SKINT SKINT SKINT

[Hermione1]

I was just wondering or perhaps it is just me, but we are always skint at the end of the month, and even sometimes two weeks into the months money, No matter how hard i try, just seem to have no money. Does anyone else have this, bearing in mind i have no c.cards as such.

Does anyone know of a good budget sheet or something you could use to work out a budget??

Also, do you stick to a budget? Is it easy?? HOw do you do it??? i can't seem to.

HELP!!!

yes we do! we've come to accept it really! althou DH has made an expenses sheet on the computer so we know where we are apparently.

hOW DO YOU DO IT? in my case there's always something that crops up.

normally what happens is - we get paid, (both on the first) bills come out on the first so we know everything's been paid, (also we have to tick it off on DH's sheet) then we see what's left take outthe shopping and work with cash/ only spend X amount a week that we know we've got, we also have online banking which is a great help. we also now shop at tesco.com and last month saved £50 alone by not going to the store.

wow!!our dd come out all over the place, need some seriouse help.

well we basically said to al our creditors for DD's and all, if u don't take it out on the 1st it won't get paid simple as that, and all of them changed to a date that suited all of us, give them a quick call to see if you can have all the bills out on one day.

whwt do you ring the back??

no u have to ring each company individually, butt he thing is we know where we are if all the DD's come out on the same day.

it's a good idea. will do that.

then with what's left budget urself with spending so if u have 400 left for the month after shopping money then take out of the cash point £100 on say a mondya morning and don't take out anything else until the following week.

Bump anyone?

look for the budget spreadsheet on the money saving expert web site... it is excellent and will give you a very clear idea of what your outgoings and incomings are...

then once you know your weekly cash budget, take it out in cash and hide all cards... that is the only way to stop yourself spenging over budget!

Were always skint and overdrawn so it seems.
We've budgeted but something always happens or and we get fed up in come the second week we relax the budget a little.
Having to remortgage now to get ourselves back on track.
The idea of the dd's going out on the same day is a great idea. Will be ringing round today

Have just been to that site and cannot make head nor tail of it, feeling really stupid, lol.

i think a good idea is to factor into your budget something to cover emergencies. we always seem to have something everymonth. for example something wrong with the car.or yet another present that needs to be bought. or the washing machine/dishwasher etc breaking down. or some reason for the phone bill to go sky high. or the kids growing to much to o quickly
etc etc

We're a bit like you too Hermione, but also like Munz, all our dd's go out at the beginning of the month, bar one who refused to cahnge that date, but we can live with that.
We still fnd ourselves skint after two or three weeks, but we've recently started putting away a couple of hundred pounds at the beginning of the month into a savings account, which is for emergencies. This means we have less to begin with and are a little more careful in the first two weeks than we used to be, but if we run dry (which we usually do) halfway through the month, then we transfer little amounts to cover the next few days or so, and are extra careful then to be frugal. We usually end up having not used all the emergency money, so are saving a little each month as well. We've managed to bring our overdraft right down by doing this.
We also fing online banking very helpful for knowing where we are - we also get free text statements daily from our bank.

this is the story of my life. i've given up trying to budget except for food. it never works out anyhow. our goal is to pay off our debts entirely (they aren't that great as it is, about £1000 total) by the end of the year. we already do that at £125/month. beyond that, i've resigned myself to being skint my entire life.

Hi,

I am exactly the same, Hermione I have approx 10 days to pay day and less than £40 left in my account to pay for food/transport etc etc for 6 of us. It's just a nightmare isn't it?
I do find moneysavingexpert.com good, especially their Debtfree Wannabee and Money Saving Old-Style chat boards. Haven't used their budget planner - although I do budget, I use my own format (basically total income less all the expenditure I can think of) but unfortunately I am totally crap at sticking to it .
You might also find this site and this one quite useful as they both give budgetting hints and tips.

were the same and we have no loans,credit cards, credit, catalogues and were skint now untill last day of the onth when dp gets payed i try different things each month with shopping ect next month is my menu planning month see if it cuts down on money.

cp - menu planning has helped us as has tesco.com, last month we spent £90 in tesco.com, £30 in the butcher for fresh meats then £30 for milk/bread etc.. and essentials during the month if we run out (so all in all £150 to last us only two mind) but we've done it, and a week till pay day with a stack of food in the freezer, also smaller portions are helping cos then we're not chucking it away and are actually eating everyhting, I've also started makin everything from scratch which i'm finding is cheaper, and actually nicer.

We always menu plan but we do factor in some alternatives - say if we get in too late to spend ages cooking there is some leeway. However once in a while we still manage to go through the freezer and cupboards and find enough to have a very light week at the supermarket. In the past we have also had fun buying only BOGOFs and eating practically the same food 2 weeks running but it only costs the same as one week. Watch out for over priced BOGOFs though. Unfortunately we do find there's a lot of processed foods on BOGOF and it is harder to eat properly doing this. I am the main breadwinner and am currently on maternity leave with baby no.2 so we are currently 'Money Spinning' at home and because both myself and my partner are involved we make it into a game. We sort of have a competition to see who can spend the least. Apart from a small grocery bill I got through last week on £1 (taking my kids to playgroup) We do make good use of a local country park though which has brill play equipment - we have a season ticket which costs £13 for all year!! We find the secret to having a serious clampdown like this is to do it for about 1 month 2-3times per year. The rest of the time we do 'normal' budgetting. I always find though that one of the key things is to go to the supermarket once per week only!
I hope I don't sound like a real sad case or anything but I actually enjoy thinking twice before I buy things and stretching money as far as it will go.

sorry, but what is BOGOF?

Buy on eget one free

Thanks for all yourd help, I'm sitting here taking it all in.
meal planning is ok, except my dh works different shifts and is not always in at dinner, so he cooks something before he goes, what should i do then??

well i've taken note of this fact as DH is off work and i'm out to work at the minute, as i'm on WW i've devised meal plans and stuck it on the fridge, give him his due DH looks on the page for what i've written down then gets it all out of the feezer and cooks it for when I come home, he's getting v v good at it as well. would that sort of an idea work?

also, find out when your local supermarket puts out the reduced items (often on Monday evenings) and get reduced meat to freeze. A couple of weeks ago, I got 2 free-range chickens for less than £2 each, duck breasts for £2.50 rather than £5.50, etc
So we habve eaten well this month for less than half the normal prices