Working with the Christians Against Poverty (CAP) charity, the BOSS Charity aims to help people to reduce their debts, regain control of their finances and learn how they can make their money work harder for them.
Building a budget is the best place to start. It sounds simple, but it can take some time to gather all the information together, so it’s a good idea to get all your paperwork together ready to start your budget.
Understanding what you have coming in and out of the household is the basis for building your budget. Then, setting targets for variable expenses like shopping, fuel costs, and social spending can help to focus on not overspending on the things that you can control. Things such as housing costs are normally a fixed cost, so are easier to predict.
The next part – balancing your budget – can be the tricky bit. If your outgoings are more than your incomings, then understanding this is the first part to getting your finances into line!
The CAP website has all the tools for you to put this into practice.
Increasing your income could help to balance your budget. For example, have you thought about?:
- Working extra hours, or seeing if someone else in your household can do so.
- Making sure you have all the Government benefits you are entitled to can help. You can check that you are getting everything here.
- Asking grown-up children who still live at home to contribute to household costs.
- Rent out a spare room to a lodger (make sure that you check the terms and conditions of your accommodation before you do this).
- Rent out a garage, parking space or driveway.
- Sell items that you no longer need, such as old clothes or jewellery.
CAP’s website has lots of useful information, so have a look and see what you can do to get back on top of your finances.