Managing Your Money – stop frittering your fivers!!
Buying nice things and treating yourself may seem like a thing of the past for some people, and for others, they have never experienced an impulse purchase or a new outfit, just because.
It’s not that they’re skint due to far too much debt, massive mortgage repayments or a squad of kids bleeding them dry, it’s simply that they can’t manage their money. They never have enough and their savings are non existent.
On paper, Jimmy and Sally have over £400 surplus each month according to their income and expenditure, but when I advise them of this, Jimmy’s manly tone turns into a high pitched “no we don’t”!!
Hard as it is to face, if you want to take charge & repay your debts a bit quicker, or if your preference is to save for a foreign holiday next year, you need to take a good hard look at what nonsense you fritter away your hard earned cash on each month.
First things first, work out your surplus. If you have £2,000 joint income and all your direct debits total £1,000, this leaves you with £1,000 to spend. Once you account for food, petrol, child care and whatever else you regularly spend money on, the balance is your surplus income.
Now after going over Jimmy’s expenditure again, he simply couldn’t think of anything else they paid out each month and their bank statements agreed. There was however a lot of £10 and £20 cash withdrawals happening every other day.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out, the casual saunter to the cashline of an evening to fill up your wallet is a regular, necessary ritual experienced by us all however, bursting that tenner for a bacon roll on Monday morning merely results in loose change, which isn’t really money is it?? So you begin the loose change fritter during the day until you’ve blown a tenner and tomorrow you’ll need to lift another one.
By the end of the week, your £50 lighter and you’ve nothing to show for it.
Have some self control people!!
Stop frittering your fivers
Stop frittering your fivers
Have some self control people!!
It’s not worth saving for a rainy day and never spending it, so it’s a good idea to plan social funds into your expenditure. Say £20 a week, then it’s up to you whether you go out each weekend and spend £20 at the pictures or whether you have one big night out a month and blow it on a posh meal.
You’re only lying to yourself…….
Jimmy & Sally’s problem, was that they weren’t honest about what they spent money on each month. Writing down you spend £100 per month on food for a family of 4 is just setting yourself up for a fall. As a guide, for a family of 4, £100 per week isn’t far wrong so be honest about how much you need to spend on things and take it from there.
Being a dab hand at excel will serve you well, we all love a spreadsheet and you will be able to see where you said you spend and where you actually spend. Try it, for one month & keep a note of every receipt you are given.
If you would like expert advice on dealing with your debt, contact one of our debt experts on enquiries@dontfretaboutdebt.net or call 0141 567 4567.