Budgeting Tips You Can Actually Stick To

Everything is getting more expensive. Unfortunately wages just don't seem to be keeping up with the rising cost of living and so people are starting to budget even more and sticking to your budget it going to be even more important. 

This post isn't going to be talking about going without your favourite treat or saving every spare penny and just buying essentials, because that is no way to live and I don't know anyone who can live like that. 

I have tried lots of different methods of saving money and have definitely found these few little changes to be the most useful. Please do let me know if you think of anything else I haven't mentioned here. 

Work out exactly what you have coming in and going out every pay period and when. 

We get paid monthly so work on a monthly budget, but if your pay period is different then you will have a different way of working this out, but I use my planner, which has a monthly view page for each month to plot out when each bit of money is due in and which day I have bills coming out. You can also use a spreadsheet (I use google sheets which is free with your google account) to keep track of spending. 

Have a pot or separate bank account just for bills

We bank with Monzo, which allows us to split our account into separate pots which we can pay direct debits from or round up every transaction to the next pound to save, however if your bank doesn't offer the  'pots' it may be worth looking into a basic bank account just for your bills each month. On your payday you can then move over the exact amount for your standard bills that don't change, ie rent or mortgage payments, gas and electric, car insurance this will then give you an accurate view of exactly what you have left each month to spend. You could take this a step further and move over your food shopping budget for the pay period. 

Meal plan and write shopping lists

This is so important for me. I find that if we go food shopping not knowing what we are eating for the week we aimlessly stroll around the aisles and put random things that we aren't even going to eat into the trolley. Sam and I are both really big impulse buyers so we actually prefer to do our shopping online, but recently we have been having Gousto for most meals which is a bit more speedy than shopping and cooking for ourselves, however we end up saving money and we don't buy food that we don't need. We also waste a lot less food because Gousto measures everything to the perfect portions.  - If you want to try Gousto our referral code is here which gives you 65% off your first box! 

https://cook.gousto.co.uk/raf?promo_code=SAM42350499&utm_source=iosapp

Plan treats 

There is nothing wrong with a spontaneous treat, however I find that if we plan a day every so often for a day out, or a take away, it gives us something to look forward to and we don't tend to randomly order a £30 take away that half of gets thrown away! We've had some really good days out spoilt because we have spent too much on takeaways before hand and have no spending money to go with which makes me feel horrible for Harry but now we plan better. 

And those are my tips. Please let me know if you try incorporating any of these into your budget and if it helps!