Budgeting advice

Hi,

Just wanted to check if anyone know of a good budgeting / advice service in the Wicklow / South Dublin region.

I feel silly asking as myself and my partner's combined income is reasonably good (circa 75K) but we never seem to have a penny after the bills are paid each month (mortgage, child minders, the list goes on and on).

I've heard of the MABS service but don't know if it's only for people in serious financial trouble or for people just looking for advice? (Maybe I'm deluding myself and I'm in both categories!)

Anyway, thanks in advance for the help.

Paul

Have you had a look at this and a read of the many exisiting threads on budgeting?

MABS is for anyone looking for advice, not just those in serious trouble. Have you had a look at ? There are some useful links.

Other suggestions

• Are you paying too much tax?
• Do you shop around when renewing car/home insurance?
• Do you have unnecessary/expensive life/income protection insurance?
• Do you shop in Aldi/Lidl? Do you avail of loyalty schemes (Clubcard, Valuecard etc.)?

You should also should start your own spreadsheet, mirroring your bank statement to keep track of everything you spend.
Get your old statements and input the info into a SS. It's time consuming but well worth it.
Keep it up to date (easily done now with on-line banking). You can then use the SS to find out how much you spend on what, when you spend it etc.
Once you know what you're spending all your money on it will be easier for you (or MABS!) to figure out how to manage it better.

Thanks for the advice folks

There is a weekly spending diary on the www.mabs.ie website which you can print off and if you write down everything you sepnd you will soon know where the money goes. Good luck