to be shocked at how few people know how to budget?

[Coldtits]

I see it all the time, both online and in real life - people who don't use their common sense to save their pounds. Or who have so little faith in their own judgement and abilities that they live entirely on prepackaged, pre weighed, precooked food.

I watched one of my friends buy some ready chopped chicken breast and a jar or tomato pasta sauce. Now, I KNOW she's on a budget, and I mentioned that it would be just as nice to get some thighs aand chop them, and use a tin of tomatoes and some garlic and salt and pepper, and would probably cost much less than the nearly £6 she was intending to spend.

"Oh no," she said. "You know I can't cook."

This was not a time saving exercise. We've known each other since childhood (before I get accused of not knowing the situation) and she was cooking dinner for herself and her boyfriend - day off, no kids.

I know she's not thick! I don't get it.

No, stew and dumplings but exact same principle.

2.5oz of red meat is good enough for an adult portion. Protein is generally not somethign we need to worry about on western diets. In terms of hunger, surely the key thing is how big a bowl of spaghetti you've got

It all depends on what you think of as 'essentials' and what you think of as 'luxuries'.

My mum for instance, considers her daily fags and wine to be as basic a purchase as milk and bread.

If I smoked/ drank like she did, I'd be skint too, but she moans about it as if the fags and wine are an inalienable human right and you shouldn't have to worry about how to pay for them.

I love my mum but my parents have always been appalling with money. Luckily I have rebelled by being quite careful with mine! Their bad example put me off for life - we used to have bailiffs at the door and everything. I think my mum has a vague idea that being middle class should just somehow cocoon you from having to actually pay for things with earned money.

The best thing I ever bought was Microsoft Money. You can set up every one of your accounts on it and all your direct debits etc and see at a glance what is coming in and going out. It only takes about 10 min per day to keep up to date.

10 minutes PER DAY
[awed by your dedication to budgeting]
Find me a system that takes 10 mins a month and I might think about it...

Well Im constantly accused by my DP of being tight but in reality we live in a nice flat, we eat good nutritious food and have everything we need. What he means is that I wont agree to replace perfectly good TV, computer, phone etc just because there is newer technology out there. Actually DP is the retail markets dream -he really believes he has to have the new technology and when it is fresh on the market and that he has to have the branded food in the supermarket. If I dont tell him he can not always tell the difference .

Im like Morriszapp my parents taught me a valuable lesson as they are incredibly irresponsible with money and credit and live in fear of the letters/ phone calls they might receive from credit companies. Always worrying how they will stretch their money to the end of the month, have empty cupboard but a BN LCD TV, tumble dryer etc. I learned that I didnt want to have those things and live in fear of having debt collectors at the door as they do.

We are never in debt and I have savings for a rainy day. I never miss a payment because all our bills are DD which come out of a separate account that we put money a set amount of money into way before the DD due dates. I budget on a yearly and monthly basis and so I know we can afford our lifestyle which is by no means extravagant or tight but somewhere comfortably inbetween.

I use a pack of 500g of mince to to Shepherds Pies and Spag Bol etc. There is always enough for two meals for our family. Two adults and two children so equiv of 6 adult portions for 500g I suppose.
I am always full though dh does fill up on bread and butter after. He has a very active job though and so needs the extra calories / intake.

Totally agree that basic finance should be taught in schools ... I would include household budgeting, saving (ISAs, etc), mortgages, other borrowing, pensions, insurances. In addition to that should be cooking.

Basically, household management. Under that banner could come all of the above plus basic sewing (how many people do you know who seriously can't sew a button or mend a tiny hole ... and I am no seamstress), hygiene, chores, even growing own veg.

Should be compulsory for all. If there's one thing that we'll ALL have to do at some point is fend for ourselves.

You don't need a protein portion the size of your fist for each meal, that's just not true. You're not supposed to eat meals bigger than your fist. A portion of meat is the size of the palm of your hand, not including finger and thumb. An adult woman over 25 years old needs 50g of protein per day. This is two ounces, and can easily be gleaned from the meat portion above. This natiion is almost as greedy as America!

I'm glad when the going gets rough I've always followed my dads advice, never buy anything other than a house, if you can't pay cash. Rather than my mothers, spend on credit and wait until you get nasty bank letters then see if your xH will bail you out.

I too do the spreadsheets as I like to see where every penny is going. It's a loose budget really with fixed expenses, what I can put in savings, and then noting anything extra we spend on entertainment etc. It helps me to know what we could cut back on if we had to in the near future. Soothing is a good word for it, whoever said that.

@ protein-fist-meal stat!

What for brekkers then - a hunk of cheese the size of my balled fist?

Coldtits: if you're not supposed to eat a meal bigger than your fist, and the palm of your hand is meat, then there's only fingers and thumb left over for carbs/veg!

I'm not a nutritionist, I'm not quoting what you need to be healthy, I'm just putting down the amount of meat I feel is reasonable to put in a spag bol or similar without feeling like we are deliberately being stingy.

Solanmum, the thing is that some people do not know to add up all outgoing and subtract from incoming money, if you get a negative you do not have enough money. That is how people end up in debt, because they are not realistic about what their true outgoings are or they do not want to know because it would mean changes in their lifestyle which they don't want to make.

I don't think you have it right on the small meals front, just because you don't put much meat in something does not mean it is a small portion overall.

TBH, I get more annoyed by people who want to brag about the latest huge TV they bought which they can't afford and got on credit, or who are complaining about having to cut back by only eating out twice a week than those who try to be careful with their money.

"how many people do you know who seriously can't sew a button or mend a tiny hole "

ermm that would be me - despite having been "taught" in school and having a mother who until I was about 3/4yrs old used to make ALL her own (and a lot of our) clothes.I'm also totally NOT greenfingered - again she's fantastic in the garden....

She still wonders to this day how I spent so many hours of my pre-school (and weekends once at school) helping her in the garden and watching/trying to help her sew and still be so totally hopeless at both

"This natiion is almost as greedy as America! "

hmmm strange statement, in Zimbabwe if someone served up a portion of food the size of a fist there'd be queues at the kitchen wanting more - half your plate (at least) will be full of sadza

staryeyed, the media and the marketing world have a big part to play in exciting the spending appetites of our current generation. They have effectively brainwashed us into thinking that brands are desirable and even a necessity, as opposed to a luxury or nice-to-have.

You can get so much more value for your buck if you don't fall for the hype. Some designer things don't even look good - it is just an image they are selling, all puff and no substance. Women's fashion and makeup are big offenders. Brand consultancy is big business.

I'll just add my voice to those who have recommended the excel spreadsheet for budgeting on Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert website. It is so simple and easy to use if you've never tried to budget before. And so useful as it thinks of everything even one-off costs (eg car tax) that might be a few months away, it shows you everything heading your way. And it's free! All you have to do it copy it and start.

For what it's worth, we feed two adults and two preschoolers one meal of spag bol with 250g mince, but I always bulk it out with red pepper, or mushrooms, or grated carrot etc anything you like makes it more tasty and healthy too.

Grated carrot Annas? You're an MSE regular aren't you?
A handful of oats in the spag bol helps to bulk and also takes up some of the fat. Don't put too much in though or it turns into meaty porridge!

They will never teach finance in schools,
"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did,
I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." Henry Ford 1920ish lol

Has anyone ever seen pancake mix? I'm sure when I saw it it said 'Just add egg and milk' Surely then thats just weighed flour???

Someone mentioned about joint bank accounts, my DH and I have separate accounts and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Most DDs come out of my account and a few from his, he transfers a regular amount to my account every month and I know excatly what's coming in and going out - and I do track it on a spreadsheet.

I don't think I could budget and plan as well if we were both using one account, I'd be constantly having to check what he'd spent to keep track. We both contribute to things like holidays and big purchases.

Maybe it's not romantic but it's practical and it works for us.

Hecate, please could I trouble you for your budget sheet? We're self-employed with our business currently going down the tubes, and I've promised myself that when we get out of this, I'm never going to be in debt again. I've aged 100 years, ignore the post and just wish I had a regular salary again. Your spread sheet would be very useful for when we're solvent again ...

My email is sjcfrance at hotmail dot com.

Many thanks indeed,

xxx

My friend and her husband have thousands of pounds debt and yet buy only ready meals and prepacked, precut fruit and veg, their baby who is formula fed has only the little cartons of aptamil as opposed to my friend making up milk from powder. They have at least 2 holidays a year and would never, ever dream of buying anything secondhand. They can't afford it but they just put it all on credit card.

I just smile and keep quiet when my friend moans about her finances - she can't understand how I -as a single parent - manage (jumble sales/charity shops/ebay, hand-me-downs, cheap supermarkets, cooking from scratch etc )

Tryharder, your friend will have the last laugh at this rate I wish I was up to my eyes in debt instead of having savings.