How to do a budget [and stick to it!]

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BubbleWrap85

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I am pretty terrible with money. I see something I want - I buy it. I do save weekly [€90] but use that frequently for flights/holidays/shortfalls so after 5 years of full time work, I have only saved €1400, of which I will need to use some next week to pay off summer flights.

I get paid fortnightly, and am saving €360 per week into an Easy Saver account. I am also putting aside an extra €30 into a CU account.
I set up a RaboDirect account but as of yet, have nothing but €20 in it.

I pay about €400 per month on rent & bills.
My car is quite heavy on petrol, but I live near enough to work so would normally get 2 weeks out of a €75 tank.
I had to fix something major on my car recently which required a loan from the CU and I am still paying my car loan off for another few months so €380 per month goes on car loan.

I normally pay car insurance monthly but that has finished this month [due for renewal in April].

I don't have health insurance.

I'm 27 and would like to start thinking about getting a deposit together for a mortgage. I am being a lot more disciplined the last couple of months & not spending as much friviously but still don't seem to be gaining much.

I have a credit card which is paid by direct debit 100% monthly, which has resulted in some months paying €600+ out of my current account. I don't want to have any interest to pay.

Any advice??? :/
 
You don't sound too bad to me :)

I've seen my little brother with a tiny note book writing stuff down. That was some years ago. He could probably be classed as a (multi)millionaire now.

Buy a little note book and write all your purchases down, everything ! ie.- crisps, chocolate, coffee, petrol, electricity, clothes etc.

Paper is probably still handier than spreadsheets, ipads etc.
 
Thanks Rich,

Yeah I've bought a mini diary and am trying to fill in my monthly d/d and petrol [I've started fillling a full tank at a time as it's easier to keep track of, rathern than 20 here and 30 there].

I don't sound too bad? I never seem to have money though, once I've paid for my necessities each month, and when I tot up my outgoings for each month, I should be left with an extra 500 euro, on top of my savings!

I mean, I am 27 now and only have 1,000 in savings - how can I ever think of getting enough of a deposit together for a mortgage/!
 
Find a savings account that doesn't have easy access, this will prevent you taking money out on impulse. Maybe increase the amount for the CU account. You don't mention a credit card, if you do have one maybe request a very low limit.

I find if money isn't easily accessible, I'm less likely to spend it.
 
At the moment, I do need access to my savings as if I don't, I'm screwed in the event of a shortfall, so perhaps another savings account that I CANT touch would be desirable, although I would probably begin with just smaller savings.

The CU account is only a new thing the last couple of months, and the reason I havne't increased that for the moment, is because I had some expenses over November/December and I didn't want to leave myself short of money.

I do have a credit card, which I do seem to use quite a lot, although in recent months [apart from Xmas] I have reduced my spending on it - frivolous clothes/shoes etc have reduced a lot! My credit card is paid 100% direct debit each month, so that I am not paying any interest.

My bank car loan will be paid off mid summer so I will have an extra €270 each month which I will put into savings each month as I will be used to allowing for that money each month.
 
As was said earlier, you don't seem to bad. The spending diary should show you where it's all going. The fact you're clearing the credit card is good but it can encourage impulse spending. If it is, leave it at home when you go out.
 
Hi BubbleWrap,

I know you mentioned that you are starting to record your spending, and that is probably the most important thing to do. Its hard to improve if you don't know where your money is going! I started recording my spending and realised that I was spending over 100 euros a week on taxis. Once you can spot issues like that, you can try and figure how why that is happening and address the root cause. I was able to move to a more convenient location and get a bike and the taxi spending pretty much stopped.

Once you know where your money is going, if you fill in the money makeover template here people will be able to give you more specific advice. It might be worth taking a look at the "mr. money moustache" website or other savings websites. An important thing to realise is that you're not always missing out by not buying things. For example, I now enjoy cycling and get some free exercise rather than getting taxis. My quality of life is actually higher without that expenditure.

Its is great that you are not in debt and don't need to work your way back up to zero. On the other hand, it is easy to see why you are disappointed by having so little saved after 5 years. A quick calculation of 5*52*90 shows us that you would have over 23,000 euros saved if you had really saved the 90 euros a week for the last 5 years. It might be worth having a buffer account for money that you will need to spend at some point and a second savings account for real savings that you do not intend to spend unless perhaps on a house deposit in the future. It seems to me that you need to separate "real savings" from money that you are just not spending right now but will be spending in time.
 
The credit card is your problem as you seem to think that because you pay it all off it's fine to keep using it. I pay my card every month but have only reach €600 a few times.

As another poster said leave it at home and I reckon you'll see a difference.
 
Thanks everyone, especially, aamusername.

You are right about the credit card and I HAVE tried recently to reduce my usage. It doesn't help when I know the credit card number off by heart, so using it online I don't need to take it out.....

I am going to make a proper effort to write down all that I'm spending. I've gotten too reliant on using the debit card in shops etc and not really knowing what I'm spending so I'm going to withdraw a certain amount each week and try and work from there.

aamusername you are right, it is good I am not in debt as I know plenty others got loans out for holidays and college whereas my only actual loan is for my car, so I'm lucky in a way, but I do need to get a grip on my finances and start saving more.

Is the moneymaker template the thing that J26 posted? I saw someone else mention it and went to look but couldn't make head nor tail of it!

Yes I also agree I probably do need 2 savings accounts - 1 for 'long term' [mortage deposit] and one for short term rainy day/fixing the car type expenditure. I'm getting feck all 'interest' with the current BOI one anyway so no harm if I reduced that one a bit and put the extra into the CU account. Then I could use that for short term. The CU account takes money from my salary directly.
 
Keeping a spending diary is relatively easy these days, everything you buy even a bar of chocolate you get a receipt for so it's just a matter of keeping them all and writing it up every few days. Once you know what you essential spending figure is then withdraw that much each week and stick to it.
 
You're welcome BubbleWrap. If you take a look at Brendan's key post called "Basic information required for the "Money Makeover" forum", you will see the usual money makeover template. It is really just showing your income and other basic financial information and people usually include a breakdown of what they are spending their money on, and it allows people to suggest places that costs could be cut (check out some previous threads to get the idea). It would be best to spend a month tracking all of your spending accurately (including small purchases such as bars of chocolate as mentioned by wbbs!) and then fill in the template.

I personally use a program called GnuCash to track my day to day spending. I find it great and it is available for Windows, Mac and Linux to the best of my knowledge. It takes a little bit of work to set up the accounts initially, but it is handy to keep up to date. I actually don't keep track of my expenses all year round any more to be honest, but I do this for a couple of months every year just to see if anything stupidly expensive like the taxi habit has crept back in!

I would also suggest checking what percentage interest the CU will pay on your savings. Rabo usually pay a decent(ish) rate, but I have heard of some credit unions actually paying very low interest rates close to 0%. I think there is a thread on askaboutmoney where people compare the rates they got from various credit unions - it might be worth taking a look for it.

I'm just a satisfied customer and have no links to Rabo (just in case anyone thinks I'm very pro-Rabo!), but a handy thing about Rabo is that you can create extra accounts via their website once you are logged in to your existing account. I used this to create a short term savings account in addition to my long term savings account.

Best of luck with everything, and let us know how you get on.
 
This is the usual money makeover template:

Age:
Spouse’s/Partner's age:

Annual gross income from employment or profession:
Annual gross income of spouse:

Monthly take-home pay

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?

Rough estimate of value of home
Amount outstanding on your mortgage:
What interest rate are you paying?

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?

Savings and investments:

Do you have a pension scheme?

Do you own any investment or other property?

Ages of children:

Life insurance:


What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
 
Filling in this as a guide - maybe I can compare it in a couple of months and see a drastic difference! [I WILL see a drastic difference!]

Age: 27
Spouse’s/Partner's age: We're not living together so separate finances for the time being.

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 40,000
Annual gross income of spouse: N/A

Monthly take-home pay €2210

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed Public service

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving
€360 p/m direct debit, €30 p/m with credit union, hoping to increase this.

Rough estimate of value of home - I am renting, €280 p/m + bills c.€100

Amount outstanding on your mortgage: N/A
What interest rate are you paying?

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
Car loan - €260 p/m will be finished mid summer, Had to get a loan to repair car €65 p/m but low interest rate so only paying €180 interest over 2 years.


Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? Last 3 months balances have been €553 €997 [christmas presents/hospital fees/car tax for year!] and €306

Savings and investments: See above

Do you have a pension scheme? Yes

Do you own any investment or other property? No

Ages of children: None [yet!]

Life insurance: None

Health insurance: None


What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you? [/QUOTE]

I suppose really I have sought information already & know I have to track my daily/weekly spending - which I find hard to do as I'm extremely disorganised but I will have to give it a whirl & report back after a while - hopefully there will be some improvements savings wise!

[Just today, I transferred money from savings as my sister has just moved into a new house so I'm sending her €300..... ]
 
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