How do you budget?

[Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas]

Like lots of people we are going to have to be more careful as a family. How do you budget and keep track of spending? What method works for your family?

Currently we have a joint account for family expenditures, family credit which is in DH name (paid off in full every month) and personal accounts for person spends.

I have a spreadsheet listing our wages, then a breakdown of all bills/expenditure, including an allowance for petrol and food shopping.

All bills money etc (as above) stay in the joint account and we give ourselves "spending money" per month each that goes out as a standing order to our individual accounts.

I also have a tab on the spreadsheet with how much we need to budget for Christmas presents, birthday presents, Mother's Day, Father's Day, annual car insurance and annual buildings and contents insurance (anything else that definitely happens annually). Divide it by 12 months and have a standing order for that amount that goes into a savings account that is accessed when needed throughout the year, and I deduct it from the spreadsheet as I spend it on a birthday etc.

If there is anything left from wages on pay day after all of this, then I automatically save that (in a separate savings account than birthdays etc) so that I'm not tempted to spend it on day to day things unnecessarily. But can still access it for emergencies e.g. the summer holidays is always expensive.