What does budgeting look like to you on a daily basis?

[Dunnesbest]

On paper we have a good income, bills are paid and we have a good savings pot. After bills etc we have what appears to be a good amount left over but at the end of every fortnight I seem to need to dip into savings. In reality that good amount has to stretch very far, between daily life like fuel and groceries, plus variable one off expenses like birthdays car repairs clothing etc. Its these variable expenses I struggle with, plus because the amount after bills seems healthy we overspend on meals shopping etc.
So I need to rein it in, that's fine, and obviously need to start putting aside a fixed amount for variable expenses. But on a day to day basis does this mean accounting for every penny? I don't think i know anyone who actually does that. It seems quite joyless and soul destroying.
So how do you manage your finances on a day to day basis?

This is my system , but I check at least every 2nd day as I got cloned last year so I like to stay on the ball . All savings etc are removed at the start of the month . It is also set up that I get notified if my main spending account drops below a set amount but that never happens as I like a reasonable float .

I have a bills account for all DDR’s , food and petrol and a spending account plus ‘ pots’ for car , pets , holidays , Xmas / birthdays and my tax . When I get money I allocate to each account and anything left is spending on socialising or anything I fancy . I am a terrible impulse spender though and I like to have my pots to be organised but budgeting per se doesn’t work for me because if I want extra money I just take it from savings .

We have a spreadsheet with all of our monthly costs and our annual costs divided by 12. We ensure the amount we pay into this account covers all of our living expenses. The majority of our annual costs are in one quarter so the amount in our joint account builds up to that quarter and then drops down to low amount afterwards.

Personal shopping such as clothes and make up comes out of our personal accounts. I don't think I spend £300 a year of clothing and make up though! I buy online predominantly and have a rule of still wanting to buy it a week later before buying it. I try to buy quality items that will last, I try to keep to a buy once philosophy.

Another spreadsheeter here! Three tabs, one for joint expenses that comes from the joint account (including things like pocket money for DC!) one for DH personal bills (all expenses relating to his car, mobile phone and hobby) and one for my personal bills covering car, phone, hobbies etc. Both DH and I have savings lines and fun money lines in our budgets.
Clothes/beauty/lunches come from fun money and WIGIG! Takes some discipline but we don’t touch savings unless it’s for an unforeseen big expense (new boiler!) or a planned big expense we’ve saved specifically for (bathroom reno). Even then, that money would come from the joint savings that gets contributed to monthly from the joint account.

I don’t budget for day to living as income is sufficient to not worry about bills, clothes, going out etc.

DH and I don’t have any joint accounts.

I do keep and eye on when big expense are due eg buying a new car and make sure that there is money ready for that.

I invest a lot so spend more time reviewing and managing that budgeting day to day.

Do the first few weeks of Rebel Finance - on you tube. It might inspire you to complete their course.

Your spending sounds daft to me - surely you want to remove debt (hopefully it’s cheap debt) and keep the savings. Ideally you wound and could build them up prior to your child going to uni.

I realised that after all DD type bills, after food and fun and transport, I needed £250 for birthdays and Christmas. I put it into a pot every month, pay into my pension, isa and SIPP. The thought of doubling my early retirement away for thoughtless clothes and makeup purchases would depress me!

Me 3100
DP 4100
Child Benefit 280
Total 7480

Housing
Mortgage: 1900.
Insurances(life, house): 150
Total Housing: 2050
Utilities
Electricity 150
Waste collection: 30
Broadband & TV: 70
Mobile phones x3: 60
Total Utilities: 310
Food & Groceries
Groceries & household food: 500
Dining out / takeaways: 200
Total Food: 700
Transportation
Fuel: 250
Car insurance & tax: 150
Maintenance & NCT: 100
Public transport / Parking: 20
Total Transport: 520
Education & Kids
School books, uniforms, fees: 50
Activities, sports, clubs: 50
Pocket money/treats: 60
Total Kids & Education: 160
Entertainment & Lifestyle
Family outings, hobbies, gifts: 200
Subscriptions, books, etc.: 60
Miscellaneous expenses (haircuts,nails): 60
Personal spends:€200 x 2 = 400
Total Entertainment: 730
Savings & Miscellaneous
Emergency fund / Savings: 2,000
Holidays (monthly allocation): 500
Clothing: 200
Miscellaneous buffer: 300
Total Savings & Misc.: 3,000
TOTAL MONTHLY SPENDING: 7,480

this is our monthly budget. When we get paid, we transfer a certain amount each into the joint account to pay the bills, 2000 to the savings account, 500 to a holiday account, and the car account gets 250 per month that we use for insurance and tax, when those bills come up we just pay them in full.
Once those big things are accounted for the rest stays in our personal accounts, I just keep an eye on the rest of the spending. There’s a good offer in all of the accounts so any expenditures don’t throw us off course.
Savings are not dipped into, unless for major expenses that were unforeseen.

I don't budget day to day but, like others here, I won't spend on treats until near the end of the month. For me treats are theatre tickets, for you it sounds like clothing and skincare are your thing. There is no way £3-400 on these is essential spending. I have a long term savings pot and an easy access savings account. I pay into both at the start of the month. Easy access savings is used for Xmas, Birthdays etc.

That’s the equivalent of a single income parent earning 150k. Crazy that such an income can attract benefits.

I don’t blame you as an individual but the system needs updating if it is to remain fair and equitable for all.

If you are having to decide between fun and big birthdays the you aren’t budgeting at all. That’s just decide month spending l. Budgeting is done in advance. It’s not boring at all. I have £500 now I can spend on whatever I want in my fun fund! You presumably have know about a birthday for some time and most people spend something each month on entertainment.

I use the three account system, Salary and DD, spending and savings. The DD account has just enough to cover the DDS, I estimate my monthly and annual spending and transfer to the spending account and the rest is saved into a long term saving pot.

The spending account is monthly and annual spends and an emergency fund. I put the emergency fund and annual spends into “pots” or spaces. Every 4 months I plan what I have coming and work out how much I need and ensure the is enough in the annual pot.

In the next 6 months I have a theme park trip, holiday, a big birthday a normal family birthday and two weekends breaks plus Christmas. These are all annual.

I have monthly pots for food, clothes, hair, beauty and make up, pets, and travel and gifts. But this isn’t necessary - I just wanted to stop overspending!

I used to get caught out with unexpected gifts, car tyres, glasses and contact lenses, dentist bills and prescription or illnesses. I spent £18 on cold and flu stuff the weekend which sounds insane but night nurse is £10 a bottle.

or I need three prescriptions. So I have a pot called health

I might switch between hair and clothes but tend to be quite rigorous in keeping to the pots.

Don’tUnderestimate spending because you will then dip into emergency fund or worse savings or even worse credit card.

When I started out I did a monthly spreadsheet and accounted for every penny, but now I just do it every 6 months and treat the spending as variable.

@Dunnesbest the way we do it is to have a budget spreadsheet with columns for the type of expenditure and rows for the months. We have a budget amount in each column. We don't keep track of our spending day to day, but every month we fill in the spreadsheet for that month and look at which categories were over budget, then try to cut down on that category in the following month (unless there was a particular reason why it was over budget).

I think this is a reasonable compromise between "keeping track of your spending" and "accounting for every penny".

I’m in Ireland where child benefit is not means tested. So it’s fair here I suppose as everyone gets it.

I have a spreadsheet. Starting with total income for the month I listed everything I could spend by category - mortgage, food, bills etc. Then after essentials I list savings, holiday, beauty appointments, clothes, eating out etc and split the remaining amount between these categories. Then as I spend in the month I reduce the pots one by one. If I have £100 for a meal and I spend £150 then £50 comes off the clothes budget or another non essential. Any pots I don't spend get added to savings.

I only really adjust the pots if I know I have a wedding to attend or want to buy something special.

A helpful way of looking at what you’re spending is calculating how many hours you need to work to afford it. So if you are frittering £3-400 a month, how many hours/days do you have to work for that?

I have a spreadsheet with my income and all my bills. When I get paid I transfer a fixed amount into savings and just know after my bills I’ve got $x left to last me the month, so I just spend accordingly. I should budget a bit better and save each month for car insurance or holidays but tbh when these come around I usually just dip into my savings.

I was in debt a long time ago and the habits I learned when paying it back have stuck with me - I don’t really buy material items, or go mad on things I don’t need, but I definitely could curb my spending on food and snacks!!

I put my fuel and food money into a different account so that's taken care of for the month. Then I'll add any one-off outgoings to my spreadsheet (for example, car repairs, a birthday, etc) then whatever is left I divide roughly by 4 to see what I have spare each week. I try to loosely follow it but don't think about it too much from then on. If I have lots of plans for the weekend, for example, I'll consciously make sure I spend less in the week, but I'm not counting every penny.

your view of your money differs to mine, you haven’t got a ‘good amount left over’ as you have debt. Once you’ve paid your bills and allocated money for necessities you are just borrowing more money off yourself because you have debt that needs addressing.

Everyone needs to be on board with no mindless spending. Instead of going shopping, do something else or have a rule you will only allow an additional purchase if you spend under x amount.

I like accounting for every penny as we do more because I’m careful about what I spend.

Do you still get child benefit on such a high income?

She’s in Ireland - different rules

Yes, child benefit in Ireland is not means tested
rates are
Singles =140 per child per month
twins= 210 per child per month
triplets (or more)= 280 per child per month.

Yes sorry, I picked up thread in wrong place! Very admirable that everyone gets the benefit in Ireland, I think that’s how it should be!

Yes every penny is accounted for. Massive spreadsheet with linked cells/formulas so you fiddle with the various inputs to see what happens. Separate pots for everything you could think of. Xmas, cars, birthdays, kids clubs, professional fees so nothing is a surprise expense. Every monthly expense is in the spreadsheet.
What is left after all that is fun money and you can spend it how you want

I’ve just started doing exactly this and it’s really taken some of the stress away. I’m tying YNAB and so far I think it’s great. Before, I was trying to manage all the variable expenses separately in a spreadsheet and that was joyless! but the app makes it so much easier.
Took a while to get my head round it but now I have its pretty straight forward

YNAB is the best! I’m always shilling it on here but it genuinely is life-changing.

I agree with other posters that putting aside a chunk of money each month into an account for occasional/annual spending will help, because it will reduce the amount of money that 'looks' as though it's available for impulse spending.

I've had a real mindset shift on this in my early 50s; I used to spend what there was each month, but now I shift money to savings on payday and find contentment in seeing the savings build up. (My banking app helps with this because you can click and see the total from the different savings accounts.)

Practically speaking, I only have two accounts that I spend out of: a current account and a credit card. I keep the current account basically empty except for what I need to cover standing orders/direct debits, and track the credit card to make sure I'm not going over what I budget for it monthly.

I've started tracking my money into a spreadsheet every month; once I've done that for a year I'm going to review and see whether there's anywhere I can cut spending a bit.