Monday 16 April 2018

Artline Monday - Organising your finances with a bullet journal

Every April I always feel the need to get on top of my finances, it's probably because it is the start of a new tax year and usually when our wages and bills all go up.  This year I thought I would use my bullet journal to help me organise my money so I hit Pinterest for some ideas and created my own spread.

Bullet journal, calculator and Artline pens


One of the best things about a bullet journal is you only need a notebook and a few pens to get started!  If you haven't already set up one check out my Bullet journal basics posts for details on creating your own and then come back here for more information about managing your money in one! 

Income, outgoings, spent and saved

I have four sections in my spread, these are Income, Outgoings, Spent and Saved.  I used the dots on my pages to help me make the sections and drew them with a couple of Artline fineliners.

Money, money, money

I listed the money we have coming in under Income and used an Artline Supreme highlighter to colour in every other line so it was easier to read.  I then did the same with all the money we have going out under outgoings.  This includes things like rent, council tax, utilities, Netflix etc and I added another couple of rows to this section so I could record if these bills are paid automatically or if I have to make the payments myself.

I haven't filled in every amount in these two sections for privacy reasons but now I have photographed the pages I can add those details in.

There is one box under the Income and Outgoings sections for the totals.  You just need to add all of your incoming money together and pop the total in the first box and then add all of your outgoings together and write that number in the second box.  If you take away your total outgoings from your total income this will leave you with your surplus or spare money for the month. 

Spent and saved

On the second page I am recording what we have spent and what we have saved.  I drew boxes for Bills, Fuel, Food, Entertainment, Clothes, Stationery and the last box is for the money my husband spends during the month. I added numbers under each box and then used a highlighter to colour in how much we have spent.  As the month goes on I can continue to colour in further along the boxes as we spend more money.  This is a great way to see exactly where your money is going!

For the Saved section I drew some smaller boxes an labelled them with amounts like £1, £2, £5 and £10.  When I put some money into our savings I colour in the corresponding box with my highlighter so I can see how much I've managed to squirrel away!

I am going to repeat this spread each month in my journal with the hope that it will help me keep on top of our finances and maybe evaluate where our money is going and what we can cut down on.  

Do you think this system would work for you?

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