# Studying a bank statement is painful!



## deanchilds (Dec 11, 2007)

Been trying to get the pockets used to hanging onto money a bit easier as need to buy my first house in 2012 and need to stop spiking money! 

Out of what I use just on my card and not pay for cash is painful, in 2 months I've got £50 in Starbucks, £50 Nandos and it's more then that with cash as eat there 2-3 times a week! Paypal is over £600 and phone bill £557 for 2months but think is was over due so that be 3 months! 

2012 is going to see some big changes! 

If you need to make a change in your spending habits, shocking yourself and writing things down so it's in black and White does make it easier to change! 

I'm cutting down on lots of things this year, as in the last 3 months I spent £7k on a holiday to Florida Inc spending money, got married for half that figure and then spend far too much money since then! 

The hard work starts now, going to pretend im in £25k debt again so it feels more serious!


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## DaveDesign (May 6, 2008)

i know what your saying, I just looked to see how much i had spent at Mcdonalds and the local co-op the last month:doublesho

Makes you think doesn't it.


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## deanchilds (Dec 11, 2007)

yup! I eat so much takeaways its untrue! 

Says he who has just ordered £30 worth of dominos! got to make the most of it i guess as 2012 be like being on a crash diet the way I spent money on food! 

Been looking at a taste card, £70 for the year for 50% off or 2for1 at prezzo, pizza hut and express. strada etc and loads more, found an offer for £30 so worth punt


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## Avanti (Jan 17, 2006)

Yep, fortunately for me , the only time I near experienced debt was on my 1st job, I was on £45 per week and had several store cards, it was only when I purchased a top and some trousers for £35 I realised if I never used the card in between then it would be 8 months with the interest to clear those two items.
Many years later though, I was earning a good amount and then was still skint, but as you say writing down the things you spend money on helps a lot, I was spending £20 a month on mags (not even porno ones) and eating out twice a week, thing was it was the little things like sweets and snacks that were chomping away.
My budgeting is good now, but initially it is painful making adjustments, now I am able to save a good % of my salary and that is on top of paying child support 
Similar with dieting too, writing down what you eat from breakfast to bed, can be shocking on the calorie intake, but the weight soon falls off without much effort.


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## alan_mcc (Oct 28, 2008)

It's easy though isn't it. Whenever I have a small amount of cash, I'll treat myself to say a McDonalds, £20 of petrol might aswell, ooh that hoody is only £15 etc..

Then before I realise it I've only about 60 pence :lol:

But £557 on the phone?! How?!


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## Huw (Feb 16, 2007)

Dean, when you fancy a pizza go to Sainsbury's or Asda and buy a couple of the made to order pizza's for about £7. Then put the £23 you have saved from not going to Domino's into a saving's account. Your deposit for the house will quickly add up.


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## HeavenlyDetail (Sep 22, 2006)

I have to be honest im pretty religious and every single transaction i make goes into an accounts book so i know at any minute of any day the exact amount i have down to the last pence. Some may find this extreme but it means i never go overdrawn and always stay above the line , it works for me well and have done this for over 10 years , everything is ticked off from the monthly statement , its probably why i have no debts at all or cards.


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## mattsbmw (Jul 20, 2008)

HeavenlyDetail said:


> I have to be honest im pretty religious and every single transaction i make goes into an accounts book so i know at any minute of any day the exact amount i have down to the last pence. Some may find this extreme but it means i never go overdrawn and always stay above the line , it works for me well and have done this for over 10 years , everything is ticked off from the monthly statement , its probably why i have no debts at all or cards.


I do exactly the same on a spreadsheet, know were every penny has been spent and can predict the tough months were insurances etc are due 

Work very well.


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## kh904 (Dec 18, 2006)

^

:lol:

I thought i was the only sad person who kept a track of every penny on a spreadsheet (also for 10 years)!
Also like you, i'm debt free, never overdrawn (touch wood) and have a very good deposit for a house!

It's eye opening when you see in black & white where your money goes & to budget throughout the year so there's no nasty surprises that i couldn't be prepared!

Must be the accountant in me!


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## mattsbmw (Jul 20, 2008)

kh904 said:


> Must be the accountant in me!


Thats what i blame too


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## shane_ctr (Dec 17, 2006)

HeavenlyDetail said:


> I have to be honest im pretty religious and every single transaction i make goes into an accounts book so i know at any minute of any day the exact amount i have down to the last pence. Some may find this extreme but it means i never go overdrawn and always stay above the line , it works for me well and have done this for over 10 years , everything is ticked off from the monthly statement , its probably why i have no debts at all or cards.


I didn't think so many people would have done this, I have always been ok with money, My partner keeps a note of what she spends and i could never see the point, I gave it a go and wow you can really see what you spend all the money on etc, Now i keep a note of everything and whenever i do some online banking i tick it off,

:thumb:


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## *MrB* (Feb 20, 2011)

mattsbmw said:


> I do exactly the same on a spreadsheet, know were every penny has been spent and can predict the tough months were insurances etc are due
> 
> Work very well.


+1
Works really well :thumb:


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## greenwagon (Dec 31, 2008)

I stopped buying lunches at work 20 years ago which has saved me 15k
I keep a cash float of £50 for drink if going out 
Everything else is paid for on card so I don't fritter my money away 
Everything I'd direct debit £600 (don't have Morgage or any debts )
Food budget is £300 ,the misses tops up any extra for food etc 
Always pay house & car insurance in full by credit card for and shop around for everything 
Misses pays for any snacks 
Always try to save a minimum of £500 every month 
Have separate savings for holiday 
Watch the pennies and the pounds look after themselves 
Write everything down its amazing what savings can be made


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## alan_mcc (Oct 28, 2008)

Save a minimum of £500 a month?


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## deanchilds (Dec 11, 2007)

Gladly all my debts are also gone and have no credit cards and even when ordering stuff for work I pay it there and then so it's done. 

I'm just trying to get into the thinking I'm in debt so to be able to save better as I wouldn't think twice about a £100 t shirt or £20 on crispy kreme donuts or £15 breakfast at nando's a few times a week. 

Its amazing where the money goes, lucky DW has a sales section as made £2.5k from there this year selling stuff I don't use or need, now if I can just get my phone bill down and stick to one supplier I'll save some more money next year. 

Business has been awesome in 2011 and never thought it would be this great, but I still want to move on and upwards with an expansion at some point too. 

Hard work starts now!


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## greenwagon (Dec 31, 2008)

18185 is great for telephone calls ,all free in the uk and I use BT and pay my line for one year in advance saving another £48 
Sky can be got for a quid a month 
Electric / gas has crept up a lot though and all around about the same price so a couple of clicks down and a extra jumper all helps 
Quite lucky I'm on a rateable system rather then water metor with lots of car washing 
weekly 

Saved £80 on my house insurance with 1 hours work although running 2 subarus only a couple of specialists will insure them but only pay £300 each for them


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

deanchilds said:


> Been looking at a taste card, £70 for the year for 50% off or 2for1 at prezzo, pizza hut and express. strada etc and loads more, found an offer for £30 so worth punt


Not worth it IMO. There is a section on moneysavingexpert with regular vouchers for restaurants like Zizzi, Prezzo and the like and with apps like vouchercloud and sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, etc there is no need to buy a card to get discounts on eating in chains as they are regularly discounted anyway.


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## ant_s (Jan 29, 2009)

I've always been pretty ontop of my money too, but I guess that's how I managed to save a house deposit and money to renovate it all in 2.5 years 

I don't do the spreadsheet thing but I am checking online banking probably everyday making sure I know any transacations and try to keep spending cash as low as possible, that's where I found my money would vanish and I couldn't account to where it went - that's something I hate too, not knowing where my money goes when it's "only a few £ here and there" end of the week and a silly amount has been spent.

When saving I always got to "milestones" the next £500 or the next £1000 and then made myself think that that was £0, worked well for me.

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I'll have a look at that too, i've had my first Apple product, well tbh, i've had ipod's but never bothered with apps, now i've got my ipad the amount of app's is crazy (mostly games and crap) but any decent stuff is good to know about



johnnyguitar said:


> Not worth it IMO. There is a section on moneysavingexpert with regular vouchers for restaurants like Zizzi, Prezzo and the like *and with apps like vouchercloud *and sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, etc there is no need to buy a card to get discounts on eating in chains as they are regularly discounted anyway.


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## Juzza (May 9, 2011)

HeavenlyDetail said:


> I have to be honest im pretty religious and every single transaction i make goes into an accounts book so i know at any minute of any day the exact amount i have down to the last pence. Some may find this extreme but it means i never go overdrawn and always stay above the line , it works for me well and have done this for over 10 years , everything is ticked off from the monthly statement , its probably why i have no debts at all or cards.


Exactly the same here and always plan my budgeting a few months in advance and work backwards so I can pay insurance/larger out goings etc in full. Find this approach really does work and have never been overdrawn. Ask yourself need it/want it and the difference adds up!


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## deanchilds (Dec 11, 2007)

2012 is here and the hard work begins!


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

HeavenlyDetail said:


> I have to be honest im pretty religious and every single transaction i make goes into an accounts book so i know at any minute of any day the exact amount i have down to the last pence. Some may find this extreme but it means i never go overdrawn and always stay above the line , it works for me well and have done this for over 10 years , everything is ticked off from the monthly statement , its probably why i have no debts at all or cards.


We do pretty much the same, but we pay for everything on our credit card then pay the whole lot off at the end of each month after being stung a few times with our debit cards being used fraudulently. It's happened twice since using the credit cards but Barclaycard are far quicker and more efficient at dealing with fraud than the banks are.


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