those were the days, so easy. But get paid 4 weekly now so pay day changes by a few days every month
How do you budget/manage your funds?
- Thread starter apeZ
- Start date
those were the days, so easy. But get paid 4 weekly now so pay day changes by a few days every month
Man of Honour
I have a notepad file that details all my fixed outgoings. I subtract this from my income on payday to work out what I have to play with (my salary is bonused monthly so it's variable)
Soldato
I live with my parents currently, so i spend half of my salary per month.
Well I've set up a pretty basic spreadsheet across 3 (working on 4th) sheets at the moment.
Sheet 1 = 'Main'. Column headers such as 'Opening Balance, General budget, Special items (i.e. buying a new phone, hardware, anything exempt from normal items), General expenses, Total expenses, Total income, Difference (Total income - Total expenses) and Closing Balance.
This sheet just generally outlines money going in and out, and I can see the variation per month.
Sheet 2 = 'Expense'. Basically a recording of all my expenses. I end up with 2 figures, General expenses and Total expenses, which I copy into my main sheet.
Column headers are 'Month, Date, Expense (short descriptiun), Expense cost, Cumulative cost. After each month I leave a spare row to add the Total expenses (same as final cumulative cost. I also subtract the cost of Special items to give the General expenses.
Sheet 3 = 'Income'. A recording of my various ingoings. Works in a similar way to the expense sheet, and I end up with a 'Total income' figure.
Column headers are 'Month, Date, Income, Income amount, Cumulative amount'. Under each month I have the Total income too.
Sheet 4 = 'Special'. A work in progress, using it to monitor my special items or irregular purchases that should be 'paid off'. Also going to be used for loans.
Might sound a bit complicated, but I did it in an hour or so, and was quite interesting. The real challenge is updating it regularly
Sheet 1 = 'Main'. Column headers such as 'Opening Balance, General budget, Special items (i.e. buying a new phone, hardware, anything exempt from normal items), General expenses, Total expenses, Total income, Difference (Total income - Total expenses) and Closing Balance.
This sheet just generally outlines money going in and out, and I can see the variation per month.
Sheet 2 = 'Expense'. Basically a recording of all my expenses. I end up with 2 figures, General expenses and Total expenses, which I copy into my main sheet.
Column headers are 'Month, Date, Expense (short descriptiun), Expense cost, Cumulative cost. After each month I leave a spare row to add the Total expenses (same as final cumulative cost. I also subtract the cost of Special items to give the General expenses.
Sheet 3 = 'Income'. A recording of my various ingoings. Works in a similar way to the expense sheet, and I end up with a 'Total income' figure.
Column headers are 'Month, Date, Income, Income amount, Cumulative amount'. Under each month I have the Total income too.
Sheet 4 = 'Special'. A work in progress, using it to monitor my special items or irregular purchases that should be 'paid off'. Also going to be used for loans.
Might sound a bit complicated, but I did it in an hour or so, and was quite interesting. The real challenge is updating it regularly
Soldato
I budget by not spending all my money. It's not difficult really. Look at your monthly income, then at your monthly outgoings. Take the difference, and that's how much money you get to spend on food that month.
Soldato
I have very few fixed outgoings as I'm living at home, I make sure to save at least £500 a month and spend don't really worry about buying stuff unless it's a big purchase ? (ie over £1k) which is very rare!
yep, thats what i do, what he does too cut the card for the account that gets your wages.
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I get paid weekly (sucks).
So
I have 2 accounts. Calculate my total month outgoings (approx £780) so pay £210 in every week. This gives me a little extra every week going in for rainy day or silly bill arriving. The other bonus is that there are a number of 5 week months in the year so I save an extra 800 odd every year. I almost never look at this account as i'd be tempted to skim a bit
Main bank is Natwest, 'bill' account is nationwide with no cashcard or anything.
So
I have 2 accounts. Calculate my total month outgoings (approx £780) so pay £210 in every week. This gives me a little extra every week going in for rainy day or silly bill arriving. The other bonus is that there are a number of 5 week months in the year so I save an extra 800 odd every year. I almost never look at this account as i'd be tempted to skim a bit
Main bank is Natwest, 'bill' account is nationwide with no cashcard or anything.
Soldato
in my case, badly..
money comes in, bills get paid, rest goes on day-to-day living expense..
if I am very lucky, every few months I can juggle things around and buy something nice with all the pennies I have left.
I'm not rich, not even well off, but I'm content..for now
money comes in, bills get paid, rest goes on day-to-day living expense..
if I am very lucky, every few months I can juggle things around and buy something nice with all the pennies I have left.
I'm not rich, not even well off, but I'm content..for now
Soldato
Money comes in, money goes out. It seems to end up in positive numbers without my input into the process, so I let it manage itself.
Associate
Mainly do the excel thing for ingoings and outgoings then for odd months I'll write everything I spend, even 60p for a can of coke etc, just to see what my actual outgoings are rather then what I think they are. The actual outgoings can be quite an eye opener.
Man of Honour
It's all very simple, my head, bank statements and excel.
Underboss
4 Sep 2009 to 1 Oct 2009
Budget Planner
Income - Section A
Your pay after Tax
Pension Income
State benefits
Interest/investment income (after tax)
Child benefit or maintenance
Tax credits
Other
Total Income
Spending - Section B
Household
Food and drink (supermarket shop)
Mortgage/rent/service charge
Council Tax
Electricity
Gas
Phone/Internet/Satellite TV etc
Mobile phone
TV licence
Water
Other
Leisure
Going Out/Take-aways
Alcohol/cigarettes
Holidays
Gym membership/sports activities
Books/magazines
Other
Financial products
Loan/card/hire-purchase repayments
Pension contributions
Savings/investments
Life insurance
Buildings and/or contents insurance
Car insurance
Medial insurance
Mobile phone insurance
Other
Children
Childcare
Child mainenance
Other
Travel
Getting to work (Petrol)
Car (inc tax,MOT,service)
Other
Other spending
Clothing and footwear
Toiletries
Medicines/prescriptions
Other / paypal
Lottery
Total spending
Total income (from section A)
Total spending (from section B)
Income minus spending (A-B)
basically
Budget Planner
Income - Section A
Your pay after Tax
Pension Income
State benefits
Interest/investment income (after tax)
Child benefit or maintenance
Tax credits
Other
Total Income
Spending - Section B
Household
Food and drink (supermarket shop)
Mortgage/rent/service charge
Council Tax
Electricity
Gas
Phone/Internet/Satellite TV etc
Mobile phone
TV licence
Water
Other
Leisure
Going Out/Take-aways
Alcohol/cigarettes
Holidays
Gym membership/sports activities
Books/magazines
Other
Financial products
Loan/card/hire-purchase repayments
Pension contributions
Savings/investments
Life insurance
Buildings and/or contents insurance
Car insurance
Medial insurance
Mobile phone insurance
Other
Children
Childcare
Child mainenance
Other
Travel
Getting to work (Petrol)
Car (inc tax,MOT,service)
Other
Other spending
Clothing and footwear
Toiletries
Medicines/prescriptions
Other / paypal
Lottery
Total spending
Total income (from section A)
Total spending (from section B)
Income minus spending (A-B)
basically