Ballin' On A Budget
Dear Friends,
After I wrote last week’s post I realised there were a lot of things I still needed to cover, so I’ve decided to expand my little topic of money. Let’s face it there are a lot of things we can talk about. While I was doing research towards the last project there were questions I wondered about and from there an idea develop. Naturally, I had to probe deeper to give you guys more food for thought. Today I am going to about budgets and how it has allowed me to get what I have.
One of the constant questions I get asked, how did I afford something? If anyone were to look at me, they would see iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, how did he pay for all of these things? Well it was down to careful financial planning, to make sure I could afford those things. Of course my phone is on contract, but I had to make sure I could afford the monthly payments, while also working out how I could make my monthly payments cheaper, by making a bigger down payment. This allowed me to get my phone costs down to a lower price. With this it doesn't mean I lose any more money.
Some people may not be surprised I have a spreadsheet with all my monthly expenses. This allows me to see what I am paying, and what I have let after each month. It also allows me to add in variables, such as overdue payments if there is some, fore coming expenses such as; birthdays and it allows me to know where my money is. From this budget I know how much I can spend on a gift, and if can afford to go the birthday event and how much my threshold is. If I want to be even more controlling I set aside a specific amount to how much I can spend.
I know a lot of you would be thinking it’s easy enough to do, plan a budget but how do you stick to it? Well for me it's down to me discipline skills. I think about things logically, if I spend £40 on xyz and I can't afford to do ABC. I know it’s a simplistic way to think about it, but that’s how I do it. However, there is another level to my pedantic spending.
The best way I avoid overspending is transferring money out. I have two separate current accounts with two different banks. One is for my salary and another is for direct debts. This way when I look at my balance I don't look at it and think why do I have so much money, I don't because everything is transferred out so the money I see is the money I have. I’ve done this since university I used this method and it allowed me to see where my money is going, and not see all the direct debt changes I make (like £3.25 at costa). For the things like food shops I take out in cash and only take the budgeted amount to shop with, and if I do spend a little over I’ll cover it with my card, but that is very unlikely to happen.
I know these all seem like simple things, but that's what I do. For me it gives me better control, and means when I get a better paying job I already know my expenses and lets me know the amount of disposable income I may have. While also lets me know if any one job is worth me changing to if it is barely going to cover my expenses.
The last thing I want to bring up is x-mas. This is the time of year when I spend like a maniac, and I need to cut back on. The reason why I do so much shopping is I budget for Xmas from October. From October I put £100 in my savings, and use it when sales pop up. It doesn't mean I am rich, it just means I am a savvy shopper. This allows me to have three months of savings to use for Christmas. It means I do not spend all my money in December. It’s months of building so I can afford to splash out on people, but also smart spending.
Like with everything I plan out how much I am willing to spend on a person, and usually the up tier is; the kids, mum and bf, and everyone else’s to follow. Once I know how much I’m spending on them I know how much to throw at everyone else. Simple. Even with a very limited budget I can find the greatest of items because, I bargain hunt, shop around and collect discount codes, so I can stay or come in under budget.
I hope my explaining my budget spending has been eye opening for some of you. You now know my secret. I do this not because I am cheap, or overly cautious. I do it because I want my money to go further, and allow me to do the things I want without worrying I am over spending. So friends try making a budget and see where it gets you.
XO FabEs
