Monthly Bulletin by Citizens Advice Gateshead – Issue 8
Quick practical budgeting tool
Every week that passes, our finances change one way or another, and it’s hard to keep track of exactly what you are paying for, what you can afford and what you can do without. At Citizens Advice Gateshead, we recommend that you periodically check your household finances to see what impact recent changes have had, so this month’s newsletter is a practical guide to doing exactly that.
The tool will be most useful if you give accurate figures, but you can use rough figures if you just want a general idea of your budget. To get the best results, gather your most recent bank statements, pay slips, credit and debit card statements and any receipts you have for things you usually pay for in cash.
Some rules to follow:
- Be honest – the only way to get an accurate idea of your budget is to be honest about how you spend your money, so if you always have a takeaway on a Saturday night, remember to add it!
- Keep everything to the same payment period. Pick weekly, biweekly, or monthly and make sure that all items are based on that payment period. For example, if you want to look at things over a monthly period, multiply your weekly payments by 52 and divide by 12.
- If any of the items mentioned do not apply to you, just leave that box blank.
Income
The first thing we must do is work out your income. Remember, keep everything to the same payment period – weekly or monthly is usual.
| Your wages or earnings after tax | |
| Any money you get from your lodger(s) or anyone else living with you | |
| Any money you get from a pension (incl. Private and state pensions) | |
| Any money you get from investments (incl. Renting a property, dividends etc.) | |
| Any child maintenance or support you receive | |
| Any benefits* you receive (incl. Child benefit, and pension or tax credits) | |
| TOTAL INCOME |
* There are many different benefits that you may be in receipt of – if you are unsure what benefits you are claiming, check out this page to find out about them
Debt Repayments
After working out your income, we look at the debts that you are currently paying back. These are not the lump sums that you owe, but rather the repayments.
| Debt Management Plan | |
| Individual Voluntary Arrangement | |
| Mortgage or rent arrears or arrears for any loans secured against your home | |
| Council Tax arrears | |
| Credit card, store card debts or payday loans | |
| Bank or building society loans arrears | |
| Personal loans | |
| Catalogue, home credit or in-store credit debts arrears | |
| Overdraft charges arrears | |
| Money borrowed from friends or family | |
| Income Tax, National Insurance and VAT | |
| Gas and electricity bills arrears | |
| Water rates arrears | |
| Child maintenance arrears | |
| TV licence arrears | |
| Hire purchase agreements arrears | |
| Court fines arrears | |
| Student loans arrears | |
| Other direct payments for arrears | |
| TOTAL DEBT REPAYMENTS |
Bills
Enter the amount you spend on each of these bills, remembering to keep to the same payment period. For items that come in package deals (I.e., home phone lines, or sometimes TV subscriptions) look at your bills to see what you are charged for that service.
| Rent or mortgage (in full, don’t deduct housing benefit/housing element of UC) | |
| Council Tax (after any deductions) | |
| Gas | |
| Electricity | |
| Any other fuel costs (e.g., oil, coal, or firewood) | |
| Water (incl. wastewater and sewerage charges, if any) | |
| Mobile phone (if pay-as-you-go please estimate) | |
| Home phone | |
| TV subscription (e.g., Sky or Netflix) | |
| Internet | |
| TV Licence | |
| Home Insurance (contents, building or both) | |
| Loan payments | |
| Credit Card Payments | |
| Hire Purchase Payments | |
| Student Loan Payments (if you pay off your loan via PAYE, ignore this) | |
| TOTAL BILLS |
Household and personal
| Grocery shopping (Incl. things like food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, but not alcohol, tobacco, or scratch cards) | |
| Clothing and footwear | |
| Hairdresser or barber | |
| Launderette or dry-cleaning | |
| Healthcare (Incl. medicines, prescription charges, dentist visits, optician) | |
| Repairs and house maintenance(Incl. expenses like plumbing or electricians.) | |
| Any other household spending | |
| TOTAL HOUSEHOLD/PERSONAL EXPENSES |
Family and pets
| Care costs | |
| Christmas spending and other religious holiday expenses. | |
| Pet costs | |
| Birthday presents | |
| Childcare | |
| Child support/maintenance payments you make | |
| Tuition fees | |
| School uniform | |
| School meals | |
| Pocket money and school trips | |
| Nappies and baby items | |
| Other family-related expenses. | |
| TOTAL FAMILY and PETS |
Leisure
| Eating out (Incl. coffees, teas, and snacks) | |
| Going out (incl. drinks out, taxis, admission charges.) | |
| Staying in (incl. alcohol you buy to drink at home or take-away meals.) | |
| Memberships (incl. gym or cinema membership.) | |
| Website subscriptions (Incl. news, magazines, dating, music/video streaming.) | |
| Newspapers and Magazines | |
| Books and Music | |
| Season tickets | |
| Event tickets (Incl. cinema, theatre, sports events, concerts, etc.) | |
| Holidays (Incl. travel, accommodation, dining, going out, and insurance.) | |
| Sports and hobbies | |
| Tobacco (incl. electronic cigarettes) | |
| Gambling (Include lotto, pools, and scratch cards) | |
| Other leisure | |
| TOTAL LEISURE |
Transport
| Public transport (incl. bus, train, boat, and tram journeys.) | |
| Taxis | |
| Bicycle (Incl. general running costs such as repair or rental.) | |
| Car rental (Incl. fuel, parking charges and tolls.) | |
| Car insurance | |
| Road tax | |
| Fuel | |
| MOT | |
| Car maintenance | |
| Breakdown or recovery | |
| Parking, congestion charges and tolls | |
| Other transport-related spending | |
| TOTAL TRANSPORT |
Savings and investments
| Pension | |
| Savings (incl. ISAs) | |
| Investments | |
| Premium Bonds | |
| TOTAL SAVING and INVESTMENT |
Your Budget
To calculate your budget balance,
- Add your Total Income to box A
- Add each of the appropriate totals to the Money Out boxes.
- Add together these totals and put that total in box B.
- Subtract Box B from Box A and write the result in Box C
| Money IN | TOTAL INCOME | A |
| TOTAL DEBT REPAYMENTS | ||
| TOTAL BILLS | ||
| TOTAL HOUSEHOLD/PERSONAL EXPENSES | ||
| TOTAL FAMILY and PETS | ||
| TOTAL LEISURE | ||
| TOTAL TRANSPORT | ||
| TOTAL SAVING and INVESTMENT | ||
| Money OUT | TOTAL MONEY OUT | B |
| Balance | Box A – Box B | C |
If BOX C is a positive number, you’ve got money left over from your budget
If BOX C is zero, your budget is perfectly balanced
If BOX C is a negative number, you’re spending more than you can afford.
What to do?
- Do a ‘sense check’ – does your result feel right to you? Does it reflect the money you see in your purse, wallet or account each month? If it doesn’t, check your figures again to see whether you have missed something out, or underestimated something.
- If you’re happy with your budget result, double check the figures to make sure they are all accurate, and then look to see whether there are any pieces of spending you didn’t expect, or could do without? If you are close to zero, what would happen if you had an unexpected expense?
- If you are unhappy with your budget result, again, check the figures to make sure they are accurate. After that, you should contact your Citizens Advice Gateshead team who will give you advice on making the most of your income, check whether there are any benefits you are missing and give you advice about repaying debts and other financial matters.
Remember you can get in touch with your Citizens Advice Gateshead team for impartial advice, information, and guidance. Email [email protected] or call 0191 490 4231 and we’ll be back in touch with you within 1 working day Monday to Friday.