How do you budget/save your money?

[MummaB22]

Just that really.

I've always been pretty terrible at budgeting & saving before I had my first DC in March. However I did have a disposable income so I wasn't really thinking about it!

With the current rise in gas/electric and pretty much everything else I think I'm going to need to get it together and get some advice!

I'm currently on maternity and my wages are about to go down to SMP next month so I'm a little worried about the next 3 months ahead before I go back to work.

How do you plan on budgeting/cutting costs?

Any tips/advice welcome!

I have to have money in separate accounts - if it's in my main account, it's for spending. I don't have the debit card in my purse for my main account (and don't have cards for the others). I managed to pay off my overdraft this way last year, and I'd lived in it for about 15 years since I was a student! I have direct debits set up to other accounts for the day after payday, some are just general savings accounts, others are for specific things (eg vets). They're only small amounts but I have managed to save over the last year, which is a massive achievement for me. Anything that's left at the end of the month, I pay either into a savings account or towards the credit card. I do all my day to day spending on a credit card and I have a limit set up per month. I can still spend over that limit, but I get a notification on my phone when I do. I always go over it, but I quite enjoy seeing how far into the month I can get before getting that notification.

I'm rubbish with money though so how I manage mine is probably tips in what not to do!

Separate accounts here too. Have random food that is in, rather than buy and prepare proper meals.

I have a bills and out goings account
I have a savings account
And I have an everyday, whatever is left is mine to spend account

Write it down. Write a list of everything you spend money on, from the every week (e.g. food) to the annual (e.g. TV licence). EVERYTHING. Get yourself a pad of paper, every item on the list gets a page to itself. Keep track of what you spend, every penny, for a month. Look at it, assess whether you wasted money (e.g. food bought but not eaten) - and set next month's budget from what you think you should have spent. After a few months of tracking where your money goes, you'll find it easier.

Annual stuff like insurance and TV licence, put a twelfth away in a savings account monthly so that you will be able to meet the bill when it comes in.

Like others, you need to do a proper financial audit on yourself, understand your incomings and outgoings - money saving expert have a really good tool for this, it's particularly important to understand and budget for bills/expenditure which is annual or irregular, such as insurances, car MOT/servicing, holidays, Christmas, birthdays etc. For the latter I use a bank account (Monzo) that has a 'pots' functionality, and on pay day I immediately transfer 1/12th of my annual budget for these things into the appropriate pot, so that the money builds up through the year. It's a really useful feature so I'd advise looking into that. You also need to build in reasonable costs for clothing, food and other essentials into your monthly budget.

Once you understand your income and essential outgoings, you then know what is 'left over' for saving and disposable income, you can cut your cloth accordingly. Personally I would prioritise saving over any other 'fun' spends until such time as you have at least 6 months income saved for emergencies, although you do need to allow yourself some fun money too. After that you can think about your savings goals and reassess how much you want to save vs spend. Whatever you do decide to save, transfer it out of your main bank account on payday so it doesn't get muddled with other money, even if only to an easy access savings account. And many people find it helpful to keep their 'fun' spending money somewhere separate too, or withdraw it in cash so you can physically see what you've got and when it's gone it's gone, reduces the temptation to dip into bills money or whatever...