Free budget thingy? For keeping track of spending.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

I can't find the MoneySavingExpert one that people have mentioned before. Any links?

Or anything else that is simple and easy. We desperately need to get on top of our finances.

Many tia.

This one?

If you've got debts, it's worth doing the full rigour of a Statement of Affairs on MSE, or The Motley Fool.

In terms of managing your finances, I use You Need a Budget (this is not free but has a good trial period and a fantastic method to help you get on top of your finances). You can now download a free (but minimally supported) version of MS Money as well and there is also Gnucash and Acemoney Lite is well reviewed.

Oh also, useful page on building your own budget tool using Excel or Open Office equivalent.

We've not got debts because we sold our house to pay them off, but unless we get on top of things we'll not have any money left to put down as a deposit on a new house iyswim.

Thank you tribpot, I'll look into those.

I'm not very good with budgetting at all. I have never really done it before. I just spend what I spend iyswim, and that has never been much, having been VERY poor as a child.

So basically, I get through life without spending very much at all, but I'm in a situation where I need to know what that actually looks like.

If you've had to use house sale proceeds to clear debts, it sounds like it's a good idea for you to get a grip on your money now; you really need to understand what made the previous debts accrue, if you aren't already clear.

It was a 3 year legal battle, which is over, and we won, but can't get any costs back from!

It's put us in a situation where we are tied into a very expensive rental property (As we were forced due to said legal battle to move into a certain postcode within 3 weeks).

It's complicated, but we need to get a grip and a plan and limit the damage until we are released from our contract iyswim.

Starlight I just do my own spreadsheet.

I have a list of direct debits which subtracts off our monthly income, plus what we allow for food, petrol, clothes, activities for the kids etc etc, and then there is what we have left over. We decide month to month what to do with this - save, spend, overpay mortgage, AVC to pension etc etc.

On another page I've got our savings and what they are 'allocated' for, so that we can see how we are progressing towards our various goals.

That makes sense Ali.

It is probably better to progress towards my own version as only we know what is important/to priorities and how we like to see our efforts displayed.

I just don't know if I'll ever get around to designing the spreadsheet in the first place.........

Time is also a poor resource atm

Honestly there is no design - the outgoings page is the most important one.

Literally a list like this

Mortgage/rent - £1000
Council tax - £150
Gas - £50
Food - £500
Train ticket - £400

Once you do that, you can see where you are. If you have surplus each month then it is just a question of discipline to stick within your allocations for food etc. If you are in deficit, then you need to either look at what you could cut back on, or work out much of your savings you need to use over the length of your rental contract - and whether that leaves you with enough to buy a new house.

Yep, all of the software I've suggested above does more or less this same thing, with some bells and whistles to make it easier. A couple of them have iPhone apps so you can enter expenses on the go, which is very helpful.

If time is tight, I'd go for one of the applications as some of the work will have be done for you; you'll still need to enter your categories and expenses of course! Some of the other paid-for apps will import files directly from your bank (if it supports exporting them) to save you typing each one in; when I was using Excel I used to just copy and paste the text off the screen from online banking into the spreadsheet.

I find it easier to get a handle on my budget using something like YNAB than I did just using Excel. It also allows you to build up surplus in particular categories, which is great for non-monthly expenses like Christmas or the TV licence. But it's nothing you can't do on your own - in fact YNAB started life as a spreadsheet back in the day.

Sounds like you've had a rough couple of years and your previous debts are not of the 'slightly overspending month-on-month variety' - and not likely to be repeated, thankfully!

tribpot, some of our spending has been careless, because things have been so awful both emotionally and financially that many times we have just said 'sod it - we're spending so much anway, a hundred pounds here is a drop in the ocean' iyswim.

But it's time to get ourselves sorted. We have had to move to, and will have to remain, in an expensive location for a number of years with no increase in income, so we really really do need to do something.

Can I second the YNAB idea?
Tribpot advised me to use it in March and it has transformed our budgeting - we are saving for the first time ever. I had tried using spreadsheets previously, but just found them too much like hard work.
YNAB is very simple to use. I love the fact that there are iPhone/android apps, so you can add an expenditure there and then. The new version will then wirelessly update to your computer.
You do have to pay for it, but you can have a 30 day trial first to see if you like it.

oooh coffeeandwine, I'm glad you like it! I've had a similar transformational experience using YNAB and it has easily paid for itself already, but it does involve that initial outlay.