When you've created your budget it now lives & breathes with you!
If you're going to make it work it will be something you'll do as a habit every month.
It'll become just like mowing your lawn, cleaning your windows, doing the food shop, just something you do to manage your lovely home.
One mindset tip before getting started;
You get to do this because you have a home, with money coming in & money going out to pay for your lifestyle.
YOU GET TO DO THIS
When you desperately wanted your own place in your early 20's, you dreamed of this.
OK maybe you didn't dream of the life admin that would inevitably need your time & attention, but this is what you wanted.
I'm eternally grateful I have my own home & whilst I curse like a sailor every day when I'm hoovering up more dog hair & doing another load of laundry, I also remind myself I'm lucky to have a gorgeous home that I get to look after.
Anyhoo let's get on with these steps shall we?
N° 1. Put it in your diary every month on the 1st (or as reasonably close to the 1st as you can) on repeat, with an alarm so you know it's coming.
N° 2. Prep like a tv chef, have everything you need in front of you. Logged into you online bank accounts, your budget of choice paper or spreadsheet, calculator, amazon account open on your recent orders (!) paypal open with recent purchases if you use it.
Did you pay cash for anything and did you make a list somewhere of what you used it for?
A spending tracker perhaps?
N° 3. Go through your bank statement from where you left it last month & check off line by line against your budgeted income & expenses.
So did you get paid what you were expecting across the board incl child maintenance & other benefits?
Did your commission run come through as expected & were you able to pay yourself what you wanted from your business?
As far as your outgoings are concerned;
Check off everything, mortgage, ✔ tv licence ✔ water bills ✔ energy bills ✔ broadband ✔ Council tax ✔ etc
Adjust the payments if they differ. So if your energy bill was planned at £240 but it was only £180 then change it to reflect what you paid.
If using pen & paper maybe be clear about the adjustment so you can track your future expectations with reality.
Don't forget we're all getting £66 a month support from now (Nov 22) to to March 2023 AND we have protected price cap until April.
But what is going to happen in April?
We'll find out soon & of course I'll let you know what that means and fully encourage you to let me look at your bills anyway so I can make them as tiny as possible with UW. There's a super special BOOST of £200 available now, see link at the bottom.
If using a spreadsheet like one of these, you'll see your entry level cost for the next several months. Do you need to adjust your future payments now?
N° 4. Go through all your daily living expenses. Food, petrol, kids clubs, dentists etc and check off the corresponding planned spend. Again adjusting if necessary.
N° 5. Repeat with what you bought that you wanted to.
Do you have a separate bank account for this? If you do it makes it so much easier, not only day to day spending but doing this reconciliation exercise.
Did you spend more or less than you had planned for?
Did you totally forget about that thing that was just a tenner and the other thing that was just £20 ...?
OK so you've checked everything, what are your results? As in, do you have money left over still that you could use in savings or did you overspend?
Are you happy with your month?
Did you come in on budget?
Did you have any unexpected expenses?
Did you use your emergency savings or sinking funds accounts to pay for things?
What knock on effect is this going to have for next month, and the 2 or 3 after that?
How long did this take you?
Maybe the first time it'll take an hour but the more regularly you do it you'll whittle it down to the time it takes you to drink a cup of tea.
So how do you reset, renew & start your new month?
This video is the ebook that accompanies the gorgeous powerful spreadsheet you see in the top picture. It will revolutionise how you manage your money or I'll eat my hat.
Not my favourite one obviously but still...
You'll have to check out the next Blog!
Until next time, happy budgeting!
Love from
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