Talk to Barclays about budgeting - £200 voucher prize draw! MORE QUESTIONS ADDED! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Barclays have asked us to find out how Mumsnetters approach budgeting and what banks can do to make the process easier.

Here’s what Barclays say, “Raising a family is no walk in the park and presents its fair share of challenges (from how much TV the kids should watch to making sure they get their 7-a-day) and budgeting for childcare is probably one of the biggest challenges mums and dads face, especially if you’re a working parent.

The Government’s planned childcare subsidy for September 2015 means that working parents can join a new scheme offering a 20% rebate on childcare costs, worth up to £2,000 a year. For many working mums and dads this is big news – but a long way off. So, how do you handle budgeting in the meantime?

We’d love to find out more about the budgeting challenges that you’re up against as a working mum or dad – and what could be done to make managing your money easier before the subsidy is introduced in September next year.”

So, how do you manage budgeting within your family? Maybe you have a comprehensive spreadsheet which you use to keep track of spending? Or perhaps you are a keen voucher collector to help save money? Do you have any ideas on how your bank could help you make budgeting easier? Whatever they are, we’d love to hear them.

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

I married an accountant, he sorts it all out for me.

More seriously, we have a huge and very complex spreadsheet that is used to keep track of absolutely everything. We have budgets for different things and do our best to stick to them. I usually handle logistics of insurances, etc, so DH checks with me regularly about what is due to come up and approximate values.

Anything worth more than about £20 I do copious amounts of research on to make sure we are getting the best deal and exactly what it is we need. A lot of things get filtered at that point as we realise we don't really require them after all. I keep wish lists of things I want and monitor them for sales.

Online food shopping helps a lot with budgeting. If a shop is looking bigger than I'd prefer (due to restocking cupboard items or similar) then I switch meals to cheaper versions to keep the value as level as I possibly can. Alternatively if a shop is coming in cheap, I use the opportunity to grab bargains for cupboard fillers.

When out and about, I have a separate wallet that is filled with loyalty cards, coupons, etc. If I can collect points or save money anywhere, I do!

We don't use childcare because its too expensive and thus not in our budget!

I dont like the feeling that we are being super strict with ourselves so I don't keep a list or spreadsheets. I do have online banking so check my balance at least once a week.

I know that I can afford one night out a month on our budget (Circa £50 spend) so I try not to arrange too much in one month. Where it's unavoidable I'll have a quite month afterwards to make up for it.

Dd never goes without though.

I run the household finances from joint account. It would be lovely if there was a magic way for lunar pays as banks seem to struggle with anything out of the ordinary payed at the end of the month.

I dont budget as well as I should and need to get better sharpish given another year of rising costs and in effect a pay cut

I don't budget at all

Didn't before children, DD is 1 so I haven't really changed my financial habits. Need to do it.

We logged all our spending on a mobile app for 6 months to see how much we were spending, then set ourselves a weekly budget to cover everything except the big one off spends. I think its really powerful to keep a spending record as I reckon there are a lot of people out there who have no idea what their money is actually going on.
Mobile banking apps certainly help.

I have to take cash out of my bank at the beginning of the month, put it into separate envelopes, so for example: going out, petrol, food.

That way I have a visual of exactly how much I can spend and once it's gone, that's it.

I am TERRiBLE with money and since u've become a single parent I've had to sort it out.

Voucher bargain hunter and asking ourselves every time we go to spend money 'do we need this, will be use this, can we afford this'

I have a spreadsheet on which I have calculated our monthly outgoings and what our current assets are. I use that as a baseline.

I don't then update on a monthly basis but keep the amounts I have allocated per category in mind as I spend during the month. I also put everything onto the credit card but pay it off in full every month so I can see in black and white what I have spent in various places.

My credit cards are cashback cards and although it is a miniscule percentage, every little counts as a bonus provided you never pay interest

My budgeting is very haphazard so maybe I can get some tips from here! I just try to get deals at the supermarket etc, look for deals online and make my money stretch further without keeping that much track of it.

I had no idea what the costs of childcare actually were before having a daughter and they are exhorbitant. I suppose it is something I should have researched beforehand, but I had no clue!

My husband is more organised with money and has a big spreadsheet. I tend to put money away as soon as I am paid as if I don't have it lurking in my current account I am less likely to spend it.

We try to be as tax efficient as possible - so making sure that savings are put in cash ISAs - the recent Budget announcements on ISAs are a real bonus. So banks could help by offering flexible ISAs for saving I think.

We don't budget as such.

Everything goes into and out of one account.
Day to day spending is taken as a given, but we will comment if something comes in more than usual. Any larger spends, or lots of smaller spends gets commented on to each other. If we think lots is going out, we log on and see whats happening. We are fortunate enough to have a regular savings amount, so if we over spend one month, we can claw some of that back.

I think nursery's could be more open about costs - round here you have to ask - costs aren't easily available e.g. online like everything else to do with the place is. Costs also really vary by area (through MN I realise how lucky we are with childcare costs). That would really help with the planning.

I have a spreadsheet on the computer but I would love an app and one that I can personalise and that capture monthly spending as well as those one offs like insurance payments once a year or a car service. I am fairly consistent with my spending and I would love to have an easy way to see which months I am spending too much in or that I have a lot of big one off payments coming up in without me having to spend hours calculating it.

We have a spreadsheet and we try to play our expenditure as far as possible. Everything seems to be constantly getting more expensive, so it's definitely a challenge. We have individual accounts and a joint account, from which all bills are paid. We use direct debits/standing orders for this. We worked out that after all these had gone out ( mortgage and bills) our biggest expenditure was food shopping. We're now trying to budget this better and have opened another account just for groceries - food, nappies, cleaning products etc. It's much easier to see how much we are spending, and we can try to stick to our budget better.

The one thing I think banks could do to help, would be to allow us to have different mini accounts within one. I don't really want lots of different accounts with different banks, but I do want several pots of money allocated for different things within my main account.

I'm not the spreadsheet type. We budget by shopping around for the best deals on absolutely everything- mortgages, insurance, utility bills, shopping etc. This enables us to have more disposable income so I guess it works.

I would like text alerts when my account hits certain levels, so that I don't get any shocks. I would also like to not be charged account fees or overdraft fees, but I suppose I'm wishing for the impossible.

Comprehensive spreadsheet here which has evolved over the years.
I also make a note of all the little amounts I earn, e.g. cashback, savings interest, bank account rewards, and freebies over the year as an incentive for myself.
I'm in charge of our finances and my husband's always amazed (or at least he humours me!) when I say how much our mortgage has reduced by due to overpayments.
Vouchers, coupons, good deals, top cash back, anything goes and I love getting a bargain! Having said that I'm not a big shopper, I do this for essentials and am pretty frugal when it comes to luxuries or fun days out.
The hardest bit for me was the loss of my income on mat leave, but I used the spreadsheet to keep on track. I don't think my bank could help me much as I'm already pretty extreme!

I try to practice "mindful spending". I ask myself if I really need it before buying. I use cash. If I have the money in my purse I'm less likely to overspend than if I am sticking it on a card. I also operate a reduce, reuse, recycle policy. I buy only what we need, reuse everything and recycle duplicate or unwanted gifts. I save a fortune doing this. I buy only clothes we really need on e-bay and charity shops.

There used to be a spreadsheet then we had one then two children and it became impossible to be do organised. Or rather I could do that, if I wasn't working full time or if the dh helped in being more organised.

I tend to take out say £40 a week and from there things like cleaners get paid and whatever random small amount of money. Food shop is done with nectar credit cards or if Aldi then obviously we need to have the cash to spend there.

I have a mental limit of £60/week and we are trying hard to maintain that. Having said that it's the money for childcare that's the biggest killer.

All major bills go out by direct debit soon after payday, so know how much I have for other things. Price check online for best deals.

I shop around and get the best price whether it's insurance, utilities, petrol, food or whatever

I question do I really need that....a lot

I keep a budget on a bit of software that monitors all payments automatically and forecasts because I set it up with all regular payments. I have a monthly credit card allowance so that I can spend and keep an eye on whether I'm likely to get a shock at the end of the month

Our mortgage and household bills come out of the joint account. I handle the rest of the accounting, putting aside part of our income into a savings account - I then spend what needs to be spent of children's clubs, birthday presents, car etc from my current account and work out at the end of the month what I need to put into the savings account for the next month. Actually I've confused myself trying to explain it. I would love it to me easier, my blood pressure goes up just going onto the online banking accounts.

I am an avid voucher/special offer hunter and search online for the best deals before I do my shopping each week.
Banks could help by operating a cashback scheme with certain shops or businesses.
I don't use spreadsheets but I do switch home/car insurance, and energy suppliers each year to get the best rates.

We have a variety of savings pots which include monthly amounts we put aside towards one off bills like insurance. Though it's a PITA to set up new pots - they have to be done in person not online.

We also operate a cash economy to physically see where money goes.

We have monthly cash piles for weekend fun, kids midweek stuff and also clothing. It can be tiresome but helps us not overspend on the little things that can build up over the course of a month.

I have mantras,

'Things are nice but being in the black is nicer
If I do not truly need x then I do not have it
Better dust on the wallet than red on the statement'

They work for me

We use a spreadsheet, though this relies on remembering to fill it in accurately which we don't always do. Does help to put things in perspective though and realise how small costs add up, e.g. Take away coffees. Maybe some kind of app which would make keeping track of spending already exists (I haven't looked), this could be useful.

Also make use of supermarket points schemes and exchange points for meals out at child-friendly restaurants.

I have no budgeting plan but would love Barclays to spend the time at an appt to sit down and plan one with me, I would probably save more and have a better handle on things if that was the case. This may have been said but what about a budgeting app?