various formulae so that it updates automatically once you've input spending and other movements.
We do this and it means at a glance we can see to the £ how much money we have, including what's available immediately if needed.
Also means things are categorised easily (social, food, household, holidays etc) and it's easy to see where we're spending more than we'd like and how much we save each month.

Yep am confident with Excel and organised enough to pre plan for holidays/birthdays etc.

I figured if I do a set weekly online food shop with a budget, and similarly fill car and travel cards on a set day per week too. I'd like a little kitty for family stuff at the weekend and also a monthly kitty each for dh and I.

I have a complicated system but boils down to 2 current accounts and a savings account and a credit card.
1st current account is a cash account, all income goes into there.
2nd current account is the D/D account, all fixed DDs are taken out a week after Payday on the same day.

All monthly spending is on the C/C paid in full by D/D out of the savings account.

So wages go into account 1. Transfer £× to to account 2 to cover Bill's and then all but £100 to savings. You have £100 to take out in cash for those little things that can't be paid for on the card.

The idea is that you spend less on the CC than in savings and it will build up.

I use MS money and have FD & Tesco banking apps to keep track of the spend and balances

Do any of you buy lunches every day for work? I try and make lunch most days so maybe buy lunch 2 times a week. Dh is a 5day per week lunch buyer.

Would I be really unreasonable to say this needs to come out of a personal allowance rather than the family food money?

Buying lunch every day is an unnecessary expense, in my opinion. I make my lunches every day and don't find it a particularly taxing task along with preparing the kids school lunches. Again, it just takes a little bit of organisation beforehand and then it takes care of itself. I make salads each day which is just a case of lobbing some stuff in a Tupperware and popping it in my bag. Some days I might take some leftovers. Or you could make up a wrap or a roll the night before. All of which is simpler than going to a shop and queuing to pay.

If he insists on buying his lunch every day I would be insisting on it coming out of his allowance as it is a luxury and not a requirement. If he wants it to come out of family food money then it would be a case of buying his weekly lunch prep things as part of the weekly shop and he makes it up each day.

There's a calculator on money saving expert.com where you can put in daily expenses like coffee/lunch and show how much you can save.

It'll probably help if you have a shared goal of something to save for. E.g £5 per lunch, 5 days a week over 48 weeks is £1200. That's a fair chunk towards mortgage, new car etc.

So if you are thinking you want to pay off mortgage 5 years early (saving pounds) you could have that as a goal.

If you aren't on the same page, it will be more difficult!

He also pays for a gym membership he doesn't use at 25pcm so that needs to go.

There are certain home improvements we need to make, not crucial, but will add value and increase our comfort levels. So any savings made will be going towards that.

I've had a rudimentary look at income and outgoings and with some strict budget setting (which will include fritter money), we could save around 7k in 12 months.

There's no family holiday included in that, so it would be dipped into, but it's usually around 400 for a cottage somewhere.

Our situation isn’t an uncommon one but it’s a bit of a pain - I’m paid monthly and my OH is paid weekly.

I added up all DD bills for the year then divided by 12 to get the monthly figure. I then divided the total figure again by 52 to get a weekly figure. The weekly figure we move over when OH gets paid and have a set sum for weekly spending on food and diesel etc. We use a Monzo card for this and it’s been life changing. I love it so much.

My salary comes in just before ‘bills day’ so if we’ve gone over or had extra expenses that month it makes it back up but that’s happening far far too often so I’m trying to be really careful to stick to the weekly spending budget.

We have no savings but as of this pay day I’m going to start saving because we have debt to repay and we end up borrowing again because we don’t have a buffer.

Sorry to post again but your lunch point is something I’m thinking about just now. I want to set a personal allowance for my partner and I can’t decide if his coffees etc at work should come out of that.

I'd say if only one person is benefiting from the spend then it should be from a personal allowance. So if you both have a car then the petrol for both is a family expense, but if one is paying for coffees and the other pays zero because they make their own then it should be personal.

Could he just take a jar of instant in and leave it on his desk?

He doesn’t work in an office and tbf he doesn’t ask for much and works ridiculous hours so maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on him

Haircuts do you reckon they’d come out of personal?

I'd take mine out of personal.

My top tips are;

1. Multiple accounts
2. Set aside an amount each month as a rainy day fund and also a joint sinking fund so as when an unexpected household bill comes in you’re not under pressure
3. Give yourself a weekly allowance
4. Withdraw cash weekly instead of using card for everything

So DH and I each have the following;

• Joint account - used for all household bills including grocery shopping
• Current account for my day to day funds
• savings account#1 - linked to my current account which I can access at all times
• savings account#2 which I cannot access online or by using bank card

We split total household bills 50/50 and each add an extra £200 per month as a “sinking fund” for when we need something done around the house or new dishwasher etc.

On payday I transfer my half of the bills + my extra £200 to our joint acc. DH does same. Money is in account well in advance of bill payment dates.

The extra £200 each has built up a nice little cushion of cash in the joint account now and in recent months we’ve only dipped into it for things like new shoes for DS and a new hoover.

Also included in our monthly household bills budget is £50 per month towards Xmas to take the hit off Xmas shopping which we withdrew this week for Santa shopping.

For my personal money I do the following;

I move £400 per month to savings acc #2 which I don’t touch (unless in an absolute emergency)

I then move the rest of my monthly pay to my online savings account #1 and from this account I give myself a weekly allowance of £150 for petrol, clothes, lunch for work etc. Which I transfer every Friday back into my current account

There’s usually about £150 ish surplus each month after all of the above which I leave in my online savings account#1 and allow accumulate. I dip into this for things like birthday prezzies, if we’re going to a wedding, car expenses etc.

@neverornow you must have quite high earnings though?

£150 per week personal spends is a lot I think. I was going to aim for £50 per month each

@bigdecisonsahead not that high however we've both gone back to uni in recent years and got further qualifications, which led to promotions and we both managed to get payrises last year (13K between us)

We have things like cheap, basic cars and low (ish) mortgage repayments which helps

Dh seems well on board from our chat this eve, and we will sit together tonight to confirm all outgoings.

I use YNAB and it's completely revolutionised my spending. I used to overspend every month and found it very difficult to budget for annual expenses like the MOT etc. Now I save for all sorts of things and I never overspend.

I got a 3 month free trial and I can't recommend it highly enough.

@RedLipsAndRosyCheeks I’ve just downloaded that and am lost already!

It's more complicated to explain than it really is. There are lots of videos and their live chat is really helpful. You have to log absolutely everything to make it work but it is good. I found it easier to learn how to use it on the laptop but I only really use the app now