Want something to sharpen your focus on household budget responsibility? You have it right there, my friend. 😉

I’ll admit – I’m borderline paranoid on my approach to budgeting.

See – many years ago, when the face of Branch Banking in the UK was showing the early signs of weighting its loyalty more in favour of share-holders than customers, there were more dramatic changes afoot.

They began with a sudden change in culture resulting in customers who became overdrawn without making prior arrangement, being charged exorbitant penalty fees.

As a young, whipper-snapper Branch Manager, I knew my customers well, and could recognise which ones were in genuine financial difficulty. With some, it was a timing issue, between their Directs Debits coming from their account and decent wages being paid in. Others would have personal issues which resulted in them becoming temporarily overdrawn.

More often than not, it was those on low incomes that ended up paying the charges. Once they had entered that cycle of being charged, thereby worsening their situation, it was very difficult and stressful to dig their way back out.

Meantime, those who had a bit of financial clout or were seen as potential investors of the future were able to talk their way round paying charges.

About ten years later, and the whole Banking industry had changed, for the worse, and at the end of 2004. I was made redundant. (I think my stance of non-conformity with regard to the new procedures had a lot to do with it.)

From that point, through to 2007 /2008, Banking became a by-word for greed.

And in 2008, the industry crashed completely.

I like to think my redundancy and the events of that year are intrinsically linked. 😉

Anyway – that’s a long, roundabout way of saying that I’d seen first hand the pain and distress that can be caused by a failure to adhere to a personal, financial budget.

I resolved back then that I’d never help line the pockets of those morally corrupt, fat cat executives running Banks. I’d never become overdrawn or borrow without arrangement.

So, every week, I meticulously reconcile our record of accounts with that shown by the Bank. It can be a real pain sometimes, but I just have this gut-wrenching fear of being ‘fined’ and throwing away money we can ill-afford.

My approach to budgeting? It’s crucial.

I guess this makes me sound a bit Scrooge-like, sitting down once a week to count the pennies, my hands warmed by a pair of fingerless gloves, a round, tasseled hat firmly sat on my head. But you know what?
If the cap fits …