finance Archives - Page 6 of 8

You only have to turn on the news or your computer nowadays to hear about how prices are rising yet incomes are falling, especially in the case of redundancies and similar. If the UK economic crisis of the past few years has taught Brits anything it is the importance of living within a budget and keeping a handle on our personal finances.

Working out a budget is important. It is easy to see how so many people have found themselves deep in debt and unable to climb out as paying for items on credit always catches up, particularly when you consider the interest rates that are being paid. The only way to avoid this type of hardship is to ensure that you avoid credit where you can, budgeting an amount for items you want or need to have.

The key to an effective budget is working out a realistic budget. A spread sheet that shows income in and bills and food out is not going to work for very long. Within your budget you need to account for things like birthdays, holidays and entertainment. Clothing and footwear needs to be included as does money put aside for emergencies. When setting yourself a long term budget you need to look realistically at what you do spend and what you need to spend or put away each month. For example, putting away a monthly payment towards the next car tax disc so that when the bill comes in you have funds ready to cover them is much more organised than having to pay on a credit card as you don’t have an extra couple of hundred pounds spare in your wages (chances in Car Tax mean that motorist will soon be able to opt for a monthly direct debit to pay for their car / road tax).

Cutting your excess spending is the first step to reducing your outgoings and putting together a budget that is easier to stick to. Consider for example whether you need Sky with all of the extras. Reducing your packages for entertainment for example doesn’t mean stopping them altogether but cuts the cost and an extra £20 a month might be used for the MOT bill or Christmas budget.

Keeping an eye on your finances is an important part of living within a budget. Using a spending diary or keeping an eye on spending via online banking will help you to ensure that you are not overspending. Similarly, try and use cash more when out and about. It is a lot harder to hand over a crisp £10 note from the cashpoint for a frivolous magazine and takeaway coffee than it is to simply enter your chip and pin code and use “unseen” money. Using cash helps you to keep an eye on what you spend and similarly discourages unnecessary spending.

Cutting the cost of all of your purchases will help you to keep within budget and still enjoy the food, entertainment items and more. Shopping online for many items does work out significantly cheaper, especially as you are able to compare prices and deals with ease. When shopping online you have to again think twice about the amount you are paying as you fill in all of your delivery and cash card details and this is not necessarily a bad thing. For those must-have or really-want items search reputable sites for discount codes and free delivery offers to again shave pounds off.

It really is easier than you think to get a handle on your personal finances, cutting your outgoings and living within your means if you do a small amount of planning and assess and alter your spending habits.

When a lovely gent working on behalf of Moneysupermarket waved £50 in front of me and asked if I fancied taking part in the Room for Improvement campaign I was unlikely to say no. You can find more details about this fab idea here however in a nutshell a select few were asked to titivate an area, redo a room or perhaps renovate a piece of furniture with just £50. The focus of the project was to show what you can actually achieve on a budget.

With £50 at my disposal my first thought was to do something for the boys, or Roy or the kitchen perhaps however it was my the long suffering husband who put his foot down and said I was to use it for something just for me for a change. With this in mind I decided to breathe some new life into my office.

I work as a freelance writer from home and seem to spend a ridiculous amount of time at my desk which as it happens is the one area of the house that has never been paid a lot of attention, until now.

Before:

And after….

Small changes have made a heck of a difference!

My first purchase was for £20 and is this fabulous solid (and actually very comfortable) desk chair:

I adore the idea of having an older piece of furniture with a bit of history to it in my home.

Next up was Rymans where I found this faux leather desk tidy. It is bigger than it looks and has helped to clear up space on the desk.

Off to Wilkinsons where I found these fabulous frames which I’ve filled with writer-related and motivational quotes, all of which make me smile!

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To the right of the desk you’ll see my water glass and carafe (Jamie Oliver) which is made from recycled jam jars. These cost me £0 as I used some Kenco coffee reward points to treat myself.

Flowers are a must and this jar used to have rice in it but has now been repurposed. The lovely flowers were given to me by a lovely friend.

After all of this I had £6.01 left so bought a memo block, hardback notebook and this extremely used “Things to do” pad from Wilkinsons once again.

This left me with 3p which I have put into my shrapnel jar; pennies make pounds you know! Am I pleased with the transformation? Thrilled would be a better description and I’m glad Roy convinced me that I wanted to do something just for me. With a bit of shopping around and re-using I think I’ve created a much more practical, motivating and quite frankly gorgeous work space for myself.
What do you think?

Whenever I take on a project like this I always set a strict budget because firstly it keeps the spending under control and secondly, I feel it gets the imagination going!

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*I was provided with £50 to take part in this challenge – thanks Moneysupermarket!

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Showing all posts tagged finance

Reorganising Your Personal Finances and Budgeting Better

Room for Improvement