What's the best way to keep track of my household finances?

[sladtheinkaler]

I am looking for the best way to keep track of upcoming payments, monthly budget, make sure I don't forget any bills, get a heads up if I'm going to have a tight month etc.

Notebook? Spreadsheet? Calender? App?

What works for you? What can I try?

I have an Excel spreadsheet (I have one for everything actually) that has various columns including the date, type of transaction (DD, bank transfer, cash etc) where the money was spent or received from, the debit or credit and the formula calculates the balance. I start a new one each month and keep three years back of them. At the start of the month I put our carried forward balance, our income and then any committed payments due that month such as direct debits, weekly fuel, money committed for any one off bills, subscriptions, weekly food, savings etc we have the balance as spare income.

Every few days I reconcile my spreadsheet against our online banking to see what’s cleared and what is due to go out.

I have used a variation of this for literally two decades or longer. I know exactly how much to the penny we have.

I have a list of bills on my notes on my phone, in order of direct debit date. Every month I tick off what has gone so I know what’s left to go, so I can see how much is left to pay. It also helps me to see where a bill amount has changed so I can look into why, whether or not it’s a permanent change etc

Something that really helped us was different bank accounts. We have one that wages go into every month. Every month we have standing orders set up so money is ready in each one every month; one goes into a separate account with a separate bank set up for all bills and savings. We have another account with another bank set up for groceries and fuel costs for the month. The remainder stays in the original account which we can then choose to save or spend or for other adhoc costs

Thank you both. I think the spreadsheet idea might work for me. I'll have a play.
It's only me, so no need for separate bank accounts.

Open a monzo account. It lets you know what's coming in and going out a few days in advance. Was a game changer for me. 😊

I use Chatgpt. It keeps a spreadsheet updated for me. Easy for me to just speak to it and have it record everything that way.

my bank account tells me how much i have to spare and what direct debits are due to come out up until any date you want, generally i have chose pay day - lloyds bank

My budgeting ethos is "every pound has a purpose".
So I have a spreadsheet which contains a sheet for each bank account.
The household sheet shows how much DH and I put in to it each month, the regular monthly outgoings (mortgage, energy, childcare), how much we put aside for the irregular outgoings, which are itemised, such as TV license, green bin charge, etc - this has its own bank account and sheet on the spreadsheet so I can see how much we have for each thing. Then what's left is for our food shopping (£400) for the month. And I reconcile this weekly.
I then do the same with my personal banking. But what's left over in there is my fun money.

It sounds complicated, but once it's set up its easy to update and track and I feel very in control of my finances!

We have 2 bank accounts the day wages hit once a month instantly the bills total is transferred into a separate account and never touched and they all go direct debit. Yes we have a spreadsheet but rarely need to look at it or change it unless something goes up a few quid then the extra will also be transferred.

Start with a review of your finances.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

Work out how much you need for annual and irregular expenses and save that amount separately from your bills and spending money. Eg you should be thinking about starting to save for Christmas 2026 from now on. Same for holidays, car costs, emergency fund etc etc. Many accounts allow you to use pots, or you can just keep track on a spreadsheet. The main point is that if you save this money, it means a lot of the time you never have 'a tight month' because you have money put aside for peaks and troughs in spending, which is a surprisingly large amount of money.

Then work out all your essential bills and keep these in a separate account from your spending money. Food and travel could go in a separate account or either of your bills account or spending account. Depends on whether you're at risk of spending your bills or food money on non essentials. Or again you could use pots.

Spilt your money up like that, set up some standing orders and then all your money is in the right place and runs itself automatically. Just needs a quick look on payday to make sure everything is going smoothly and tweak the amounts if needed, eg if one account is looking short and another is running a surplus. Then just spend from the right account.