I have been getting ready with my August budget and filling in my brand new budget planner for August 2019. It is now available to download here, so I thought I’d quickly show you what you get in it 🙂
So, the first page is a monthly overview for August:
This can be used for many things – either financial or just organising your time throughout the month. My plan every month is to write on here things that relate to payments, or other financial things but I rarely get round to it! But, I think this has a neat look to it for the start of the month.
Next, you get the monthly budget page for August:
This is a page to work out your budget for the month ahead. It starts with all income – whether that’s pay check, additional benefits, online income or from selling things online. Everything should be included here! Next are your fixed expenses, the ones that don’t change from month to month. Then finally are the variable expenses categories, as these are the ones that can be more tricky.
After that, there is a new page included this month. It is the debt repayment plan for August:
It gives you space to write down all of your debts, the balance of them, the interest rate and the minimum payment on each. It then gives you space to note down any extra payments you make during the month and then at the bottom gives you a start and finish box for the month of August.
After the debt repayment plan page there is another new page. This is to track your sinking funds:
These could be a variety of things, both short and long term. For example, I am planning on starting a Christmas sinking fund during August, which has a relatively short time frame. But, you might have a holidays sinking fund, or a car sinking fund. This page can help you track them!
After that is one of my favourite pages, the NSD tracker:
You can choose how many you are aiming for – I’ll be aiming for 18 like normal – and then get to fill this in each day of the month. I like to use different coloured stars for mine, but you could do it however you like. Colour in one colour for yes and one colour for no. Get some cute NSD stickers – it’s up to you!
Up next are three pages for your monthly spending; the expense tracker:
There are three pages to give you adequate space to write down all the spending you do during the month! I tend to need three, though I’m always hopeful that I spend less and only need two pages for it. These pages also have room for you to write down which category your spending fits into. I highlight these so it’s easy to see which categories I’m spending more in.
To keep up to date during the month, the next page is a weekly check in page:
This is to check in at the end of each week, so that you can keep an eye on your spending and see where the money is disappearing to. I find this helpful in terms of staying on track as I can see where I’m overspending and change, if needed.
I have changed the name of the next page – it used to be Direct Debits/Standing Orders but now it’s a simple bill tracker:
I think this is slightly more user friendly; this is just to keep track of your bills that go out every month. Try and automate these if you can! And then fill it in here 🙂
Another page which is normally neglected by me but I’m hoping to change that during August is the extra income tracker:
This again is to track anything extra you make during the month. Most of the time if i fill this in it’s because we’ve sold things on Facebook Marketplace or eBay that we no longer need or use. Useful to look back at the end of the month to see how much extra you can make, when focused.
Penultimate page is the savings aim, which is set up like this:
A little colouring in aid to help your savings; I find this helps as a motivator!
And finally, a reflection page on the month:
A page to reflect on the month – how did your variable expense budgets fair. Did they go over budget or did you manage to stay under? And some thoughts on what to do differently in September. I like to think about things for the month ahead, including any events/birthdays – that kind of thing!
I’m so excited to start filling this in on August 1st; I love the pen and paper method and it has totally transformed our spending habits. That combined with using the cash envelope method and I feel so much more in control. You can download the August budget planner here. I’ve also uploaded a video showing a walk through of it, if you want to watch that here.
Are you ready for August?
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