Do you guys budget?

Might be boring —-> Due to the plague situation, I’ve just been help run some Personal budgeting sessions at work.

Repeatedly, we are getting people getting in more and more debt. But when helping with their budgets, they’ve got £40/mnth mobile bills, £15/mnth tv subscription, really expensive utilities and broad band, £250 Ppc car etc. Really opened my eyes how people who think they’re struggling aren’t aware of what value they’re getting for their money (or what they consider necessities in life in some cases).
 


I never had previously but split up with ex about 8 months ago and she moved out.

So rent + bills doubled, so had to actually take stock of incomings/outgoings for the first time. I still have enough to be comfortable and no debt (other than student loan, but that doesn' count right?). But can't be quite as frivolous as I was with a lot more disposable each month.

I'm still on her Netflix and Spotify family account, so I'll see how long I can keep that running for.
 
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I'm pretty good at keeping a track of things. I put all the household expenses into the joint account on my payday, have standing orders to savings accounts and budget for beer money which goes into a Monzo account. Also have all out goings on a spreadsheet which I check on a regular basis to see if any account is gonna run out before the next payday. The trouble I have is from letting the Mrs have a credit card on my account which she uses when there might not be enough on the joint account and doesn't bother asking/ telling me.
 
Might be boring —-> Due to the plague situation, I’ve just been help run some Personal budgeting sessions at work.

Repeatedly, we are getting people getting in more and more debt. But when helping with their budgets, they’ve got £40/mnth mobile bills, £15/mnth tv subscription, really expensive utilities and broad band, £250 Ppc car etc. Really opened my eyes how people who think they’re struggling aren’t aware of what value they’re getting for their money (or what they consider necessities in life in some cases).

Yes and no, I’m being made redundant next year so I’ve been planning ahead financially, lowered my phone contract to sim only, my car was paid off in March and I’m keeping that for the foreseeable, just being sensible basically.

If I was in guaranteed full time work I probably wouldn’t have done those things necessarily but it’s just about being sensible really.
 
Nope but I live a relatively frugal life so it hasn't been necessary. Other than the astronomical rental costs I'm not really spending that much money. I'll go out every weekend and not worry about what I'm spending, but on the flip side I don't have a phone contract, car, TV etc. don't buy new clothes, gadgets or anything like that.

Having been brought up with very little I do probably overthink most purchases. It's definitely a different attitude to a few people I know who'll happily drop 500 quid on a coat or something on a whim. It would take me 2 months to justify that sort of spending to myself. :lol:

I used to have a spreadsheet to track stuff but realised I couldn't be arsed, no benefit to it, fortunately. I'm still aware of all outgoings though and make sure we're on the best possible contracts. You'd be a mug not to do that.
 
We do a budget if something major changes in life. We are moving soon so we have looked at revised outgoings which made it obvious to use some savings to pay off existing debt. Now that’s done, I’ll not maintain the budget and check on a regular basis as outgoings and savings are set and my monthly spend pot is managed by not spending more.
 
We do a budget if something major changes in life. We are moving soon so we have looked at revised outgoings which made it obvious to use some savings to pay off existing debt. Now that’s done, I’ll not maintain the budget and check on a regular basis as outgoings and savings are set and my monthly spend pot is managed by not spending more.
Where ya moving to?
 
I made a concious decision to avoid all credit (with the exception of the mortgage) many years ago. If I want something and haven’t got enough money for it, I can’t have it unless I save up for it.

I have also paid down the mortgage whenever I could.

Its great when times get hard as your outgoings are relatively low, and I must have saved thousands in interest over the years... so as a result I can actually have more things I want.

Also when you want something, ask the question do you really need it?
 
Use a spreadsheet, which has helped a lot over the last few years. Got two current accounts, one for bills and the other for spending.

I've paid down 1 credit card and close to paying off another in the next couple months. Also managed to save a bit using the Plum app.
 
Was in pretty good shape financially until I split up with my missus a few years back - ended up losing out on my equity in the house, taking on 100% of the marital debt and having a hefty solicitor bill to pay, all of which put me back to square one.

Have had to knuckle down to clear any outstanding debt since then and get back on the housing ladder but there's light at the end of the tunnel. Can be a bit annoying at times to think about what might have been financially but I'm far happier now regardless so don't dwell on that much.
 

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