Manage my money

Simple budgeting makes it less likely that you’ll find yourself running out of money.

Jot down all the things that you have to pay for; the regular bills, then list the things you need like clothes, food and fun. Add them up and compare to what you earn each month. Each one on their own may not seem like a lot, but all of them together can eat into your monthly income.

Then look at those big life events like a wedding, a home, family. Plan them out so that you’re more organised and prepared for those times when you’ve big draws on your spending

Something as simple as drawing up a list can give you a better picture.

List out everything you have to pay for. Calculate what they cost per month if you are paid monthly.

• Mortgages repayment, rent
• Loan repayments
• Car insurance, fuel, tax, maintenance
• Travel cost
• Gas, electricity, Wi-Fi, TV, mobile
• House insurance, life assurance
• Pension contribution
• Other

List out the other things that are not so obvious. Try to estimate their cost per month.

• Food
• Clothing
• Nights Out
• Credit card bills
• Medical expenses
• Other

Don’t forget that even the best plans change - everyone has irregular outgoings or costs such repairs, medical expenses and holidays.

We don’t mean spend big, we mean think of the big picture when you do spend. Think of how little spend can accumulate into something a lot bigger.

Many of us tend to compare the cost of one thing to our monthly salary. And of course it’ll look really affordable. In that moment we don’t see that there could be lots of those individual things coming together out of one salary payment.

They all add up with all the regular things we pay for.

It helps to take all the regular things out of your salary and divide what’s left by the days in the month to figure out how much you can save for the future and spend today.