Hop on board the budget train!

[Purplesquare]

Hello all,

I have decided, with some great advice from this AIBU thread to hoick in my belt and get my finances into touch.

Please feel free to join me with your plans, check in with your advice, how you're doing and we can all give each other a bit of support.

My plan is as follows:

£200 monthly spend (after bills)

• 20 in to savings account
• 30 for husband's birthday
• 10 for mothers day meal bits
• 10 for day out with son over Easter

£130 remaining. Broken down into £3.93 per week/£32.50 per week.

I will move the above accounted for £70 into another account(s) immediately upon getting paid and draw the £130 out. This will be left in my drawer at home, with my bank card. I will have a maximum of £10 in my purse at one time and will note down what I spend it on and keep my receipts.

I will allow myself, my son and husband a small treat once a week - say around £2 for all 3 of us. That is if that isn't already something treatworthy in the house.

I will ask myself do I NEED or WANT the thing I'm itching to buy. Need meaning it is an essential requirement such as milk top up, or want meaning yes I want it but the world will not stop if I don't have it.

If I want something then I will make a note of what the cost is and leave it for a week. If I still want it in a week, perhaps buy it.

I don't know where to start

dustarr73 Do you have your income vs outgoings sorted and what have you left?

Yes I'm sitting down in the morning to go through it.I have a rough idea.But it's the top up shops,coffees and misc stuff.Thats what's eating in to my 💰

Me too! I'm sure we can do it. Even if we set ourselves say £10 a week to spend on shit...

EEEK NC fail lol

Can I join? Interested to hear tips etc

I'm a single mum of 4, currently no maintenance in play as the dads are losers occasionally get drips and drabs so not going to count that.... anything I do get will just be a bonus and can go into the General savings

The biggest thing I need to do is quit the fags as wasting £50 a week

I have opened separate saving accounts for the following-
Kids (cover clothing, gym class etc)
Xmas
Holidays
General

I currently have £40 a week in childcare but hoping to cut that come January when the extra nursery hours come in.

I'm also planning some DIY/garden work

I currently have £530 coming in a week

Outgoings weekly
£190 bills account
£40 childcare
£50 food
£20 fuel
£25 gas/elec
Total £325

Leaving £205

Will save
£30 - kids
£30 - hols
£20 - Xmas
£20 - General

Left £105, I intend to draw this out cash and keep at home along with debit card, I can then use for any extra shopping bits, kids friends birthdays, DIY etc and anything left over will go into savings

I have been rubbish with money over the years, I work hard and know I now have a decent amount coming in after years on income support so I intend to turn it around

Datingbarb The more the merrier!

So today is payday. I have drawn out my money for petrol, putting 30 of the 50 in. Have put a paperclip on the 20 note with a post it denoting it is for petrol.

I've moved £20 into my savings for Xmas, £30 for DH birthday, £10 for mothers day meal bits and £10 for an Easter day out with DS.

I've got my cash out for the month and put a paperclip and note on that with how much too.

Coming over from the other thread to join. I've got my budget worked out - now I just need to work out how to stick to it and not go running to the credit cards when I run out of money mid month

SeveredPixieBit Welcome! :)

I spent £8 when I called out at lunch. I got some seeds for my Mum for mothers day, plus an ornament for her fence, some calpol and ibuprofen for the boy. As soona s I got back, I wrote it all down, checked my money and made sure I had it noted down.

I took money out and put a g

??

cjt110 writing it down is a good idea, I might give that a try

My phone has a mind of its own.I took enough money out to see me through till next week.I'm keeping all my receipt and the end of the month I will go through them all and see where I can save.

This thread sounds like a great idea and I'd love to be a part of it?

I'm new to Mumsnet, so please excuse any errant abbreviations!

My DH and I use an Excel spreadsheet to work out our outgoings each month. It figures everything out for us and makes sure we're paying an equal share towards bills. It also lets us easily see how much disposable we have after essential monthly bills etc. We then use this to decide how much we should be putting aside each month.

Setting it up took a little time, but once it's done all we need to do is alter figures each month (if necessary) and it does the rest for us.

We find it very useful and keeps everything in one place! :)

I took my Groceries cash for the week to the shops today and spent the lot, bar 6p. Fingers crossed Ive got everything we need until next Monday.

I spent a bit over the weekend - £20 or so. But that involved an afternoon out for me, DH and DS and some mothers day bits and bobs as well as 2 bottles of wine!

I got to the supermarket this morning needing salad dressing and instead of taking my purse in with me, I got £1 out and went straight to the salad dressing bits - I then put my 30p change back in my purse. For me thats an achievement.

Signing up.

Both the dc's have school residentials over the next 12 months and music is going up to £150 a year each. I also have to start squirrelling away money for when ds starts secondary school (sept 18) and needs new kit.

Over the last two months I have got better at taking out cash to last the week. I'm heading in the right direction, I think.

I'm not doing too bad.Went to a supermarket instead of Aldi and overspent. Still had to go to Aldi.I have enough shopping till Friday, bar bread and milk.So the reins have been tightened and keeping all my receipt .So.

Can I join?

Just separating from my dh and never been any good with money. I am defo the one that has spent more in the relationship.

Only issue is im on a really good wage and still crap. Moving into my own place with my 4yo dd at the end of April and I need to get my spending under control.

Have a friend coming round at the weekend for drinks and nibbles. Any suggestions on good and nice, but budget friendly nibbles?

Cjt - carrot and cucumber sticks? Pretend posh crisps from Aldi decanted into a bowl.
Homemade pizza sliced into fingers?

Ohhh pizza! Yes that sounds good. I'm on WW and she is on SW. I'm sure we could cobble some bits together instead of he usual cheese and meats!

Do you have to do nibbles rather than dinner? You can do super cheap SW meal with pasta.
Chopped onion, grated carrot, garlic and then chuck in small mince, carton of passata, chopped tinned toms and mushrooms. All done in one big saucepan, put lid on and simmer for an hour. (If you use 5% mince it's totally free for SW too).