Weekly/Monthly Budgetting

[Monica53]

Hi everyone

Well I've started F/T work again, and salary is OK, as had worked P/T for 7 years so a little additional income is always good, however I am so desperate to really stick to a budget, which I have always found hard if not impossible, as DD and husband are always saying can I go to shops for this or that or Husband says to get reduced stuff, and half the time we really, really don't need it and believe it is only a saving if desperately need it!. Sorry off track a bit, I have calculated a budget on moneysaving advice website, and states we have surplus of £600 a month! wow! , We always pay for House insurance/car insurance in one go, so never add this to budget, although my payday we always seem to have very little left! if anything, partly due to having a teenager who thinks money grows on trees, however DD is applying for P/T jobs and fingers crossed she gets one very soon, her best friend has recently got a job so hoping that motivates her!. Advice has to how to seriously budget as really think we waste a lot of money and don't want to have nothing at the end and see nothing as to where it has all gone. Thank you for reading and advice/suggestions would be so gratefully accepted from you lovely mums/dads. Xx0

You need a good spreadsheet and a couple of savings accounts.

Use one for the car and put an amount in each month which covers service, MOT, tax and insurance.

Use a spreadsheet to detail all of your regular outgoings.

Put in a budgeted amount for food and groceries and a contingency for medicine etc.

Total it up and work out your surplus, sagebrush what you feel is reasonable for a rainy day and split the rest.

You still need to include the imsurances in your budget, even if you do pay them annually. Divide the total cost by 12 and save this account each month then when it comes round to paying them again, the funds should be there waiting.

Download the good budget app. It's incredibly simple to use and it's keeping my spends very clear. Equally you can see when you're spending something without thinking because you input the info in which is making me think

If you're looking on moneysavingexpert, also look at their 'money mantra' you know the one about only buying things that you need, also the demotivator where you can work out that an apparent trivial spend of a couple of quid or so a day adds up to nearly £1k pa.

Maybe keep a spending diary to see where the £600 is going. Maybe identify a big treat (holiday etc) that you can save for as a family by reducing the amount of money spent on crap you don't need.

The recommendation to save up for car repairs, insurances etc is a good one.