Constantly improving your budget

My budget is constantly improving, is yours?
 
A budget is like a human being in many ways, constantly growing, learning, improving, making mistakes, refining and changing. Today after discussion with a workmate I have decided that instead of using my leftover money after savings and bills to do "whatever I want with" I am creating 5 new online saver accounts! This is separating out my life goals, and making things easier if something does go wrong. The new account names are: 1-Second car savings fund 2-New York City trip fund 3-Car repairs buffer 4-House repairs buffer 5-Germany/Italy trip savings fund. The added bonus is that because they are online savers, there is a small amount of interest paid!
 
Furthermore, I have decided to give myself a "Personal allowance" of £10 per week to spend on whatever I want. For me, this is the perfect solution to the guilt I feel when spending needlessly, and the sadness I feel when I am too strict with my money, as I have talked about before, you have to budget in fun! Its just that I was previously budgeting in more fun than I was financially comfortable with. And at the end of the month if there is anything left the money will be split equally between all 5 of those savings accounts.
 
I do a lot of "side hustling" and any of the money I get will be split equally between "extra treats" to make the extra work worth it, and the other half will be distributed between the 5 accounts to make it do something worthwhile for me!
 
The last of my new guidelines is that I am going to use my nectar points to pay towards my second car when the time comes! Just dont tell my wife though ;) now that nectar points can be earned on ebay, AND used on it too, there is theoretically nothing stopping me buying a car with points earned on my grocery shopping!
 
I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I am much happier about my situation!
 
Can you take a long hard look at your budget and try to improve? Let us all know any tips!

The truth about budgets

This is a post I have been putting off for a VERY long time, because it acknowledges something that I don't (and I don't think anyone) wants to think about too hard, but here goes:
I set aside money in my budget for doing FUN THINGS

There, I said it/typed it. The painful truth is that because I am a human I NEED to do fun things, and give myself  "a break" at least once in a while. For me this could be anything from buying a takeaway (takeout for my american readers) to buying a comic book or going to the cinema (Just went to see man of steel, its AWESOME!) but the point is, If I didn't do these small relatively cheap things, then I would pretty much wind up in a lunatic asylum, "all work and no play make onemanmade a very crazy boy!"

When I first started budgeting I took it wayyyyy too seriously, I took literally every penny that I had spare after paying my mandatory outgoings, and put it into my savings account, about halfway through the month I had to take the "extra" (after saving a decent amount) out and just spent it all on stuff I didn't even need, just because I had to relieve the tension and the pressure of saving so much and not giving myself any slack to play with.

So my advice to you readers is, use your budget to pay your mandatory outgoings and savings, but try to set a little aside (it could be £20 a month just to let yourself buy a takeaway/takeout and a dvd or magazine) just so you don't go nuts!

P.S The reason I don't like thinking about the fact that I need to have fun with money sometimes is that I know that it puts me a little further away than I potentially could be to my goals, but it does mean I will be a happier person when I do reach my goals, and appreciate them more because I haven't had to give up my life to achieve them.

An expensive drink which paid for itself! Competitions/Comping/Freebies

I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE competitions and freebies! (Only if they are free to enter though, but more on this in a bit) The above picture is of a cheque that I received because I bought a small bottle of tropicana orange juice which was £1.30 which is MADNESS but when I got to the till I decided because I like the juice I would treat myself with it. Tropicana are currently doing a promotion whereby the give a code on the labels of their bottles and you enter it online to POTENTIALLY win £5. And I was one of the lucky ones! 

I love competitions and freebies because generally they don't cost much (if anything) to enter and you could win some pretty amazing stuff! I currently use stv.tv/win as you can enter the television competitions online FOR FREE rather than paying for it by using your phone. Also coca cola have codes on their cans and bottles which you can enter online at cokezone.co.uk collect your points and buy things with the points or enter to win prizes! So far I have had a pair of headphones and a tshirt from coca cola. I drink cola anyways so its a win win situation!

What competitions do you enter?

Budgets ARE sexy, my side hustle post

Tomorrow my fellow (and far more experienced!) Financial blogger J$ money of http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/ is going to post a topic about my personal "side hustle" car cleaning, I wrote the piece for him after emailing him asking a question about "The long game" and he gave me some great advice, because I was really stumped on that one! We got to talking and the subject of side hustling came up, and I explained to him that I valet (or clean cars as it is known in the USA) cars for money. I am SUPER excited that he is going to post something I wrote on his blog (please check his blog out, it is absolutely brilliant!!!!) and I cant wait till tomorrow to see it! I consider it an absolute privilege. Check it out for the full guide on cleaning cars for money written by yours truly over at www.budgetsaresexy.com

Picking up money and coins from the ground, squeeze the pennies till the Queen (or abe lincoln) crys for mercy!

Whew... Ok this is going to be a controversial topic for many of my readers, so I will do my best to rationalise it, though before we go any further I am well aware that this will not be everyone's cup of tea, but I just had to blog about it!

I pick up coins and money from the ground (and vending machine coin slots too) and I save them in a jar. There. I said it. Let the judging commence!

I do have some rules about it though,
1-If I find any paper money I would instantly report it to whichever shop or shopping mall I was in. Or the police If I found it outwith these places.
2- If the money is near a charity collection tin or homeless person I would either ignore it, or give it to them.

The biggest find I have ever had was £10, and it was at my work, I spoke to the main receptionist who said to hang onto it till the end of the day and if she didnt have anyone claim it then it was mine. Which I did :) Mostly though I find pennies and small denomination coins, sometimes even foreign coins :) I have a special tin for my foreign coins so that if I ever visit that place then I have some loose change :)

I sometimes check vending machine coin return slots too, there is one particular vending machine which basically always has money left in the coin return slot, anything between ten pence and thirty pence usually!

Picking up coins from the ground when Im out shopping or walking helps with my budget, in all honesty its a bit of a game to me, I like the idea that I can go out for a walk and potentially return slightly richer! Im sure that some of you reading this may think this is silly, or at worst that I am scum for doing it. But here are my reasons:

1- Its fun to pick up coins, adding them to your coin jar makes you reach your goals a little quicker, and if you are the kind of person who saves small amounts on items you buy using coupons or vouchers, then why not pick up some loose change?

2- It makes an ordinary walk a little more exciting, you get a little thrill when you find a coin

3- On our high streets in Britain there are a lot of coins dropped on the ground and their "Owners" havent bothered to pick them up, this is a RECESSION, losing coins by letting them go down drains is effectively taking money out of circulation, which is bad for the economy. I dont know about you, but I would like to see a return to the days when you could walk out of your job on a friday and start a new one on the monday!

4- This point is sort of adding to my previous point, but I personally see the value in small coins, whereas other people seem to throw them on the street for being small denomination. 100 pennies makes a pound, 50 two pences make a pound, ten ten pences make a pound etc, no wonder this country is in so much debt! Noone appreciates the value of money anymore!

I would be interested to hear your thoughts folks, do you pick up coins? Or if not, why not?

grinding in real life

My best friend recently moved country to be with his girlfriend, and also to get employment. He started off as a cleaner in a big supermarket chain, and has worked his way up to staff member in a VERY short space of time due to his work ethic. (Was spotted by the management) He is taking on overtime and doing very well, and also he helps out in his father-in-law's sign-making business (He trained as a graphic designer but has been unable to get work in Scotland even though he finished his course at college with honours and was awarded the student of the year award.) Naturally I am very very proud of him and his achievements, as are his family and his girlfriend. He is extremely hard working and this is starting to pay off for him, these days hard workers are difficult to come by! Hopefully the work experience will enable him to get a job in graphic design, as most places want someone who is experienced working with them.

But to the crux of the matter, my friend plays online games such as World of warcraft and Cabal, (I play cabal too) and to get anywhere in these kind of games one has to grind.

Definition: "to perform a repetitive task in a role playing game in order to increase one's character's stature."
"Informal To devote oneself to study or work"

My best friend and I use this phrase that we use in terms of online gaming, and in terms of real life work. The same principles of dedication, and hard usually repetitive work build ones wealth and character apply. For example my friend works overtime at his job and helps out in a signmaking business (sort of like a freelance graphic designer) to make ends meet and to make his budget work out, and save as much money as he can.

I take a slightly different approach, but use the same principles of dedicating myself completely to the task at hand of making as much money as I possibly can to support my household and family. (Please note that neither my friend or I engage in a "hustlers" definition of grinding which basically involves stealing or other illegal activities.) I have a decent 9-5 job with a permanant contract (Im a clerical officer) which in these days of recession is worth its weight in gold. I also get a decent amount of overtime, which I use to up my wages, its monotonous and time consuming, but pays at "time and a half". On top of this I sell unwanted items on gumtree(which is free to use), sometimes If I spot a classic video game at a car-boot sale, I will buy it cheaply and sell it on at a profit. I also Valet cars at the weekend. This is a hobby of mine which I have turned into an earner when I have time to do it. I also "check in" at shops using a mobile app called "quidco" which pays small amounts (5-25p) for standing in a shop and checking in on your mobile. If you are visiting a city or town it can actually be quite profitable! Its money for using your mobile and walking around, not hard, but monotonous and somewhat time consuming. I also make youtube videos and write this blog, and adsense pays me to allow adverts on my videos and blogs. I budget hard and dont spend money where I dont have to generally, although I allow myself a few small "treats" every month, I like having a takeaway meal which is fairly cheap, because you will only get miserable very quickly if you dont give yourself a couple of treats every month! This is grinding, making ends meet, and trying to save more money and spend less. Often difficult, time consuming and monotonous, but good for character building and making money honestly. If you can turn a hobby such as cleaning cars or an interest in classic video games for example, into money making opportunities then so much the better.

Thoughts?

How to claim work uniform laundry tax rebate FOR FREE DON'T PAY ANY COMPANY TO DO THIS FOR YOU!!!!

I wanted to post about something which has been REALLY bugging me recently. A couple of years ago I heard about claiming back tax for laundering your work uniform, which I did (and I will tell you how to) and now there is this whole GLUT of companies offering to get you the refund and taking up to 30% of the amount rebated!!! This is so WRONG its frightening!!! Why pay a company to do this for you? These companies are preying on people who are not informed enough about this, because not enough clear information is on the internet about it. I am going to remedy that RIGHT NOW FOR FREE.

Ok, the following has to apply to you.

• You wear a recognisable uniform that shows you've got a certain job, like a branded T-shirt or police uniform. Also, we've heard reports that even plain clothes, without a logo, that you only wear for work may count - it's worth a try.
• Your employer requires you to wear it while you're working.
• You have to pay to clean, repair or replace it yourself. However, you can't claim if your employer washes your kit, provides facilities to do so (even if you don't use them) or pays you for doing this maintenance.
• You paid income tax in the year you are claiming for.

That's you? Good, time to get some money back AND have your tax code changed so that you pay less tax every year! Here is the template letter and the all important address which for some reason seems to be hidden from everyone on the internet. Copy and paste this into your word processor and post it away, and in a few weeks once HMRC have processed it you will pay a different tax code on your wages and will be recompensed either through your wages or by cheque for the amount, but this will ONLY DATE BACK THE LAST 6 YEARS.

(YOUR ADDRESS HERE)

HM Revenue & Customs
Pay As You Earn
PO Box 1970
Liverpool
L75 1WX

Dear HMRC,

RE: Washing Expenses
I work for -EMPLOYERS NAME- and have been employed there since -START DATE- . I am required to wash my work uniform which bears the company logo, it is given to me by employer and they do not have any washing facilities on site. I would not wear my uniform outside of work because it has my employers logo on it.

I would like to claim this expense from the above date. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Yours Faithfully

-SIGN-
-YOUR NAME-
-NATIONAL INSURANCE NUMBER-

There FINALLY on the internet EVERYTHING you need to claim this back FOR FREE KEEPING 100% of your compensation is finally out there!!

Have fun!

Do you pick up coins or money on the ground?

Ok, this is going to be a "marmite" post, you are either going to love the idea of this, or HATE it, its that derisive a topic, here goes!
Almost every day I find money of some sort on my daily travels, I don't even do it on purpose anymore! But my eyes just seem to find the coins (And in some very rare cases notes!) wherever they are on the pavements/ground etc. I once found a ten pound note as well in a business in Ayr, I reported that I had it, they took my details and said that If noone claimed it by the end of the day then I could keep it! Any more than that though and I would hand it in to the police. Everyone has a different level of tolerance for finding money, from a moral standpoint. To be honest most people don't pick up coins or money from the street anyways, they think its "dirty". Which is 100% TRUE. But only because the money in current circulation has been handled so many times, by so many different people, and kept in hiding places by many different people, so its as dirty as the rest of the money in circulation by my way of thinking. So far THIS YEAR I have found somewhere in the region of £25, in these hard financial times, thats got to be a welcome bonus in 4 months!! Simply from picking up coins in the streets!

So my question to you budgetlifers, is do you pick up coins/notes from the ground/streets/sidewalks? And what is the reason for yes or no answer?? Looking forward to hearing from you budgetlifers!

My next post will be about ways to make money on the side, (not from your day job)

Your budget or your life 1

Welcome to your budget or your life! In this blog I am going to be posting about how to make and maintain a budget, and also helpful guides and tips on:

*saving for a deposit for a mortgage/car/anything
*pitfalls in finance
*how to build up your credit score
*information on different types of bank accounts
*paid surveys

and much more to come over the life of this blog!

First of all here is a link to a standard budget in ODF format (sorry I dont have excel, but you can convert easily or use open office which is free like I do if your excel wont open it)

http://www.2shared.com/file/pmX-Tn0A/BUDGET_TEMPLATE.html

In this template on the far left hand side you have some examples of expenses you could have. Change any of these to anything that suits your own personal circumstances. Enter the totals into the second column. I work my budget monthly, but you can do it weekly to the same effect, and when you save your spreadsheet file always save the week or the month as the file name. E

The third column is for your incomes, enter as many as you wish here (for example if you have two or more jobs, or sell on ebay/gumtree etc)

The fourth column is for your isa total, If you dont have one (yet) obviously leave it blank, but I will cover ISAs more in the upcoming blogs.

The fifth column is for Savings Jar 1, this could be where you save a certain denomination of coin (such as pound coins or dollars if you are american)

The sixth column is for savings Jar 2, this could be where you save just any denomination of coin or notes.

The seventh column is for your wallet or purse, the money you carry on your person

the eight column is for the emergency fund, this is REALLY important. I would say try to get about £200 or $300 dollars saved here for emergencys, AND ONLY USE IT IN EMERGENCYS. I will speak about this more in the future as its pretty important.

Once you have entered values in all these columns the totals and totals left over (or negative) will display in the lower cells. This tells you how you are actually doing financially and theres no guesswork or "rounding up" involved. I HATE ROUNDING UP. This is for the fact that people seem to think that to budget you should round up values. I think being honest with yourself financially is the very best way to start. 

Ok, so you have your totals and you are seeing (perhaps for the first time) exactly where your money is going and how much you REALLY have. Now you try to get a better deal on every bill you possibly can.

Insurances
http://www.comparethemarket.com/
http://www.gocompare.com/

Energy and broadband
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/

line rental
http://www.primussaver.co.uk/

Make cut backs, BE HONEST, and be brutal if you have to, this is your financial future we are talking about here and noone can do the legwork for you unfortunetly. Here are my 10 golden tips:

1- Cut back on buying branded goods (heinz, walkers etc) and try the supermarket or budget version, buying the aldi version usually cuts back about 60% of spending, and the stuff they sell is actually great quality

2- Walk places where you can rather than taking the car or public transport you will get fitter and  walking makes you feel good by releasing endorphins in your brain.

3- Turn off lights when you leave a room, there should only be one lightbulb on in your house when its dark, and thats for the room that you are in.

4- Dont buy DVDs, take out a free trial for lovefilm and then cancel it before the 30 day limit is up

5- Watch films online, there are actually a lot of films on youtube now, such as rocky 2

6- Dont let food you buy go to waste or out of date, make meal plans and use all the food before it goes out of date, make a soup, all you need to make soup is a stock cube and any selection of diced vegetables and meats. You can freeze it too and eat it later.

7- If you have a job can you do overtime? Its a good way to make money and get in your managers good books!

8- Can you sell anything that you dont ever use? Many people on ebay or gumtree will pay good money for that playstation you have had sitting for years

9- If you have a television subscription cancel it, freeview is really good now! Its like sky without all the crap shows

10- If you make videos on youtube, see if you are eligable to monetize your videos, its a great way to make money!

More next time on Your budget or your life, I will be blogging weekly every saturday.


If there are any questions or comments, please post here or email me on onemanmade@hotmail.co.uk