To wonder if anyone is as weird with their money?

[Ifonlywecouldhaveitall]

I will preface this by saying that although we are comfortable, we don't have a huge amount of money. Regardless, I have always loved sorting out the family money. Doing little calculations in my notebook, working out budgets, sorting money into different accounts. I make up all these weird money rules like how certain bits of money can only go in certain accounts, if I have 5.74 left over then 5 will go in one account and the 74p will be for another. I overpay the mortgage, even if just by a few pounds and pennies to round it down to an even number...I could go on, the list is endless.

Am I the only person like this? If you too are like this - what are your 'money rules'?

I use color note, it has a monthly budget on it. Get paid, check the variable DDs, work out what is left, split it between debt, savings and spending money. I could monitor spend better as I always use thr credit card

I know someone who does this. It’s all on spreadsheets with projections and macros and god knows what else. She has a history of eating disorders and this seems to be another, much healthier way of exercising control over her life. And let’s face it, we all need a hobby.

I have to stack change according to size when paying for things. 50p at the bottom, 5p on the top, can't just hand it over in a jumble.

I am a finance director, so spend my working life looking after other people's money. Therefore I cannot be arsed with my own.

I don't have ISAs, or shop around on gas / electric.

I do have a pension, and generally the current account goes up each month - but the last thing I want to do at home is run a spreadsheet :)

The weird money thing I have is when I put money into our savings I can only work in hundreds, do if I had an extra £80 I can't put it in to the savings until I have a £20 to add to it.
I would probably have a lot more in the savings if it wasn't for this 😂

Every month I write out in my bulletin journal a list of bills on the day they are due with totals so I know exactly what is coming up and I can make sure there is enough money in to cover the bills.

DH gets paid weekly and the rent is paid weekly but obviously everything else is monthly so it often involves moving money from our spending account (tax credits, carers allowance, DLA and child benefit goes in there) over to the bills account to cover till the pay hits depending on bank holidays etc.

I check the account every morning before I get up and mark off in my journal when a payment is made then calculate what's left to pay and move money around while I have breakfast.

I have several accounts. My wage goes into one and then, a day or two after payday it pays several standing orders into the different accounts.
One online saver that I can save £400 into and get 3% at the end of the year.

An account that last year's money from the above saving account changed itself into at the end of the year as it's only good for one year.
A smaller savings account.
An account nominally in the DDs names, a small amount saved into to cover a couple of £K each by the time they are/were 18 to help pay for whatever.

An account to save for the annual holiday
And an account that's nominally a joint account in that DH and I (and the child benefit) pay into that I use to pay for Christmas/birthdays and DD costs.

I like a certain amount left in my current account at the end of the month and end up transferring small amounts to help this happen through the month. But for the last few months I've been down on what I want left. Last month was particularly low. So this month I've aimed to have several SNDs and have been logging on every day I've spent something and made a note of the amount and how much I have left to try an spend far more mindfully.

So far it's working and I have plenty left to be back on track to having tha amount I like to be left with the day before payay.

I've found my people!! I love my spreadhseet, it has different sections for bills and direct debits, mortgage projection, savings pots for various things. I spend ages fiddling with it, it makes me very happy

I've spent the evening working out bank charges for the next twelve months, my bank has a flat rate of €4 a month for all transactions, but this changes on Friday to being charged for every little thing, so I worked out direct debit/ standing order and a couple of online purchase that I always do.

So now I've to get a handle on not using my card willy nilly throughout the week and just take out any cash I need.

Ds1 was asking why, I told him the feckers weren't getting more than was necessary from me, and he went off to do the same

DP is that you ?

It definitely cheers him up, but it took a while to understand I don't necessarily share the feeling.

I could learn a lot from this thread. Currently my only rule is that I spend money when the transaction amount ends in a number between 0 and 9.

I do all of this and more. Transfer a quid here and there so balances are always rounded up to the nearest ten, read financial section of newspapers and balance my online banking with my fancy excel spreadsheet every single day. I hate a bank holiday weekend where you can’t get a clear idea that everything balances until Tuesday and heaven help me when I have had a mistake by even a few pence.

On a positive, I have never overdrawn in my life nor had a reminder for any bill.

We have to link our expenses to a project, so often it's a two months or so before it's finished and can be claimed for.

I pay from my current account, and since I've managed without the money, I move it straight into a savings account when it's reimbursed. Obviously I don't have to, and couldn't for huge amounts, but it's a very easy way to add £150-200 to my savings every so often.

And I do tend to round it as well! It just looks neater...

I'm a bit anorexic about money too
I'm scared of turning into a hoarder so I avoid buying things

I have a spreadsheet with my outgoings and current balance, plus a date beside each outgoing so I know when it’s due to leave. Most of them come out around the first few days of the month anyway. I check online banking every other day.

I got myself into a shit tonne of debt years ago and I learned the hard way! I now don’t have an overdraft and I have a credit card in case of absolute emergencies, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually made a purchase on it. I don’t actually know the PIN, now I realise. So pretty pointless.

What I love doing and it works really well and is so simple is printing out a calendar for the month. On it I write every little outgoing that I can think of . Then for every Sunday it will say 2 amounts a best and a worse and the amount left has to between those amounts to know I’m on track for the month . I love looking at it and telling DH if we’re on track for that week , he isn’t bothered with my lovely calendar sums , he really is missing out !

I am a spreadsheet nerd. I check our bank account online every couple of days and update the spreadsheet, which has to tally to the penny.

I also use the spreadsheet to project income and expenditure for the year ahead, putting in stuff like B & C Insurance, MOT, Car Insurance etc so I can plan ahead financially.

I know I am anal. But I love not fretting about looming unknown bills.

I always round up the amount due on the credit card bill. It’s the balance minus the minimum payment (that comes off via DD) and I’m paranoid about getting the maths wrong so I figure it’s safer to overpay slightly.

I’ve got a spreadsheet at work tracking estimated and actual childcare costs for the next 2 years. Dc are both at school so holiday costs vary and are reducing for DS1 as he is now at secondary.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, if your spreadsheet hasn't got a Pivot Table, then you're doing it wrong.
I've now got about 2300 rows of data in mine. It's got a bit pointless but I'd feel sad stopping.

No. Never not at all. I am a splattercash ostrich.

I check my online banking daily to make sure all is as it should be & the day before payday I transfer everything left in 2 accts into DS2's savings acct.

Once I get to the desired figure I'll stop & start that routine into our savings acct.

DD & DS1 both got the child trust fund accounts (which have been added to) but DS2 missed out so we're getting his acct to the same figure & then will add to them all equally as & when.

DH & I have had to deal with some debts which we are now out of & I don't ever want to go back there!!!!

I download transactions every week or so from our current account. Each transaction is allocated a category which is picked up in a summary cash flow format. I forecast each month to around 3 years ahead. Leftover goes into savings. Credit card and any other debts have their own forecast too. Also tabs for mortgages, pensions. I don't understand how anyone can confidently budget for Christmas and holidays and cars etc without forecasting ahead.

For the easily offended/those getting bent out of shape about the references to anorexia it IS a thing to do with money........ financial anorexia

I am so glad I have found this thread. Thanks OP.

I wish I was a bit more inclined to be like this. I think I actually avoid it as I know I overspend sometimes and just juggle stuff around. Also have secret cash stashes! Maybe because I don't have many regular outgoings and only one income on, I just have a rough idea mentally of where I stand.