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Help needed

29 replies

NotOnThe · 26/11/2024 12:35

Single mum to 3 dc. I'm flat out hopeless at budgeting.
I over spend galore
Online shopping. Regular shops.
I really need to get things under control, how?
Never done a budget or stuck to one,
Average salary but I've been lucky I had savings but that has to stop. I need to live only on my salary.
Help
Help
Help
I feel so helpless

OP posts:
grannycake · 29/11/2024 09:43

I was in debt back in my early 50s. I started tracking everything and opened savings accounts. Any payrise I kept 50% and increased the savings by the same amount. By the time I retired we had enough in savings for my DH to retire 7 years early so we could fulfil our travel plans while still healthy

Once you realise how much we waste you wont go back

redfishcat · 29/11/2024 10:52

Numbers is just there on my iPad. It's a fetching lime green.
Took a bit of getting used to, but i love it now.

MikeRafone · 29/11/2024 17:17

Never done a budget or stuck to one

why have you never done a budget and if you haven't ever done a budget how could you have stuck to a budget you didn't have?

The simplest way I find to budget is to pay yourself on payday.

Have one account where your wages, income, child benefit comes into

and open a monzo or chase account (chase account pays 3.45% interest) and Chase allow you to open up several pocket accounts and give them names

so from the wages/income CB account set up several standing orders to the different budget/pocket account all to go out on the same day as your biggest income is deposited

for example you are paid on the first of the month £1000

so you set up a standing order to

council tax account £150
utilities account for gas and electric £150
water account £50
petrol account £55
xmas & birthday present account £25
house insurance account £25
MOT and car service account £25
Internet and phone £35
Grocery shopping £400

total £915

that leaves you £85

but you can spend that £85 on what you want over the month but once it is gone - its gone

when you pay for groceries you move the money into your current account and obviously divid by 4.5 so have £88 a week to spend on grocery shopping

then when you get the child benefit or any other income hitting your account through the month - that is yours to save or spend

NotOnThe · 30/11/2024 14:18

MikeRafone · 29/11/2024 17:17

Never done a budget or stuck to one

why have you never done a budget and if you haven't ever done a budget how could you have stuck to a budget you didn't have?

The simplest way I find to budget is to pay yourself on payday.

Have one account where your wages, income, child benefit comes into

and open a monzo or chase account (chase account pays 3.45% interest) and Chase allow you to open up several pocket accounts and give them names

so from the wages/income CB account set up several standing orders to the different budget/pocket account all to go out on the same day as your biggest income is deposited

for example you are paid on the first of the month £1000

so you set up a standing order to

council tax account £150
utilities account for gas and electric £150
water account £50
petrol account £55
xmas & birthday present account £25
house insurance account £25
MOT and car service account £25
Internet and phone £35
Grocery shopping £400

total £915

that leaves you £85

but you can spend that £85 on what you want over the month but once it is gone - its gone

when you pay for groceries you move the money into your current account and obviously divid by 4.5 so have £88 a week to spend on grocery shopping

then when you get the child benefit or any other income hitting your account through the month - that is yours to save or spend

I like this.

OP posts:
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