To not budget

[Matilda762]

I know AIBU but how do people monitor the expenses? Do you have to keep an eye on every penny you spend? Thinking of money all the time? Do you use an app of just excel?

We are not massive expenders in terms of clothes, eating out, take aways but alwayd ended expending more

I’m old school, so I have an A4 piece of paper with a line down the middle, in a book. Money in on the left, out on the right, and add them together.
Its being strict with the little things like a take away coffee, and making sure you get any ‘points’ or cash back that helps.

No I don't budget. I don't need to simply because I don't spend anything other than essentials really. Have a fairly average income.

Budgeting is exactly why I DON'T think about money all the time, because I don't have to worry about it so much. I'd think about money a fuckload more if I didn't know I had a sensible budget.

Go through all your spending for the last few months and divide into categories. Set a realistic monthly budget for each of those categories. I do all this just in Excel.

I then have a Starling bank account where you can divide your money into "saving pots". So when I get paid I put £100 into "eating out", £200 into "fuel", £400 into "groceries" and so on. Then take the money out of the right pot after I spend it.

I have all my income into one account, then all our bills, mortgage, direct debits go out of this account. I transfer £200 each to my husband and I for spending, £300 into the joint account for joint spending, £100 into the kids savings, £800 into an account just for groceries and anything left goes into savings. I don't keep a specific eye on what I'm actually spending but once the money runs out in our spending accounts, that's it for us!!!!

I have a little cashbook. The act of writing it down helps, I find.

I do not budget, but I track. So I know what has been spent after the event.

The best system is the one you stick to, which gives you the information you need.

I use my banking app and have direct debits set up for all regular costs e.g. Council tax. We also calendar when things like car MOTS are due so we can account for those.

I have a budget in my head for food shopping and use scan and go to keep track in the supermarket.

We are not big spenders in terms of clothes/takeaways/gadgets though. If something is needed, we buy it and we buy decent quality but we don't constantly buy things for the sake of it or because it's the latest thing.

We are fortunate to be comfortably off and don't overspend.

If you find you are overspending, can you print out your bank statements and go through with a highlighter to highlight 'non-essentials' - it will help you to see where you are maybe spending more and can cut back.

I don't budget. I spend what I need to and anything left over at the end of the month gets transferred to the savings account.

Money put into one account to cover bills, money transferred to another account for savings and the remaining is free money to spend on everything else we need monthly. Anything surplus from the free money at the end of the month gets put into savings also.

I have to say that I don't budget.

I check my accounts once a week or so to make sure there's enough money in there and that there's been no unusual outgoings. Then I just crack on.

I used to note down everything going in/out but I found it very hard to keep track off and very stressful. It just felt like an extra bit of life admin that wasn't actually necessary.

We use YNAB. There's an app for your phone as well as a computer website. The app syncs with the server, and DH and I both have the app on our phones. So we always know the true state of our finances wherever we are, even if we're apart.

I use GoogleSheets and track using categories so total category spending can be shown visually.

I do not have it showing me this months spending vs last month, but can easily flick between monthly charts if I want a quick impression of how spending is changing.

I do budget because I need to. Different pots/acounts for different spending. The envelope system but digitally. I do a monthly budget, put money in the allocated pots, and what I can in savings. Yearly budget for bills in Excel.

i have lots of different pots but move them around and it seems to work

i have an excel spread sheet to make a note of all spends

I’m not good at budgeting either. You can set up your accounts to pay bills as soon as you get paid (switch utilities to level pay), and direct debit into a savings account.

First, write down everything that you have to pay for regularly each month including food. Add it up.

Then write down everything you have to pay yearly. (Car MOT for example) Add it up, divide by 12 and add this amount to the first amount. This is how much you need to put aside every month for known expenses.

Then write down what income you have every month.

The difference between the two amounts is your spending money. Ideally, though, you will put some of this aside each month to go towards unexpected expenses.

So what you have left is after allowing for known and unknown expenses is what you can spend on coffees, magazines, takeaways etc. Whether you do it on paper, excel or an app is up to you, but if you don't know what your spending limits are each month (budgeting) then you will probably exceed them on a regular basis.

Came here to say https://www.ynab.com/ all day long!

Also YYY to a PP who said that having a budget is the reason why they don’t think about money all the time.

I always know where I stand with YNAB and that gives me so much peace of mind, even in lean times (and I have had some rough periods in the past five years).

I don’t work for them! But it’s a great product and the customer service had been amazing. You get the feeling that the founders are good people.

I have a standing order that moves a sum of money across to savings on the 1st of every month, and another that puts £120 into a car fund.

Then I aim to spend £60 max on food/cleaning stuff each week (for 2). Regular bills, mortgage, sports classes, hair cuts and petrol are all fine. Freeview only, no subscriptions.

Any extras - clothes, shoes, I check my account before buying.

Major purchases (new washing machine, holidays etc) come out of the savings account. I buy a newer car about every ten years, for cash. I don't borrow money. If it isn't in the account then we choose something less expensive.

Generally I don't spend more than £20 without thinking carefully about whether I actually need to.

So far I've never run out, although it's been a bit close once (redundancy).

I have the NatWest App, that comes with the bank account.
It shows you your spending in different categories and allows you to set budgets. It's incredibly useful.

I just split my wage when it comes in.

I have a few bank accounts

one for bills and I transfer the money for the bills in there
one for savings and our savings in there. I build them up and then decide where to invest. Maybe once every few months
then what’s left is to spend sits in a other account.

I've always been good at saving, and I do that by just watching the pennies on the repeat expenditures (groceries, say) and not making a habit of buying things I don't need. That way if I do want to make a trip, have a meal out, or do something special there's always money there for it. No spreadsheet or tracking needed.

I technically budget but it's quite basic.

I have a bill, spending and saving account. My wages go to my bill account and each month I calculate bills and leave enough in there to cover them so I don't have to worry about that. Then I move some to spending and some to saving. I try and only spend my spending money but always grab from my savings.

I know how much I can spend and spend carefully.

We have our bills covered by direct debit and they all mostly come out at the beginning of the month. some money goes into a savings account and then I know how much I have to spend.

We get a takeaway once a month now and meal plan weekly. I plan a few cheap meals a week so we can still have some more expensive meals too. I look for offers and buy toiletries when they're on offer.

When we go out, we'll take water bottles and food with us. We do free places regularly and entrance fee places a couple of times in school holidays, looking for offers and using Tesco vouchers too.

I agree with what a pp said about not worrying about money because of budgeting.

Also a YNAB user here. It's really sorted out our financial lives. We never argue or stress about money.