Finance help

[charlotteshouse2008]

My husband and I are really struggling to manage our money. We earn a decent amount and have worked out our monthly budget with every single thing we are committed to paying, including food, a few treats, etc. - this suggests we should have a comfortable amount surplus each month after all bills, etc. However, we never do and are constantly short and struggling.

For the past few months, we have had a commitment not to spend anything beyond the commitments in our budget, but every month we are back scraping together the pennies before pay day.

I just cannot understand where the money is going as I, personally, am spending zero that isn't in the budget.

We both have our own bank accounts that we get paid into and then pay into a joint account and all bills go out of this.

I want to start keeping a closer eye on what we are both spending and I'm thinking of moving everything to one shared bank account with more transparency.

Does anyone have any recommendations of bank accounts that that track, explain spending and provide greater transparency over spending.

Any other tips totally welcome too!

Thanks for your help everyone.

For a couple of months I would track things manually. The physical action of writing down in a notebook, or on in a notepad app on a phone, helps to make you realise how often you are spending money. Include absolutely everything, so even if you give a child some coins to play with (log them as going out and log them as coming in if you get any back!).

Each adult can have their own list - then you can compare them later.
Routine bills you already know about so those do not need to be tracked, it's every time that cash or a card is used that needs tracking.

If you list every single purchase you make, all direct debits etc you will see where the money is going.
If you want to save the surplus you should have, put the amount into savings at the beginning of the month, don’t wait until the end of the month as there will be nothing left to save.
Dh and I have separate bank accounts but the program ‘money’ to track expenditure and to show savings, overspends etc.

Monzo and Starling banks have apps which track all payments made on the card in real time, with the exception of some things that pre-auth such as Pay-At-Pump but should display the correct amount a few days later.

Old banks like HSBC also do this a bit better now via text messages and the mobile app. No so real time but text alerts can be setup so you get told about expenditure over a certain amount. So have a play with your current bank's options for alerting you to new transactions.

I'd definitely recommend YNAB (You Need a Budget). It's brilliant at budgeting and tracking spending and its revolutionised my finances.

Reading between the lines, you're suggesting it's his spending that is out of control. Have you asked him directly?

Have you looked at all accounts to see where money is going? The information is easily available so it shouldn't be a huge mystery, especially given that many people now use cards for just about all spending. You can usually download transactions into a spreadsheet to analyse. Do you have debts that are costing interest or charges that are not being accounted for?

If there's an overspending problem in one particular area, it might help to run separate accounts.

One for essential fixed bills, set up a standing order each month to cover bills and otherwise leave the account alone.
One for routine monthly spending like groceries and other joint household costs, such as petrol and any child related costs.
A savings account for annual and irregular expenses like insurance, car repairs and replacement, Christmas, holidays, appliance replacement etc.

What's left is split 50/50 for personal spending on a 'when it's gone, it's gone' basis. If someone is spending more than is affordable they'll have to learn to prioritise and stick to what they've got.

I agree with writing down everything you spend. Check out Dave Ramsey Everydollar budget. I basically add everything I spend, I keep receipts too, and make a weekly update on the app. You will see how things add up fast. By the end of the month you have spent more than you budgeted, but without adding it up, it's easy to miss it.

Thanks everyone-I will be making a note of all of this and working through all your great ideas xx

I found it easier to keep track of where it goes when I stopped using cash. I get the occasional thing on my bank statement where I think "Wtf was that for?", like when a shop's trading name is different from what's on the shopfront, but it's much easier.

Now that car parks take card payments, I can even account for the odd 80p payment for a car park.