Budget Planner
It can be notoriously difficult to effectively budget when you get paid each week or month, and many people in the UK really struggle to keep on top of their finance because of their poor budgeting. However, budget planning doesn’t have to be difficult, and providing you can be a little organized and put in a little effort you could make financial management far easier for yourself by simply logging down everything that comes into your account and comes out of your account.
It may sound simple – and it is simple – but it is surprising how many people feel that doing this is too much of an effort.
Most people have a number of regular payments that come out of their account each month or week, such as bills, loans, credit card repayments, etc. Then there are one off transactions such as odd bill payments, cash withdrawals, payment for a takeaway, paying for petrol, etc. This means that sorting out a budget planner is relatively easy.
Even if your payments go out on a weekly basis, and some go out on a monthly basis, providing you know what dates the payments go out of your account then budgeting should prove no problem.
When designing a budget planner it is important that you find a system that is easy for you – this could mean making a manual log of your income and outgoings, or it could involve setting up a spreadsheet on the computer – whatever works well for you, as the easier the system is the more likely you are to ensure that you complete it every week or month, depending on when you get paid.
It is very important that you stay on top of your budgeting in order to ensure that you do not lose track of your finances, which could result in you missing payments and even being charged hefty fees by your bank for exceeding your overdraft limit or for returned direct debits that cannot go through because you have overspent.
One way of forming a budget planner is to purchase a simple book. You should then add columns to the book, which should include a column each for date, income, outgoings, and balance. You should then insert the date and the amount in the income column each time a payment comes into your account, including your monthly wages.
You should then enter the date and any outgoings for bill payments and other outgoings. Whether you are logging income or outgoings you should always make sure that the end column has the updated balance on your account. To make sure that you are on track, you should also check your balance either online or by phone with the banks around twice monthly, and in particular towards the end of the month when any payments going out of your account should have gone through.
When you use a budget planner you can more effectively manage your finances. It is a good idea to list down either on your computer or on a sheet of paper your regular income and outgoings, so you know more or less what will be going in and coming out of your account each month.
You need to make sure that you complete your budget planner each time you conduct a one off transaction that has not already been logged in the book, as otherwise you can quickly lose track of your accounts and overspend, which means that you will have to then factor in overdraft charges.
Do not forget to also add any overdraft interest charges and other small outgoings that you might otherwise not really, as although these may be small amounts they can soon add up and can send your account over its limit without you even realizing it.
