How to get organised

[doingitallagaintoday]

I need some advice, I am the least organised person and I literally have no idea how to be more organised, but, were on a good wage, but for some reason we never have any money! How do I get on top of our finances? How am I supposed to get to the point that I know where every penny is going?

I was never taught this as a child and I'm still in my early 20s so would like to get this sorted! Thank you

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I have an app 'expenses?' where all my bills are logged and I update with all my transactions for a month or two to see what/where/how I spend. It's a bit tedious but once I can see I've spent £x on eating out for example then I can cut back on that and maybe eat out twice a month not 4-5 time per month.

A good starting point would be to do a simple spreadsheet and list all your income and fixed expenses (mortgage/rent/utilities etc) then work out what you should be saving and then allocate the rest to spend as you choose to.

List your incoming wages.
Next list every bill you have rent phone etc.. check everything is on the best deal, do you need sky a £50 phone contract a gym membership you don't use. Look at what can be reduced.
Are you buying lunch out everyday and having out coffee. All these add up to a few 100 a month. Also takeaways cost.
The money that's left is what you need to work with.
start a spending diary using a realistic cash budget.
Meal plan only buying what's needed,
Make sure both of you are on the same page with realistic ideas of what you earn and can afford

It's dull as dishwasher but spend a couple of months tracking your spending. Everything. I categorised it into about 8, food/ household/ toiletries/ fuel/ clothes. It gives you an idea of where your money goes currently, helps set a budget and you can work out where you need to cut back.
We have 2 current accounts, one for cash and one for DDs only. Our wages are paid into the "cash" account and transfer the set amount into the DD account every month so it's clear what cash we have left. I hope this makes sense.

One account for bills and one for spending.

An amount to cover all bills and household expenses into the bills account the day after pay day and then everything that is left can be spent.

It's a good idea to have some savings as a buffer and I find a regular standing order also just after pay day into an account soon builds savings.

The other thing I do is bung everything that I was tempted to spend but didn't into a savings account. Things like when you can't be bothered to cook and are tempted to eat out/get a take away but instead do egg on toast for tea - transfer £20 (or whatever you would have spent) into the account. It quickly builds up

Use your online banking app to quickly move money and check balances. Set up text alerts so you don't go overdrawn.

If you want to know where your money goes try a week without cards and just cash. You'll soon see it frittering away! You can also try taking out cash to last the week for small spends such as coffee and lunch. The 'once it's gone, it's gone' was the only thing that reined in dh's spending.

Im also early twenties living with my partner just had a baby. I made a list of all outgoings and incomings, took 10 minutes and i worked out what we need in the bank per month. It is best to try and move all bills to come out close to payday if possible but for me its impossible because certain companies wont budge-ANNOYYYINGGG.

Anyway my partner has a direct debit to my account weekly so the moneys in my bank ready for when the bills go out. That way it's all coming from one account and were both putting into it.

If you want to see whats costing you most print off a few months worth of statements and highlight different colours for food, bills, clothes or anything else and see what you can cut down on! Hope this helps... xx

I use YNAB which is very good. You have to pay for it but you get a month's free trial. It is an online app so you need access to a PC/laptop/tablet to set it up and to , but there is an accompanying app to download on your phone so you can enter what you spend as you spend it.You need to reconcile your bank account with the information on the app every week at least and enter everything you spend on (easy to do on phone app) whether it is cash spending or from your bank account. You can set up automatic regular additions for standing orders and direct debits and just confirm them as they go out of your account so very quick to do.

I tried for years to budget and control spending but I spent years spending to my overdraft limit most months. Since using YNAB this (about a year now) we have no overdraft at all and have money available for pretty much every eventuality, even most unexpected costs. It really helps to make me feel more in control and to make better decisions about what I will spend money on

Whenever I tried to use spreadsheets in the past (and I am pretty good with spreadsheets) , I found them really not very flexible to help me change my budgets as my priorities changed through the month.

It helps you both track spending but also to budget for those things that need to be paid less often (Christmas, holidays, car insurance, MOT). It so liberating to realise that you need to pay the car insurance, but that you have £XX already available in that category to spend on this as you have been putting so much aside for it for several months.

If YNAB doesn't do it for you, then look into some other apps, the key thing is to keep recording what you spend and to start with a list that includes ALL of the things you spend money on. I think a lot of people (I know I didn't) don't realise just how many things we spend money on. I have given my list below so you can see what this is for me just as an example. Obviously for others it will vary and the category groups are mine, everyone will have different ones. For instance I have a lot of categories for Christmas so that I can keep track of what I have spent for each one when I buy presents. Soem people might just have one large "Christmas" category but I found it hard to then keep track of how much I spent on each person, so I have smaller categories
Main Bills Groceries
Main Bills Mortgage payment
Main Bills Council Tax
Main Bills Electric & Gas payment
Main Bills Water
Main Bills Mobile phone bills (A&P)
Credit Card Payments Credit Card 1
Credit Card Payments Credit card 2
Debt Payments Mortgage overpayment
Debt Payments Interest & Fees
Debt Payments Overdraft
Car & Travel Expenses Car insurance
Car & Travel Expenses Fuel & Parking fees
Car & Travel Expenses Travel fares
Car & Travel Expenses Car maintenance (MOT, Service, repairs etc)
Car & Travel Expenses Car Tax
Car & Travel Expenses Bike expenses
Car & Travel Expenses New Car Purchase (saving for next car)
DC Expenses School lunches
DC Expenses Club fees
DC Expenses Savings
DC Expenses Bus Pass
DC Expenses Allowance/Pocket money
DC Expenses Phone Bill
DC Expenses Educational
DC Expenses School Trips
DC Expenses DC Max Extra money that can be earned from us
Elderly Parents Purchases for Parents
Elderly Parents Emergency family visits
Home Home Maintenance
Home Home Improvements
Home Bin payments
Future planning . Life & health insurance
Future planning Medical (prescriptons/glasses/teeth etc)
Future planning Fitness/gym
Quality of life Holiday
Quality of life Personal grooming
Quality of life Clothing
Electronics Saving for Computer/Tablet Replacements
Electronics Software Subscriptions
Electronics Saving for phone replacements
Electronics Misc Electronics/cables etc
Just for Fun Takeaway/Eating Out
Just for Fun Hobbies
Just for Fun Paper books & mags
Just for Fun Online TV subscription Channels
Just for Fun TV Sub, virgin box, home phone & Internet
Just for Fun Gaming/toys
Just for Fun Digital downloads (books/games/music etc)
Just for Fun Days out/family fun/evenings out
Just for Fun Misc cash spending
Gift giving/Special occasion 50th birthday - DH
Gift giving/Special occasion Anniversary (cards/presents)
Gift giving/Special occasion Gifts Family & Friends (not Xmas)
Gift giving/Special occasion DC Birthday present
Gift giving/Special occasion DC Birthday celebration
Gift giving/Special occasion Spouse Xmas present
Gift giving/Special occasion xmas food
Gift giving/Special occasion Family xmas presents
Gift giving/Special occasion DC xmas stocking
Gift giving/Special occasion DC present (xmas)
Gift giving/Special occasion Friends presents (xmas)
Gift giving/Special occasion Other festive
Giving/charity Giving - Charity payments
Other Subscriptions
Other Work Expenses
Other Savings (Losing job cushion)
Other Work Expenses
Savings General savings -

It's great that you're doing this now. I'm only just doing it and I'm mid forties.

Orenis. I am older than you and now thinking about retirement( I do have a pension) and the need to start budgeting. I don't want to be poor old person who can't afford to put the heating on or have a day out .

Thank you all

@bumblingbovine49 I am shocked to see the list and be so long though that just shows how un-organised I am! Thank you for taking the time to show me, I will be using yours as a basis to start and also downloading the app! So thank you