# MABS - Passionate about Budgeting - Top 10 tips from www.mabs.ie



## ajapale (13 Oct 2011)

I met a MABS advisor in a social context recently and to say that she was passionate about domestic budgeting would be an understatement!

She was saying the even if you are not currently in difficulty it is good to get into the dicipline of budgeting.

She said that the www.mabs.ie site is a marvellous resource.

I wonder whether AAMers would help me develop a "top 10" list of the best tips on the site?

Thanks,
aj


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## onq (14 Oct 2011)

01. Destroy your credit card(s) and get a lazer/ debit card.

02. Compile a monthly list of incomings and outgoings as things stand now*.

*03. Prioritize that list into necessities, desirables and luxuries*.

*04. Include one holiday for all the family regardless of income.

05. Draw a yearly forecast of your largest once off outgoings.

06. Relate these back to monthly and weekly amounts by simple division.

07. Review your monthly and weekly list again.

08. Note your incidence of bi-monthly or quarterly recurring bills on a year planner.

09. Schedule payments of other bills around these bills

10. Do not allow one billing point to always take the hits - this helps avoid large arrears building up

11. Review and cancel all direct debits and set up payments directly in your bank, the post office or online.

12. Review and assess the need for transport against the desire to keep cars on the road.

13. Do not start cooking bread and/or biscuits in your home oven to "save money" - it doesn't.

14. Following the bargains in your weekly shop and cut out all sweets, desserts and high price "treats" - it is possible to feed a family of four for €100 per week.

15. Do essential maintenance and preventative work around the house before its needed - don't wait for it to rain to fix that leaking gutter/wet wall you knew about.

16. Get an extension arm and clean your house windows yourself - its safer than climbing up ladders, gives as good a finish as your window cleaner and pays for itself first time used.

17. Seek alternative quotations for every service and outgoing starting with phone and broadband - if you're on Sky more than a year IIRC you can cancel your subscription and you get to keep the dish 

These were some of the major steps we went through to manage our finances in the past 18 months following our discussion with our local MABS office - happy to share.


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## Mpsox (14 Oct 2011)

To add to the list above

18: Review your taxes and make sure you are claiming for every tax free allowance you can and for any you can claim retrospectively and that personal allowances are being claimed for in the most tax efficient manner

19: check if you have any old cheque books in the house and check if you've been charged stamp duty for them by your bank, if so take them back and get it refunded 

20: have a house clearance, we did one recently of crap in the attic and shed and sent it to a house clearance auction specialists near where we live, raised €650. You'd be amazed what people would pay money for, especially as some of the stuff would have only gone in a skip. Royal Oak Auctioneer in Bagnalstown do a monthly auction and I'm sure there are others around the country


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## Brendan Burgess (18 Oct 2011)

Hi AJ

Great idea.

Anything of interest on this thread? 

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=62688

Brendan


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## ANORAKPHOBIA (18 Oct 2011)

onq said:


> 01. Destroy your credit card(s) and get a lazer/ debit card.
> 
> 02. Compile a monthly list of incomings and outgoings as things stand now*.*
> 
> ...


 
I think it is a ludicrous suggestion to even consider a family holiday if you are at the sametime trying to restrict yourself to 100 euro per week to feed a family of 4.


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## Kerrigan (18 Oct 2011)

I laughed out loud at the idea of a family of four surviving on one hundred euro per week.  Can somebody please tell me how this is done?  Am I missing the point?


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## serotoninsid (18 Oct 2011)

Mpsox said:


> 19: check if you have any old cheque books in the house and check if you've been charged stamp duty for them by your bank, if so take them back and get it refunded


Didn't realise there was stamp duty on cheques. Thankfully, my bank didn't send me a cheque book when I moved back to them (UB) from Halifax.  Still the occassional dinasaur out there.  Last time I was asked for a cheque payment was by a firm of solicitors.  Asked them if they would accept bank transfer and they wouldn't!  Had to get a bank draft on two occasions for them.


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## Firefly (18 Oct 2011)

ANORAKPHOBIA said:


> I think it is a ludicrous suggestion to even consider a family holiday if you are at the sametime trying to restrict yourself to 100 euro per week to feed a family of 4.



I think the family holiday is one of the best tips provided by ONQ (It needn't be in the Seychelles...it could be a house swap or a camping holiday...the kids won't care). I would also add that each family should spend weekends doing stuff that's cheap/free together such as walks in the woods/beach and going swimming. Having activities such as these to enjoy will make it easier to cut back on other things....the reason so many diets fail is that people become miserable...


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## fraggle (18 Oct 2011)

Kerrigan said:


> I laughed out loud at the idea of a family of four surviving on one hundred euro per week. Can somebody please tell me how this is done? Am I missing the point?


 
We set aside 120/week for groceries. We sometimes go over it, but only if there is washing powder etc neeeded.

We buy organic foodstuffs where possible and eco-washing powders etc.

If we really tried, cut out the organic stuff, then we could easily get it <100. 2 adults and 2 kids.


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## marfsmal (18 Oct 2011)

Also would like to recommend hot water bottles. Very simple and cost effective and could be a great help if you have to cut back somewhat on heating.


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## Gekko (18 Oct 2011)

I would have thought that €100 per week for food for a family of four would be more than doable.

Sure the likes of Superquinn, Tesco and Supervalu have meats at 3 for €9/€10.  Veg is three for €5.

In fact, €100 per week would be easily managed.


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## laobhise (18 Oct 2011)

I also agree that €100 per week is more than doable!! We spend €60-€70 per week on shopping for a family of 3 including nappies and a case of 12 beers for my husband. We meal plan doing lots of dinners that last for 2 nights such as bolognese, chillis, shepards pie, chicken chasseur, chicken curry etc and do online shopping. I found online shopping brought the cost down dramatically for us- was €100-€120 per week before that.  

This post from rollercoaster is also great for families trying to save money- think there was a link to it on here before
[broken link removed]


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## laobhise (18 Oct 2011)

Also forgot about this post for how to do shopping for a family of 4 for under €50
[broken link removed]


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## Booter (19 Oct 2011)

Kerrigan said:


> I laughed out loud at the idea of a family of four surviving on one hundred euro per week.  Can somebody please tell me how this is done?  Am I missing the point?



In a word, Aldi (or Lidl, if you prefer)

Very do-able.


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## Booter (19 Oct 2011)

Mpsox said:


> To add to the list above
> 
> 
> 19: check if you have any old cheque books in the house and check if you've been charged stamp duty for them by your bank, if so take them back and get it refunded



Mpsox, 

You mean unused cheque books right? Or has the stamp duty on all cheque books been rescinded?


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## Mpsox (19 Oct 2011)

Booter said:


> Mpsox,
> 
> You mean unused cheque books right? Or has the stamp duty on all cheque books been rescinded?


 
unused cheque books, 

stamp duty is €0.50 for every cheque you write but historically it was charged when you got the actual cheque book. Hence if you got a book of 30 cheques, you were charged €15. Haven't got one in a while but I know the last time I wrote one, I was debited an additional €0.50 from my account for stamp duty


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## whiteoaks100 (19 Oct 2011)

Kerrigan said:


> I laughed out loud at the idea of a family of four surviving on one hundred euro per week.  Can somebody please tell me how this is done?  Am I missing the point?



I agree..we are a family of six and it still costs on average 200 a week to feed us...and that's with buying own brand goods and checking up on special offers..a growing family are constantly hungry!


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## fraggle (19 Oct 2011)

There seems to be two distinct groups. Those who can manage well on <100 and those who just can't understand it.

I wonder if there is a difference between what the two groups eat?

Perhaps one group is buying ingredients and making meals, and the other is buying processed/ready made?


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## Mpsox (19 Oct 2011)

fraggle said:


> There seems to be two distinct groups. Those who can manage well on <100 and those who just can't understand it.
> 
> I wonder if there is a difference between what the two groups eat?
> 
> Perhaps one group is buying ingredients and making meals, and the other is buying processed/ready made?


 
most weeks we would be under €100 for food ( that's with a baby and a 5 yr old). We tend not to buy processed foods, get our meat from the butcher rather then the supermarket and no one in the house eats sweets or drinks fizzy drinks (mainly because none of us like them). Have to say it astonishs me sometimes if I am in the supermarket to see people with trollies piled with junk.


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## Thirsty (19 Oct 2011)

It depends on what you like to eat.

Mince meat is a lot cheaper than steak.

Vegetarian meals are often a lot cheaper than meat based ones.

Tinned fruit can be cheaper than fresh.

Frozen vegetables can be cheaper also.


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## whiteoaks100 (19 Oct 2011)

I thought my 200 euros between six was quite reasonable but obviously I'm wrong...that is 150 in dunnes each week and then roughly another 50 give or take between other shops throughout the week...I usually spend some of that in aldi for their rolls and fruit backs. Bread alone in an average week comes to 20 quid alone between lunches and toast etc. I do insist on buying traceable meat and fresh fruit and vegNot lover of processed foods ..too unhealthy. It proves though that it costs more to eat healthily .


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## DaveD (21 Oct 2011)

whiteoaks100 said:


> I thought my 200 euros between six was quite reasonable but obviously I'm wrong...that is 150 in dunnes each week and then roughly another 50 give or take between other shops throughout the week...I usually spend some of that in aldi for their rolls and fruit backs. Bread alone in an average week comes to 20 quid alone between lunches and toast etc. I do insist on buying traceable meat and fresh fruit and vegNot lover of processed foods ..too unhealthy. It proves though that it costs more to eat healthily .



Start shopping in Lidl instead of Dunnes and you'll save at least €50 per week. I can't agree with you that it costs more to eat healthily, I've found quite the opposite.


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## DXB (24 Oct 2011)

DaveD said:


> Start shopping in Lidl instead of Dunnes and you'll save at least €50 per week. I can't agree with you that it costs more to eat healthily, I've found quite the opposite.



umm... to a point... however, when I dig down into the healthy stuff that people buy to keep their household spend down I notice a lot of

cheap sausages (I buy sausages but insist on 80%+ pork so it's actually nutritious)
cheap mince (again, high fat content)
bulking out - making the protein part go further by adding breadcrumbs and other stuff - just more carbs for your family
small amounts of meat and lots of pasta/rice/potatoes/bread etc.
cheap chicken - god knows what is injected into it...

I read a post once by someone saying that they made a lovely dinner for 4 adults with 5 eggs and how cheap it was - If I had been one of those adults I would have been into a chipper on the way home ravenous!


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## Janet (24 Oct 2011)

With regard to budgeting, here are some of the basics I've learned which are more for people who haven't really budgeted or thought about money before (or who think about it a lot but never get anywhere).  Some of these things I knew and/or read about but didn't really 'get' for a long time.  Some are so simple that people who don't have many problems with managing money will have difficulty imagining that anyone could be that silly.  So forgive me for stating the obvious to a certain extent (because even the obvious takes some element of acceptance before it can do any good).


Only spend what you have
If at all possible, spend less than you have (this should be the norm)
Overdrafts and credit cards do not count as money that you 'have'
There are essentially two ways to budget, imo.  In the first you know exactly what your outgoing should be for each category of weekly, monthly and annual expenses you have come up with.  You have allocated money to each of these within the parameters of what you earn and make sure to include some amount for savings.  The second is where you know the fixed amounts you need to pay each week, month, year and after deducting these amounts from what you earn, you divide the rest by four (or five, depending on the month) and that's how much money you have to spend on food, household supplies, going out and everything else in that week.  This latter method of budgeting sometimes seems like the only way to go but overall just isn't terribly effective (having said that, it's what I've done for most of the time I've spent trying to get out of debt - nearly there now.  I didn't really understand properly what a budget could be, I just wanted to know how much money I could spend.  I know realise that every time I told myself that if I had any leftover at the end of the week, it would go straight to paying off debt/savings, I was just fooling myself.

But if I understood the original post correctly, this thread is about compiling a list of the top ten tips on the mabs website so now I'm off to have a read of that.  Or should it be a top ten of tips already on AAM?


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