The budget newbie:
Budgeting is a lot less complicated than it seems. No, seriously. Just think of it as adding and subtracting – you add all the money you earn and subtract all the money you spend. This Beginner’s Guide to Personal Budget will give you all the tips you need. There are also many tools to help you budget, you can use our budget spreadsheet, you can use a good old notebook and write everything down, you can use this online Budget Planner by the Money Advice Service and you can even use apps!
The unexpected expense:
The car broke, your washing machine stopped working, the rain damaged the roof… None of us is safe from unexpected expenses (or from forgetting the car insurance, for that matter!), and budgeting for those if you don’t have some emergency funds can be a challenge.
You can borrow money from friends or family, but make sure you won’t be leaving them out of pocket and you’ll be able to repay as agreed – nothing worse than causing bad blood between you and your loved ones because of money. If you wish to skip that one, consider using your overdraft or a short-term loan, take a look at the interest rates and the terms of each one first, as overdrafts can be more expensive than loans, and before taking a loan, compare the options.
The healthy budgeter:
We could write a whole blog post about that. Oh wait, we have done just that! It is possible to eat healthy and stay within your budget with a few simple tricks – plan ahead, shop wisely and cut the junk food. Here’s a list of 10 diet and nutrition apps to help you stick to the plan, and what’s bets, most of them are free.