Budgeting tool

[Yetiyoga]

I am hoping to buy a property next year sometime after some saving for the last 5 years. I want to save as much as possible over the next 8 months so would like to stretch my money as far as possible.

Does anyone have any recommendations of how best to budget, an app? A book or a website?
It is just me. What is a realistic food budget for a single person?

I am a dedicated fan of apps, but have never actually found one that does the trick for me as well as a pen and paper- I suspect it's because it takes an effort to sit down and fill it in that it makes what I'm doing seem more real IYSWIM?

Regarding budget, there are 3 of us and I budget £100 a week for groceries. We use Gousto, shop at Waitrose and buy organic eggs, cheese and milk from our local farm. I'm confident that by cutting out the fancy stuff and shopping at Lidl / Aldi I could easily do £60 a week (we cook a lot from scratch but do benefit from buying in bulk) If it was just me I guess I would be confident I could get to £30 a week if I had an absolute goal and end date in mind.

Thanks for that @TreacherousPissFlap that is really helpful. I never really think about what I'm spending on food normally. I don't excessively spend but don't budget either. I was going to aim for about £100 a month which is similar to the £30 a week youve suggested (slightly over but that's fine) I'm thinking of meal planning for 2 weeks at a time including batch cooking and freezing. I just sat down and worked out I could make about 5 portions of chilli and 5 portions of bolognese for about £9.50 in total (using quorn mince, im not veggie but I try to use less meat where possible) that was a rough look on asda website so could potentially get that cheaper. I can often have breakfast at work but not every day (it depends how early I start)
My issue is snacking but I'm thinking with a strict budget this may help that.

I'd recommend the Money Saving Expert one:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

It makes you think of one-off spends as well as regular monthly expenses. It has helped me be realistic in the past.

It's perfectly doable if you have that end goal in mind. It becomes problematic when there's no end in sight and you are doing it because you have no choice. The ability to splash out once in a while in a takeaway or posh ready meal is a great help, even if you never actually do it.

Also should have mentioned, meal plan religiously. When strapped for cash I've even done it down to breakfast and snacks.

I use an app called spending tracker, it's got a picture of a wallet.

It is a very simple app, but takes a bit of work setting it up but i love it.

So I have a current account set up and then from the current account I allocate pots of money. So groceries, bills, savings, car, holiday, eating out, mortgage, house repairs, petty cash. For example £1,200 into the current account. Then from current put £400 into mortgage, £100 to car, £100 to groceries, £300 to bills, £50 savings, £50 holidays, £100 house repairs, £40 eating out, £60 petty cash.

Then as you spend from each budget, reduce the balance by that amount. Eg£40 petrol comes out of the car budget. If you don't spend anything one month it stays there saved ready for when you do need to spend it.

It's a version of envelope budget and really helps me to keep an eye on what is being spent where.

You need a budget is really good - but has an annual fee and you can keep track for free on excel.

The #ukdebtfreecommunity on Instagram is full of budgeting inspo and tips.