Do you budget?

Melisandre121

Do you budget, or do you just spend as you go? If you do budget, do you use some sort of budgeting tool?

I tend to just spend as I go and always end up completely broke at the end of the month. Would love to be better at budgeting.

Xyzforsure

Melisandre121 wrote: »

Do you budget, or do you just spend as you go? If you do budget, do you use some sort of budgeting tool?

I tend to just spend as I go and always end up completely broke at the end of the month. Would love to be better at budgeting.

Yes I do

Excel ☺

aaronjumper

I spend as I go. It's a great system until it all falls apart.

failinis

Yeah, £9 a day after rent/travel so it needs managed
A notebook when out and about, then transfer that info to excel and its grand.

PandaPoo

We don't budget, we never have. Probably should with the amount of money we spend on pointless crap mostly just me though...

howamidifferent

Melisandre121 wrote: »

Do you budget, or do you just spend as you go? If you do budget, do you use some sort of budgeting tool?

I tend to just spend as I go and always end up completely broke at the end of the month. Would love to be better at budgeting.

I do. I use an app called YNAB (You need a budget.) I use the YNAB classic desktop and mobile phone apps, not the new web based version.

http://classic.youneedabudget.com/

Can still be bought for once off $60 or pay $50 per year for the web based version.

Shenshen

I'm sort of half way - I do budget, but mostly in my head. I would know at all times what's in my account, I know how much to spend on groceries, I know what bills to expect.
I've tried to use excel for a while, but I'm not very disciplined in writing things down.

Duggy747

As long as there's money for the animals, rent and bills........and beer............then it's Champagne Charlie all the way until there's nothing left and I turn into Binwater Barry. :pac:

me_irl

Xyzforsure wrote: »

Yes I do

Excel ☺

I do too...

Google Sheets.

bren2002

Plus 1 for YNAB. Although I use the cloud version.

This Fat Girl Runs

Another Excel budgeter here. Am two months away from paying off over 30 grand in debt. Never would have crawled out of it without learning how to stick to a budget. Harsh lesson but one well learned!!

jameshayes

The easiest budgeting method is the percentage budget. You cant go wrong with it.

There are different variations but basically you split your take home pay into 3 brackets - Fixed costs, Financial Goals, Splurge/Flex spending

60% of your take home goes towards costs that are necessary to life - rent, transport, food (not eating out)
20% of your take home goes towards costs that build your financial base - paying off loans, cards, savings etc
20% of your take home goes towards random expenses, dinners, drinks, entertainment, clothes etc

draiochtanois

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Spanish Eyes

Kind of.

I have a sheet which shows the dates all the Direct Debits come out. Get paid twice monthly, so on each payday I deduct the bills, put aside money for petrol and travel. Automatic savings go to a deposit account, and what's left is mine to spend as I wish, happy days!

Works for me.

Although I do have to put aside a fund for car repairs, insurance, tax, VHI (pay in a lump once a year) and such things. That goes into a separate account each payday.

It's not scientific, but it works for me. I love having a ME fund to spend as I like, knowing all other bills have been taken care of.

It's whatever works for you.

MilesMorales1

Absolutely. I have a little book I write down every single thing I buy in it, and my available finances, and I have a budget for stuff in general, and try to not deviate from it.

Gotta save them pennies you know.

draiochtanois

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intheclouds

I do waste a fair bit on pointless crap but only because I can.

I budget in the sense that when we get paid I sit down with a pen and paper and we pay the mortgage, bills, credit cards, pay into savings, holiday fund, household fund, and apportion what we need to live on for the month. Anything left over goes into savings. If the above leaves a net negative then we adjust savings and credit card payments for that month.

The rule we try to stick to is never more than 500 on a credit card in 1 month - unless its for a specific large bill (like car insurance) that is intended on being cleared over a few months.

storker

My wife and I divide the costs proportionately with our income. We have a figure for all costs but it hasn't been updated for a while, so we should probably do that. We each deduct our contribution from our take-home and put it into a joint account that's used for fixed bill payments. Then there's a short-term savings account for variable bills and another for longer-term savings, e.g. holidays, new PC, car upgrade/repairs etc.

When we first started budgeting, probably the most eye-opening experience was tallying up the amount of money given to different retail outlets. We couldn't believe it when we saw the figure for Tesco in the first month. That was the start of properly-planned shopping for us, and probably the biggest ongoing saving we've ever made. On a related note, I'd recommend online grocery shopping to anyone looking to make savings. Shopping from your kitchen, where you can check exactly what you need before you buy it, makes a big difference, not to mention the lack of opportunity to be tempted by in-store specials.

RobertKK

I do budget but I do the maths in my head and know what I can and cannot afford.

No not really. I always know my bank balance and I have a figure in mind that I aim to have left in my account at the end of the month to go into savings but aside from that I just spend as I feel like really.

Butters1979

howamidifferent wrote: »

I do. I use an app called YNAB (You need a budget.) I use the YNAB classic desktop and mobile phone apps, not the new web based version.

http://classic.youneedabudget.com/

Can still be bought for once off $60 or pay $50 per year for the web based version.

I can't tell if serious

Anyone else find it ironic to pay €50 per year for a budgeting tool?

howamidifferent

Butters1979 wrote: »

I can't tell if serious

Anyone else find it ironic to pay €50 per year for a budgeting tool?

I do. Which is why I bought the desktop app for $54 with a referral link from another user, then posted my referral link in many places online and gained back 18 referrals which each gave me $6 so I spent $54 and received back $108 from others using my referral link. Software cost was zero. Would not pay the subscription model ever.

This Fat Girl Runs

draiochtanois wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

In 2007/2008 I took out two loans (one for over €25,000 and the other for €4,000) and racked up a credit card to nearly €6000. Separated from my ex that year and he took off with all our savings. But before that, I had taken out a loan so I could move out of our house. Paid for a deposit, couple months of rent and some other stuff. Also had to pay him some money he claimed I owed him. Easier to pay than to fight it. Anyway, back then I was bad with money and didn't budget. Once I moved out, he refused to pay the mortgage or any bills associated with the property (still lived there though, until he took off and left the country for god knows where) so I was paying both a mortgage, rent and bills for two places. I tried renting out the first place but that was a disaster so I broke the lease on my new place and moved back in to the old one. I'm really not proud of myself for all this.

Moving back didn't help much with the recession on. Eventually I came to a deal with the bank re the credit card (close to €6000 on it, they kept upping my limit and I kept spending it! Wayhay! Free money, right?!). They transferred the credit card debt to my existing loan (I had one loan with this bank, another loan with a different bank) then cancelled the card. I hadn't a hope of paying it off with interest accruing all the time. We're talking paying max 10/20 euros a month.

Anyway, consolidated the card and loan, then sat down with the bank and worked out the maximum amount I could pay each month. It had to be done and was actually the kick in the rear I needed to sort myself out and get my finances together. With the other bank I arranged a small overdraft facility to cover me for when payments overlapped. If anyone takes anything away from what I'm saying I'd say this is the most important. If you're having difficulty, TALK to your bank! Both my banks were willing to sit down and talk with me and come up with a solution that worked for them and for me.

Anyway, the other loan was smaller, the payments were smaller too. I paid that one off last year and oh my god was that the best feeling. As soon as I paid that off I finally began paying into a pension. I've been fretting about not having a pension for 10 years so it's a relief to get that started! (I'm 40 this summer!).

I also, for the last few years, have let out my spare room to students. I don't charge much so it's an attractive deal as I live close to town. But the extra bit helps immensely.

For budgeting, I learned very quickly what worked for me. Excel spreadsheet calculated by the month. I have one sheet that tracks my outgoings, linked to a second sheet where I track my 'free' spending. This includes my grocery budget.

Main spreadsheet lists all outgoings: loan payments first, mortgage, direct debits, expected bills, grocery budget by the week, savings (when possible). Every single penny I will need to spend that month is accounted for.

Anything left over is mine to spend on whatever I want. I never live by the amount that's actually IN my account, instead I live by the amount that's left over. Things have been better for me the last two years but there were times I had nothing left over. But I was fortunate I had enough to pay the loans and mortgage. I never went into arrears on either of these. I count my blessings!

And now, in two months time that other, bigger loan will finally be paid off. The first thing I'm going to do is increase my pension payments. Then I'll have a bottle of Prosecco with friends.

It was a very harsh lesson to learn, but I got through it and I'm counting down the days to when I'll finally be free of that debt. It crippled me at times and I'm not proud of myself for having racked it up, but I AM proud of having gotten out of it. I've learned my lesson well and now budgeting (and sticking to it!) is second nature to me.

Butters1979

howamidifferent wrote: »

I do. Which is why I bought the desktop app for $54 with a referral link from another user, then posted my referral link in many places online and gained back 18 referrals which each gave me $6 so I spent $54 and received back $108 from others using my referral link. Software cost was zero. Would not pay the subscription model ever.

Hmm, that sounds like a pyramid scheme.

draiochtanois

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howamidifferent

Butters1979 wrote: »

Hmm, that sounds like a pyramid scheme.

Call it what you will, they had a referral scheme whereby users would get a $6 discount by using your code and you got $6 back also.
Software works great so it was easy to get people to use the referral links.
They no longer offer this with the web based software but it worked well when it was available. Paid to use the software!

I do budget, because I'm currently in a position where my outgoings are minimal and can save a large proportion of my salary, so that's what I'm doing while I have the chance.

I make sure I don't do without, and sometimes I have a bit of a spree on nonsense, but apart from that I have a plan and I stick to it for the sake of my future.

I use a spreadsheet, and I'm always aware of my balance and outgoings.

quickbeam

I don't budget as such, but I do record (in Excel) everything I spend and earn, down to the cent.

I'm not a natural spender, so would tend to have a healthy enough balance in the account in case there is anything I do want to spend money on, or it gives me the luxury, and peace of mind, of not worrying about the future, should I be made redundant or something.

I can then see year-on-year whether my spending on different aspects of my life (utilities, entertainment, car, etc) is going up or going down. Though unless I see a massive increase, I wouldn't worry too much as I know I'm not reckless in what I spend.

But to actually budget - as in, calculate what expenses and income are upcoming, and making sure I have enough of the latter to cover the former ... no, I don't do that.

bren2002

Butters1979 wrote: »

I can't tell if serious

Anyone else find it ironic to pay €50 per year for a budgeting tool?

Completely disagree with you, why wouldn't you pay for a quality piece of software? It has apps for my phone, iPad & home PC.
It's always available to me, using YNAB is more than just the software it's a whole mindset shift when it comes to budgeting.

hairyslug

Yeah have to budget and be quite strict now, mortgage has just gone up and I've taken a fair chunk of a pay cut so everything needs to be worked out. The frequency of my wages have changed as well. The majority of bills come out in the first 7 days of the month so once I'm through that I have to start preparing for the next month.

storker

Butters1979 wrote: »

I can't tell if serious

Anyone else find it ironic to pay €50 per year for a budgeting tool?

Yes if the buyer hands over the money but doesn't do anything with the tool; no if using the tool saves multiples of that €50.

bren2002

This Fat Girl Runs wrote: »

In 2007/2008 I took out two loans (one for over €25,000 and the other for €4,000) and racked up a credit card to nearly €6000. Separated from my ex that year and he took off with all our savings. But before that, I had taken out a loan so I could move out of our house. Paid for a deposit, couple months of rent and some other stuff. Also had to pay him some money he claimed I owed him. Easier to pay than to fight it. Anyway, back then I was bad with money and didn't budget. Once I moved out, he refused to pay the mortgage or any bills associated with the property (still lived there though, until he took off and left the country for god knows where) so I was paying both a mortgage, rent and bills for two places. I tried renting out the first place but that was a disaster so I broke the lease on my new place and moved back in to the old one. I'm really not proud of myself for all this.

Congratulations on this achievement.
Maybe you've already handled this, it isn't clear from the post.
Does you ex still have an interest in the house? If he's taken off to god knows where, he could turn back up and look for half the house. Or prevent you from selling in the future. Worth dealing with ASAP.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

Cork2015!

This Fat Girl Runs wrote: »

Another Excel budgeter here. Am two months away from paying off over 30 grand in debt. Never would have crawled out of it without learning how to stick to a budget. Harsh lesson but one well learned!!

Did it take you long if you don't mind me asking? Nice to see that it is actually possible well done

bren2002

draiochtanois wrote: »

Not really a new mindset. It's definitely been around since Dicken's if not before:

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.”

That's a massive over simplification of the complex world of personal finance

zedhead

I do a very rough budget on excel. I know exactly what will need to be paid in bills and how much I will be saving along with my planned spend on essentials (groceries, petrol etc). At the start of each month I look at what I have planned for a month ahead and try to estimate what I should be spending on other areas. I then keep track of everything coming out of my account and allocate it a category - rent, groceries, medical, travel, car, entertainment, eating out, shopping, gifts, savings so that I can ensure as the month goes on I am not over spending on any one category. I have no loans and I only use my credit card for online payments or for a large unexpected spend. i always pay my credit card balance in full at the next payday and just adjust my personal spends for the following month accordingly.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

Walter H Price

We budget big style , save roughly 60% of our salery's every month , then have rent , bills etc , leave's about 15% - 20% for food and lil luxurys ... do allot of the shopping in bulk in the wholesalers so that works out a good bit cheaper and make serious use of the freezer.

saving for a weeding and a deposit at the minute so need some serious cash reserves all ready have well over €30k in 13 Months saving

This Fat Girl Runs

Cork2015! wrote: »

Did it take you long if you don't mind me asking? Nice to see that it is actually possible well done

Thank you. I took the loans out in early 2007. 9 years. The first 5 of those years were pretty brutal, gotta say. The last two were better. But I'll never do it again.

Butters1979

storker wrote: »

Yes if the buyer hands over the money but doesn't do anything with the tool; no if using the tool saves multiples of that €50.

Or you could get a pen and paper and do a budget yourself. And save everything you saved plus €50.

Bubbaclaus

Transfer 38% of my net salary out of my current account and into a savings account the day I receive it. Live on the rest. Use excel to track everything.

You'd be amazed at how much you save when you track your spending and realise where you are wasting it.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I live with an accountant that has me sitting on the naughty step when I don't save. The past two years he's got me into the habit of saving. 1/3 of my wages go straight from my acc via direct debit into my savings account. That's my grown up fund.

Then I have the rest of my wages, that's my living money. Bills, food, lunches etc.
Then sometimes I work from home and depending on what that is, or what I need it's for the fun things in life. Sunglasses, designer shoes, bags, new makeup, Asos binge. Sometimes I'll save a bit.


But as for sitting down and allocating 50 euro to three, 45 to sky, 120 to dunnes/tesco - no I don't do that. I could not live like that.

A friend this weekend is going out. He's allocated X amount of money for the night and is even planning how much to spend in the off licence before we go out. I absolutely could not deal with that. Money isn't everything. Go out. Order what you want. Order the nice wine is teas of the house white.

intheclouds

LexieOnRale wrote: »

But as for sitting down and allocating 50 euro to three, 45 to sky, 120 to dunnes/tesco - no I don't do that. I could not live like that.

I dont get you - how do you pay those bills? Or do you just not have them is it?

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

intheclouds wrote: »

I dont get you - how do you pay those bills? Or do you just not have them is it?

They come out of my account and that's it.

andekwarhola

Would assume most people have to make out a budget of some sort unless they are actually wealthy or they've very few financial responsibilities.

Not sure about using tools. Calculator and notepad application does me fine.

intheclouds

LexieOnRale wrote: »

They come out of my account and that's it.

Ah I understand. Nothing, absolutely nothing, comes out of my account. I do it all manually (a hold over from the days it was near impossible to cancel a direct debit). I prefer the idea that I control when I pay who. So if I was stuck, the money is in my hands to decide.

bren2002

How much extra does it cost you to avoid the direct debit discounts from virgin etc.?

Lisha

I get paid into my account every 4 weeks. All direct debits, esb, three, eircom, property tax, house/car insurance are paid from that account.
I transfer what's left into my other account, that is for food shop, car expenses etc.
credit card is paid off every month, limit is only €600. Some goes into savings but big enough. I need to tackle my overall spending. Money seems to go nowhere.

I always know account balances and use a notebook to track dds, and other spends.

AppleBottle

I have a note on my phone about what needs to be paid every month and review it come payday for anything that's coming up in the following month - the likes of nights out with the girls, birthdays etc.

I usually stick to it. It gives me an idea of what's left to play around with for the rest of the month.

enya kenny

Yes had to as never thought of drinking was the reason im broke. Was spending 800 euro a month or more on beer and thinks related to beer like taxis etc.

Few Pints Wednesday night to break up the working week 30 euro.

Friday night 50 euro

Saturday 100 euro or more

Sunday 20 euro

intheclouds

bren2002 wrote: »

How much extra does it cost you to avoid the direct debit discounts from virgin etc.?

No idea, but I consider it worth it to hold the control over my own money.