Do you guys budget?

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Jon Dough said:
I don't budget, but am still careful with cash due to having nowt as a kid.
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This.
As as kid, I realised that I could "upgrade" my Xmas presents by saving and selling the things I had. Every penny counted if I wanted something that was more than my parents could afford.

As an adult, I keep right on top of regular bills, they are the ones that silently skint you. No loans, nowt on credit. If I can't afford something, 9/10 I'll save until I can afford to buy it cash. When I did take out credit, I really didn't like knowing my monthly outgoings were higher than I'd like in case something happened.

The idea of having half my life on tick would stop me sleeping.
Cookie said:
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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That's shitty, good work sorting it out though :)
 


I maintain personal and business budgets. I have done for about 10 years.

They help me make better choices about how I spend money. Since I've been budgeting, I've had much more money to spend and to save.

It saddens me when people think that budgets are only for those without much. They really aren't. They are an invaluable tool for anyone.
 
There are various Apps appearing now as well which let you use Open Banking to view all of your bank accounts/credit cards in one place, categorise your transactions, and also set budgets.

Personally I would only trust the ones using Open Banking interface and not the ones where you have to give them direct access to your account so watch out for that!

Obviously you are sharing all of your financial details with a third party, so you have to be comfortable with that.

I am currently using Moneyhub, and it seems quite decent.
 
We have a monzo joint account and in there you can set monthly limits on categories. We keep track in there - best thing about Monzo is when you spend something it immediately updates your account (I regularly get told the transaction has gone through before the till is told it is authorised). The instant notification on both our phones when either of us spends owt does stop some of the dafter spends.
 
RossTheNinja said:
I do take stock now and again and know roughly what I can afford.
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Pretty much us this, I've got a couple of spreadsheets to keep tabs on what's going out of my accounts and update them if there's a change. We had to borrow for some work on the house recently and it was easy to take a look and see what we could afford to go to with paying it back.

I don't subscribe to this theory credit is the devil either mind. Like so much else it comes down to context and managing it properly. For big stuff or even making cashflow a bit easier over a few month I'll use it, but I wouldn't if it meant paying way over the odds or paying more than I could afford.
 
I have to, my job ends in 9 days time. I paid all debts off, stopped drinking, don't smoke and will have to save anything I can for household emergencies / Christmas / Birthdays. I don't need a spreadsheet as it's all in my head - I will have to try and barter my Virgin bill down soon once the contract is near it's end. I don't do debts, they make me nervous and make me sleep funny.
 
Na, probably should do but just split the bills with the wife and we seem to manage, although don't really save anything
 
I've been budgeting since the end of last year when there were noises at work of forecasted sales being way less then expected. As a single-person household I'd, understandably, feel the effects of income reduction.
  • When my lease deal on my car ended (~£230/month) I bought a small hatchback on a 0% interest credit card and when the 0% ended I did a 0% balance transfer to another CC provider (~£50/month).
  • Cancelled me BT TV subscription and got a cheaper broadband provider (saving ~£30/month).
  • Going back a bit further, I was guilty of leaving me phone contract ticking over without seeing if it was the best deal available; it wasn't. I changed tariff to one that offered more data for ~£8/month less.
  • Signed up to a service that always identifies the cheapest gas & electricity supplier.
Needless to say, when I was finished at the end of July (I've since gone temping) I was confident that my outgoings were as little as they realistically could be.

Sounds boring but it's necessary. Mind, I reckon I could actually make a living out of doing shit like this!
 
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Spend around 60% of my monthly income. But that's on everything, bills, food, nights out, day trips out etc. Don't have any debt and I have around 50% of my salary currently as savings.

Ideally I'd like it to be 50/50 on monthly spend, but I think we're doing ok and money hasn't been a worry for a while now. Probably helps I'm a tight bastard.

Taken years of being careful to get to this point though.
 
PTR said:
This.
As as kid, I realised that I could "upgrade" my Xmas presents by saving and selling the things I had. Every penny counted if I wanted something that was more than my parents could afford.

As an adult, I keep right on top of regular bills, they are the ones that silently skint you. No loans, nowt on credit. If I can't afford something, 9/10 I'll save until I can afford to buy it cash. When I did take out credit, I really didn't like knowing my monthly outgoings were higher than I'd like in case something happened.

The idea of having half my life on tick would stop me sleeping.

That's shitty, good work sorting it out though :)
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Think that might be an age thing. Of a certain age when grandparents had basically never even heard of serious tick, apart from the odd loaf at Stan Woodards Spar if they`d forgotten to bring their purse. Saving for what you want was drilled in, along with various rainy funds with the CIS bloke
 
Roger said:
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?
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My 2 sons are at the age where they're constantly receiving mailings offering them credit cards - so far they've headed my advice to rip them up.
It's a dangerous path in my opinion.
 
Tire said:
We have a monzo joint account and in there you can set monthly limits on categories. We keep track in there - best thing about Monzo is when you spend something it immediately updates your account (I regularly get told the transaction has gone through before the till is told it is authorised). The instant notification on both our phones when either of us spends owt does stop some of the dafter spends.
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No more donkey porn eh?
 
Bradford Pete said:
My 2 sons are at the age where they're constantly receiving mailings offering them credit cards - so far they've headed my advice to rip them up.
It's a dangerous path in my opinion.
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If you're sensible with money, credit cards are a good benefit. Can earn a few quid extra with cashback cards & whilst interest rates are shite at the moment in better times stoozing 0% debit can be a canny little earner
 
I’ve never been rich and never will be unless I win the lottery or my book makes it to Hollywood as a film. Chances of both are similar.

However I am currently reasonably comfortable and don’t have to worry about the bairns’ next dinner on the table. I am also absolutely aware that my current work could well run out next year and there may be no replacement. This is because the software I work with to be able to offer the services I do is gradually reaching its end of product life.

So I’ll need to adapt what I can offer or build some sort of product to sell the customers. Either way I am aware I need to change what I am doing and there is no guarantee of success from then on.

So for that reason I think it is really important to have a house budget sketched out. Until all of the outgoings are written down accurately and truthfully you don’t really know how much you need to be earning to pay for it all plus keep some contingency / savings back. When you have a budget like that it is scary the amount of diffefent bills that go out and just how much they are. And a single weekly, monthly or quarterly income coming in that has to cover it all.

Seeing it written down also highlights how much easier and safer it is to have two incomes coming in, just in case one dries up temporarily.

Finally, having the budget worked out allows you to start prioritising which lines to cross out first if you need to cut back. I was out of minimum contract with Sky For example so I cancelled that. I only ever watch the occasional MotD or Saturday Kitchen on TV anyway and I can get that on iPlayer.

It doesn’t have to be a degree level Computer Science project. Just a basic XL sheet with ins and outs, or even jotted down on a sheet of paper.

Invaluable and sensible, in my opinion.
 
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