Budgeting

The Basics As I outlined in my previous article on budgeting (see, my other articles on Ezine Aticles), setting the budget is relatively easy, sticking to the budget is the tough stuff.

It is a bit like going on a diet I suppose. The thing about being on a diet is you are always thinking about the things you cannot have rather than the things you can have. So it is not surprising that most people go off the rails when dieting - that cream cake was just too tempting this time.

In just the same way, if you have set a budget and put some cash in the bank to pay for it later, it will always be tempting to spend next month's money today i.e. to go off the rails. Sticking to budgets is hard when you have been loose with money to date, but you have to do it - there is no choice.

Think of it this way. If you stick to the budget, things will steadily get better; if you do not then things will quickly get a lot worse. It is one incentive at least.

The principle is outlined clearly by Mr Micawber in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield:

"if a man had twenty pounds a-year for his income, and spent nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and sixpence, he would be happy, but .. if he spent twenty pounds one he would be miserable" The quote is famous, what is not so famous is that having said this Micawber then borrows money off David Copperfield for a drink then gives him an IOU in his wife's name.

So just knowing what to do is not enough - the principles have to be followed.

Planning for Success The principle here is very simple: failure to plan is planning to fail.

Clearly, you can deduce from this, the one thing that blows the budget time and time again is thoughtless, or unplanned, shopping. If it is food shopping then going to the shop without a plan, without a pre-established list is a recipe for failure.

Recent reports have suggested that one in six people now discards more than 10 per cent of their average weekly groceries shopping because the goods are either past their sell-by date or are no longer fresh. Salad and fresh vegetables are the most likely items to be thrown away. This is of course the result of not thinking through your weekly purchases and planning to use what you buy before you need to throw it out.

For example, when putting together your weekly food shopping list, plan the list around daily meals for the coming week and involve everyone. If you live with a family, or just a partner, everyone implicated in the budget has to be involved. It then becomes much less of a fight and strangely enough can be a very positive experience being something that you can all do together - not to mention a subject of much heated debate.

You need to know the price of things in the shop. Do not buy on the basis of it looking nice, look at the price and assess the value for money: the value to you. Get to know the prices of things so you can estimate spending before you go in the shop.

The key is in fact value for money, this is not necessarily about buying the cheapest option it is about value to you and if buying two food items today reduces your overall spend over two weeks - then spend more today and buy two to save money for next week.

Enough about food shopping, I will be covering it again in a later article along with another on assessing the value of purchases.

Focussed Shopping (not grazing) The other substantial risk to budget adherence is of course non food shopping. The advice here is simple - give it up. This is very much a man / woman thing. Men generally will not take too much persuading to give up shopping, for women however browsing in shopping malls is a pleasant pass time and a good opportunity to pick up some great bargains in the sales (because we are cutting back aren't we?).

Unfortunately the truth is that even the best bargain is expenditure nonetheless. If you have run up debt as a result of past spending sprees you may not need to spend money on clothes for at least a year. So don't! Buy what you 'need' only and go directly to the shop you need to buy it from, buy it, then leave the shop and the mall (if applicable).

Do Something Else There are pastimes, other than shopping, which do not require expenditure and you should look them up - they will keep you occupied, stop you thinking about all of the things you do not have and save you a fortune.

I will be covering this in more detail in a later article, but consider this: if you live near the seaside (in the UK you are never more than 75 miles from the sea), taking the kids to the seaside for a picnic will cost next to nothing, but will keep the whole family occupied for a day. However, make sure you pre-plan the day and take everything you need with you, bought at supermarket prices - not at local tourist shop rates.

Review & Revise Another general principle in all of this is to be constantly aware of the budget that has been set and to constantly review set figures and performance. If you have changed insurance providers to reduce costs make sure you review it again next time it comes up for renewal (normally every year). Equally gas and electric consumption can be reduced and you should resist the siren call of direct debit and standing orders. Sometimes discounts can be obtained by using direct debit and it is difficult to argue against that, but service providers (e.g. gas / electric) can make mistakes and with direct debits you then have to get the money back after they have made the mistake and the money is with them. Remember 9 tenths of the civil law is possession.

In particular, not using automatic payments will stop you going overdrawn by mistake and will make you focus every month on each individual item of expenditure and make you think about ways of reducing it further. Discuss this with your partner at least once a month and maintain a continual focus on your money and where it is going. An annoying and painful process I know, but one of the secrets of successfully sticking to your budget nonetheless.

Reward This is all very miserable stuff really. It is like outlining a manifesto to be miserable, a new stoic philosophy along the lines of some of the more extreme religious philosophies. Spontaneity is spurned and it seems you will never be happy again. If it seems that way, then it will fail; you will fail.

Just going back to the diet analogy, the successful dieters set themselves short term targets and provide themselves with rewards when they hit those targets. They also have a long term objective they are working towards with a big reward in the end.

If you are dealing with debt, a long term target may be simply to be debt free. A worthy target with a wonderful reward in the end: perhaps you should sweeten the deal with an affordable holiday to celebrate what could be years of careful budgeting.

Equally you may be working towards a house purchase - a mountain to climb for many people these days. You need to set yourself some success staging posts along the way.

For example, in dealing with the food budget problem, always aim to under spend on your target budget amount. Put at least some of the saving to one side. This under spend could now be used for trips to the pub etc. This will make you think twice about over indulging during a normal week as it will jeopardise a treat later in the week or (more likely) later in the month.

You can get a great deal of leverage from this by careful spending - that drink, meal or trip to the cinema will be so much sweeter when you have worked extra hard to earn it.

Better still make the reward some time off, or new clothes - something with lasting value. You need to decide what will turn you on.

With respect to the long term objective, never lose sight of this. If it is a new house - hang a picture of your ideal home on the wall or put a small picture above the TV to keep it fresh in your mind always.

Never forget your objective and last, but not least:

never ever give up.