Seems like a few of us have started this/are old hands/are keen to try. Thought it would be good to share some tips.
What's changed our spending habits completely is as follows:
1 - dull but necessary - look at where you spend your money. Every single pound of it. If possible look at figures for all of 2011, month by month. Internet banking is helpful here. We noticed several things: a) we were wasting far too much across the year b) months with birthdays/events in were a lot more expensive c) we spent almost double in the second half of the month compared to the first half d) we ate too may takeaways.
2 - work out your fixed costs and what constitutes a necessary expense (ie for me the cost of the hairdresser is factored in, it might not be for someone else).
3 - only spend cash. I'm so grateful for the help some of the girls gave me in terms of this budgeting (hopefully they'll share some tips too) but it really makes you assess what you spend your money on. We've eaten better and reduced our waste all for a lot less money. I still get to be picky in terms of the things that matter to me (I only buy meat from the local organic butcher for example) but I make sure we don't waste food.
Anyone else?
