I've just done a budgeting spreadsheet - shocked!

[Allnewtometoo]

Where does the money go?? I do know i have a bit of a "frittering away" habit. Buying a drink at work, getting the dc snacks from the petrol station, that sort of thing but jesus I cannot believe how much I should have "leftover" each month. I know that on paper can be different to reality but even so, this is mind boggling.

Can anyone recommend a way to sort myself out? Is there a plan/program/book?

I know some of you will say "just stop spending" but I feel like I need more than that.

I've previously read about sone sort of budgeting app but can't remember what it was called.

@InsanityPolarity At this stage, being free of the OD and having money set aside for Christmas, yearly outgoing etc is my goal. I do have a CC bill from my solicitor fees (worlds longest divorce) but I am happy chipping away at that and switching card to card for 0% deals.

That said, the DC have never been on a "proper" abroad holiday. I'd bloody love to aim for that.

So with the overdraft, try to have a realistic reduction per month to clear it and really stick to it. You can also have a realistic amount to save towards a holiday and Christmas. Put it into a different account that you don’t touch.

Thank you. My next job is to look at my day to day (overdrawn) account and try to reduce spending, and then reduce the OD and add to some "savings". I suppose a good way would be to set a budget for groceries, withdraw X amount for bits and bobs, then split whats "left" at the end of the month into OD and savings.

You've made an amazing start, OP. It's pretty great to read. You will be OK. As PP said, now it's about making the changes a habit. Good luck to you.

then split whats "left" at the end of the month into OD and savings.

My only advice is to 'pay yourself first'. Treat overdraft and savings like a monthly bill. That way you don't risk there being nothing left for it at the end of the month.

Id love to have the confidence to do this. I will have a look at the current state of affairs and see what I can do.

It's a change in mindset, it was for me too. But it has worked. Personal finances are personal and you of course have to find out what works for you. Keep posting here if it helps. It seems to be an encouraging thread.

This is how YNAB helps me without needing separate bank accounts. At the beginning of every month you assign every penny to a category - obviously sort all the big stuff out first. Then set a ‘snacks out’ budget of £20. The £3.50 seems massive then!!

When I was getting out of debt I used a percentage plan. A certain percent goes on rent or mortgage and utilities, then you set a percentage for loan repayments, food, clothing and leisure. It was much easier when life was cash as you could literally keep separate envelopes. But I think there are wallet apps that do the same. You transfer set amounts to different wallets each month and when you've used up your quota for coffees or whatever, you just have to wait until next month.

I've opened an easy saver account alongside my day to day current account, and set up a standing order for £50 a month to go out just after I'm paid.I know this isn't a lot, but its a start. I can transfer more over if I want.

What i hope to do is get to the end of the month less overdrawn, and reduce the OD by a bit each month. I also plan to NOT use my CC at all. I will need to use it for the solicitor in Sept/Oct.

Considering getting another CC for groceries and petrol, and paying it off at the end of the month. This could save me money on OD charges. Bit scared to do that though.

Using a credit card for groceries and petrol is an excellent way to reduce your overdraft because the delay in the money leaving your account might make all the difference.

You still need to make changes so you plan ahead and save for future costs like insurance, Christmas, car servicing, MOT etc before seeing money as available for spending on nice essentials but the credit card would be a good start to stay out of overdraft as the borrowing is free instead of costing 40% APR.

Thank you. So I think I will apply for a Tesco cc abd earn club card points while im at it.

Today's challenge, we are going fir a walk (free) but will end at a seaside town. Not really a resort , no arcades etc. I will take lunch/snacks/water and allow £6 for ice cream for the DC.

Im actually really excited to see how much i can "save" this month. For save, read "not spend"

@Allnewtometoothats perfect. It sounds like you’re really zoning in. Those are exactly the kind of things I do with my dc and use clubcard vouchers for some bigger days out.
They never expected food other than what we’d packed as that’s what they were used to and we always allowed for an ice cream.
Make sure you set up a direct debit for the credit card as it’s so easy to forget to pay it off or think you could just delay this payment as you need to buy uniforms and next month there’s something else and before you know it - more debt.
Let your kids know you’re saving money so they have an awareness of budgeting.
Have a lovely day.

Thank you, I have had a chat with the DC. They will get used to it pretty quickly I think.

I am really focused on this now, and no doubt will be kicking myself at not having done it sooner.

I've got a Tesco credit card too and it is very good as you earn Clubcard points. I actually put all of my spending on there other than bills but you have to make sure you can pay it off in full every month. If you can't then I wouldn't risk racking up more credit card debt but as long as you pay off completely every month it has been excellent for paying for meals out and day trips for the family with clubcard points.

Key things that help me that have already been mentioned are transferring money to savings at the start of the month leaving me only what is left for frittering in a separate account. And really cutting down food and drinks outside the house because that is absolutely where money was being wasted. We now upgrade home meals so are making our own pizzas this weekend. I've been lazy and bought pizza dough, tomato base sauce and posh mozzarella so you could cut it down even further making it yourself but I've still spent under £10 compared to £40 or so on a takeaway for four people.

Hi OP, if you’re really in need of treating the kids on a budget, just a thought, take them to a Wetherspoons :) our local one is really nice, kids breakfast is £2.99 including fruit and smoothie, feels like a treat and so cheap you can all eat for under a tenner…also mini McFlurry from McDonald’s is a cheap treat too

Im not sure how old your children are but the cinemas have amazing deals at the moment for morning screenings, something like £1 a seat. Of course do not buy anything at all to eat or drink there and make it clear to the children before, you could go to Aldi and let them choose a fruit shoot and a packet of sweets/ popcorn for a couple of pounds. I’m a SAHM and although a high income family I’m from a very working class background where money was tight and I make sure my children understand what we’re doing each day in the holidays and plan loads of stuff that is free or very cheap. We don’t do any of the big fee stuff (trampoline, bowling, etc). National trust also have great events this time of year. Just take a picnic with some nice snacks and a thermos with coffee!! Also have a look at your local library they will have free events too

Also, you mention you would like to take your children abroad. Just to flag that getting new passports for you all can be costly if you need them. We did ours recently and paid for photos (you don’t have to do this but I couldn’t get good enough ones to upload), postage tracking fees, and the passport fee itself and think it was about £350 or more for the 4 of us make sure you have a saving pot for that eventually so you’re not take by surprise :)

Seaside arcades.
We change say £1 each into 2p pieces then when it is gone it is gone.
The art is to make it last the longest.

I find it far easier to just have my main account plus Monzo with various separate pots
So you physically move the money rather than write it on a spreadsheet and have to remember to write it in YNAB
Plus Monzo pays 3.25% which is paid monthly so nice litte top ups each month

As @terracelane23 mentioned, the Dave Ramsey podcast/YouTube is a great start. Their EveryDollar budgeting planner is fab and so simple to use (and it's free). The mobile app isn't available in the UK unfortunately, but you can access it via their website on a laptop.
I buy everything on a debit card, keeping all the receipts and upload the spends from the receipts onto the budget planner each evening. I know where every penny goes, and the planner gives me a budget of what I can spend each month ahead - with just a minimal tweak at the end of each month.

To me it sounds like YNAB works by making spending money so tedious you stop bothering.

Far easier to work out how much leisure money you have after accounting for everything else and move that into a dedicated account, eg Monzo by standing order and just use the card for that account for that spend. Once set up it pretty much runs itself and if you use your phone to pay, you can label the cards with categories I believe. Or do it the old fashioned way and put a sticker or use marker pen on your actual card.

YNAB does it all automatically, it takes me one click at the start of the month and that’s all my pots done, once you’ve set it up it doesn’t require much. Also it’s the accounting for everything that 95% of people don’t do. Most people do not put money to one side every month for MoTs, new tyres, car replacement, boiler service, birthdays, Christmas, home maintenance, school trips, haircut, dentist, etc. They look at their monthly direct debits and food bill, add them up and subtract them from their income and say ‘Great I have £1000 a month left over’ and then spend every month getting ‘surprised’ by expenses like having to get new tyres, or £300 on your MoT, house repairs, new school uniform, school trips, holiday clubs, replacing technology.

But it doesn’t have to be YNAB, that’s just an easy way to do it. I wouldn’t be physically moving money around 40 different Monzo pots as that would take a long time and be difficult to manage, plus the bulk of my money is in higher interest accounts, but if it works it works. That’s the main thing. The key thing is actually making a budget that covers everything and not just looking at your monthly bills and thinking that’s the whole picture because it isn’t.

MSE has a free budget planner that helps with this. You need to know what your actually monthly picture looks like, not how much money leaves your account physically each month but what your annual commitments look like broken down month by month.

To me it sounds like YNAB works by making spending money so tedious you stop bothering

Exactly 🤣
It's very 2008 to have to gather receipts and type them in and pay for the privilege!
If you even bother getting receiptsDH would lose them anyway I'm trying to go paper free
Far too stressful

I'm not a huge daily spender anyway
Walking commute, pack lunches and make drinks at work so I only shop weekly, have milk delivered and keep a random tenner for top ups
There are apps that will link all your accounts and work out all the trends, categories and projections for you plus they are free
I don't have 40 pots-I have 7 so it's a 5 minute job
Meanwhile Monzo is paying me 3.25%

You aren’t gathering receipts! It’s linked to your bank account and imports transactions and categorises them. I don’t manually enter anything and not even sure what all this about receipts is? They’ve got nothing to do with how YNAB works

Fair enough if you don’t want to try it, it’s not for everyone, but it’s a bit odd to criticise it when you don’t understand it or know how it even works!