I came into the New Year knowing that I had some big costs to cover in January. Knowing this information meant that the results of this entry were not a shock. Read on to find out where my money went this month. Some big annual / quarterly spends As highlighted last month, January is when […]
Managing finances is one of the key life skills that we all need to learn. Understanding how budgeting works and what it really means is important if you want to keep control of the purse strings and save for those important things. The sooner you start teaching children about finances, the more likely they are […]
It always amazes me when I overhear conversations between people discussing their mobile phone contracts and I hear “yeah, I got a really good deal. I’m only paying £40 per month.”. What? £40 a month is not a budget mobile! For me anything over £20 a month is unjustified. I’m not a massively heavy user […]
Finding a way to budget your finances together while in a relationship can be fraught with difficulty. It’s not simply about having money available for bills and shopping but can include saving for holidays and even for a new home if things all go well. Budgeting as a couple can be a contentious issue, we […]
Considering December is typically the most expensive month of the year, I didn’t do too badly and even managed to put some money into my savings. Here’s a look at what was spent in my December financial diary. My biggest expense in my December financial diary was my mortgage which is no surprise. This accounted […]
Making savings can be a hit or miss affair if you don’t have a good plan in place. It seems that, no matter how much we earn, putting money aside for a rainy day or saving for something special can be more difficult than we think. To help you out, here are 3 small changes […]
I created the website and online tool The Budget Planner back in 2008. The reason for building it was twofold; 1. To move my excel budgets into an online space where I could access them wherever I was and 2. To gain experience of building and marketing websites. Nine years on, I have a fulfilling […]
Finding a deposit is one of the biggest financial challenges anybody can face. It’s not easy – you could be looking at trying to find anything between 10% and 20% of the property value and in some parts of the country that can be a hugely significant amount of money. Even if you have access to […]
There’s no doubt that the Yuletide period can be a big drain on resources. It’s easy to go overboard and spend more than you intended. Last year it was reported that UK households were £1.5bn in debt following Christmas 2015. Our shops and supermarkets and even online stores nowadays are geared towards making us spend […]
It’s official, winter is here following the first snow a few weeks ago. When the weather turns like this there is nothing better than to sit down with a delicious soup, and a homemade one at that. I’ve nothing against soup in a can and the cost is relatively cheap, but if I have time, […]