Managing your money, do you do it weekly monthly or what ??

[IllegallyBrunette]

I know most people work out their bills over the month and then divide it over weeks and put a certain amount up each week but I find that if I do this I never get a week when I can afford to do anything other than pay bills.

I tend to just write the bill amounts in my diary for the month when they come in, and if one week the phone bill is due then I pay that that week, Then the next week I might not have a bill due and so will buy whatever I need to buy.

Am I making sense ??

The thing is, neither seems to work all of the time.

I think the problem is that I need more money LOL.

I wait and do mine at the end of the month as I used to when the maintenance is in (ie all my DD's & any 'big' bills I have - ie the bt bill has just come in. )

then the TC's and CB I work with weekly. which really gets food, petrol. activities with ds.

mine doesn't really work out either cos i'm always short by thurs whinging it till sat am when I thinking right this week I have £30 of that £70 for food, £10 for petrol. (usually brought when I can afford it thou tbh) then £15 towards any other bills which might come in - like the water rates!!! (just had those for the first time - big shock!)

reckon we all need some extra money - maybe is we all (low incomes or not had a min of £800 per month?? lol) - i'd be rich! currently I have about £550 a month!

can you work spandex?

I'd rather have one week where I paid all bills and did nothing else, but that won't work because I have too many bills to pay it all with one weeks money.

I had asked xp to contribute towards ds's school shoes, but today have had to ask him to cover the whole cost as I just don't have it.

I hate having to ask him for anything.

yes - well the plan (was/is) to stop with DS until he3 and ready to go straight to pre school - but I hear a local one takes children from 2.6mo. so i've been looking about for a job - there's one I quite fancy which is a trainee sexual health nurse. doing 12 hours p/w, and also they'll sort training at guilford uni - will be a lot esp with my other course but it looks like a good opportunity.

That sounds fab Spandex, go for it

Hit and miss for us.

Both wages get paid into joint account, as does tax credits etc. ALL the bills get paid from this n the first week, DDs are being changed to account for this.

£x is being put into our own individual accounts at the beginning of the month (equal split) for our own personal use (ie for DH to buy his lovely wife a present!!).

The rest is left in the account to pay for shopping (budgeted at £50 per week), petrol as it is needed (budgeted for £100 a month), and any other things urgently needed.

At the end of the month any (no) money is paid into a savings account to pay for holiday/car repairs/other unplanned bills.

Problem is, we live to our means, so we should really put money away into savings and THEN spend the rest on things we need, as we always find we need coffee out, or a meal out, or this or that.

Sorry, completely inappropriate post, I did not read thread location.

Sorry

Ignore my big foot, ok?

LOL, no problem Pavlov

I need to work out a better system thats for sure as I seem to be constantly broke at the mo.

I eve forgot about a bill last week which is unlike me. Luckily there was just enough in my account to cover it, but it left me with nothing.

thing is thou you always live to your means - we lived hand to mouth pre split (XH & I) it's a way of life i've become accosom to!

not a single parent, but we pay ours weekly.

i have called all except phone/sky, and said, 'i get paid weekly, i'm setting up standing orders for x amount each week'

no-one has complained so far. tax credits go into my account on a weds and go straight out on a weds to pay the bills.

Oh yes same here, I just need to be a bit more in control I think.

Oh thats good Misdee, I didn't realise you could do that.

I have a savings account (empty), and so was going to just put a set amount of money in there every week to cover the major bills which are all by DD, and then move the correct amount of money back to current account each time a bill is due. I bank online so it is easy to do.

Not dipping into the money though is not so easy .

Going to sit down tonight and swork it all out I think. Then after my hols I can start putting a regular amount up each week.

oh no I didn't know you could do that either misdee. that's a very good idea actually.

i receive my tax credits weekly (£81) and all the rest comes monthly; my wages, child benefit, and maintenance for dd.

i pay all my bills by monthly direct debit on the first of the month, as i know my wages and maintence will be in there from the day before.
i pay the mortgage once a month too.
Car insurance monthly.
Obviously food and petrol weekly (around £90 altogether)

Usually have a little bit left over.

our money all comes in dribs and drabs which is why i set it up this way. dh benefits cover fuel and food. the other money covers bills.

apparently we should have xx amount left each week. but we never do.

actually my credit card is still on direct debit as well, but thats beign cleared soon, so that will stop.

Oh according to my calculations I should have some left over each week too. Never quite works out that way though does it.

I pay all my bills by monthly direct debit on the same day, I had to go overdrawn the first month to manage it but it has saved loads of money in the long run. I have two accounts and transfer only what I can afford to spend to the one I use day to day then withdraw money weekly and only spend cash, the other account is only for bills and emergency money.

I work monthly and quarterly but I am very very strict with my money.

I have a spreadsheet and on it I list out everything that I am putting money aside for each month - water, electric, council tax, child care, xmas, tv license, insurance, car repairs/MOT/insurance, holiday pot (ha!), emergency fund, telephone/internet, clothes...

I then transfer the amount I have calculated should be paid monthly for bills when I get paid. It goes to my esavings account. I never ever take money out of there for things other than the bill it should be paying.

When the bill comes in I transfer the money back to my current account and pay the bill from there. Because everything is listed out per bill or item I can see exactly how much I have. So when I need to go get school uniform I can check exactly how much I have in the clothes 'pot'.

I used to pay a bit towards every bill monthly when I was on benefits, but with this new method I end up being about £30-£50 better off because of the interest paid on my esavings account over a year! And that comes in very handy at xmas.

So that's my esavings spreadsheet.

I then have a separate 'cash flow' spreadsheet which shows the state of my current account. Anything else which I buy perhaps weekly or isn't a bill as such goes on here. So I have three months at a time forecast ahead. My WTC, CTC & CB come in every 4 weeks. So when that comes in I then budget around when I can buy food, petrol, 'other' things like school dinners or trips, days out. These things are strictly budgeted too and I have a set amount each month to spend on them. But my cash flow dictates when I can actually buy them.

It works for me but I am never ever tempted to take money put aside for bills and spend it on anything else.

Perhaps you need to have a tighter rein on your money so you can see exactly what is coming up ahead. I always used to forget things like the wheelie bin annual fee and stuff like that. But now I have it listed out so I don't suddenly have to find £30 out of the food budget. Well not so often any more!

It's taken me a very long time to get to a point where I'm not worried about the letters coming through the door because I know I can now pay them. Had two years of dire cost cutting and no spending on anything other than essentials to get here.

And now we have inflation out of control and I'm wondering where I'm going to be able to cut back on some costs... Hmm!

Gillybean, OMG how organised is that, I am stunned. I wouldn't know where to start.

Beansmum, that is the problem I am going to have, finding the initial outlay to cover the bills so that I can get organised.

I am going to try though.

Well you start with a budget!

And yes I am organised about it because I have no choice. Also helps that I'm an accountant by trade I guess

see i've tried the spread sheets thing and it didn't work at all - what did work actually was XH & I transferring the bills into my own a/c each month and having the joint as our 'spends' a/c) don't have a second savings account to do it with now thou.

Well open a second account then and follow the old formula. You can open an esavings account really easily with most banks. My one only lets me transfer money to and from it online. I don't even have a card to get cash out the wall for it which is partly why I picked it.

gilly your way is so much more involved than my'oh i've got a tenner i might shove it in a pot 'type way!!!!

I need to sit down and sort mine too. The winter fuel bill thing is freaking me out on the quiet!!