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Budget help. Pen and paper

5 replies

Blobbitymacblob · 08/02/2025 19:47

Does anyone track the household budget without using an app or a spreadsheet?

Is it even possible to keep track of multiple accounts with a pen and paper system?

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festivemouse · 08/02/2025 19:49

You definitely could! Like old school bookkeeping with ledger accounts - have a look into some simple t-accounts and you can track / allocate your money using pen and paper 😃

wherearemypastnames · 08/02/2025 19:50

Yes of course it's possible

It will be a little more effort to keep things tidy

But the principle is the same

Ideally that old square marked maths paper might help

ThoroughlyModernNotMillie · 08/02/2025 19:56

Even if you don't know anything about t accounts or bookkeeping you can still keep a pen and paper record.
Get a sectional notebook or make a file in sections and have a section for each account, mark off outgoings and income in each account and have a running total at the end of each day/week/month( your choice of period) in each separate account, then have a summary sheet with all the accounts on at the front so you can keep track of each accounts balance at the end of each day/week/ month, whatever period you're budgeting for.

MrsBobtonTrent · 09/02/2025 10:04

What do you want to track? Write down your regular monthly payments in a list and tick them off when they come out. If it's irregular spending you want to track, then write down each spend and allocate it to an additional column (groceries, petrol, child expenses). Add up the columns each month to see your spending by category. So your columns at the top would read for example: Date, Vendor, total spend, Groceries, Petrol, Child expenses. New page every month (or payday).

Even simpler would be cash envelopes per spend area, or an account for each area - card for groceries, card for petrol, card for kids etc.

Add up your periodical costs (annual expenses like tv licence, car insurance, birthdays, Christmas etc.), add 10%, divide by 12 and put this amount aside every month. Keep a list and monitor the amount.

Write down all your unexpected expenses (new tires, washing machine repair etc.) in the year, add 10%, divide by 12 and put this money aside.

If you don't have enough money for the last two items, you need to try to bring more money in or stop more leaking out. Regular expenses need to be kept on top of, but the real killer is usual the variable spending - the groceries and the bits and bobs here and there (coffee, work lunches - financial death by a thousand paper cuts).

Blobbitymacblob · 09/02/2025 12:57

The phrase “T Accounts” has just unlocked 30 year old memories from school - thank you. I need to brush up.

@MrsBobtonTrent that’s very helpful. Thank you.

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