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Building your personal budget plan

Completing your budget

A budgeting plan helps you understand where your money goes and make clear choices about how you use it. By tracking your income and expenses, you can prioritise essentials, avoid unplanned spending and reduce financial stress.

Before setting out your financial goals and completing your budget, you need to know the basics – what comes in and what goes out. Complete a financial health check to get a clear picture of your finances. There are many resources you can use to help you such as your banking apps and online budget planners. Check out the CCPC's list of budgeting resources.

  1. Start with your income. This should include salary and any additional income or social protection payments you receive. Ensure you are claiming all payments that you are entitled to. Find out more about the cost of living supports available.
  2. Account for all your expenses – don't forget about annual expenses, these can be easy to forget.
  3. Look at the months that have the biggest outgoings and allow for this in next year's budget. Build a safety net into your budget so you don't feel the pinch. 
  4. Make your money wish list. For example, you may want to save for a car or a big family holiday so start planning and saving.

Use the CCPC spending calculator to identify ways to reduce spend

While trying to achieve a financial goal such as building an emergency fund or savings for your next holiday, you might look for ways to reduce your outgoings. Our spending calculator helps you identify where your money is currently going.

 

Why build a budget plan?

Budgeting makes it easier to manage bills and debts, plan for regular and unexpected costs, and build savings for both short‑term needs and future goals. Taking control of your spending can help you feel more confident about your finances and better prepared for whatever lies ahead.

Reason 1: Keep track of your spending

Tracking what goes in and out each month can help you prioritise necessities while allowing for treats. Decide what each cent is for: paying down a debt, regular bills, savings or simply fun. This prevents "mystery spending" and keeps your budgeting picture clear.

Reason 2: Take the pain out of paying

Pay your bills by direct debit from an account you save into regularly to ensure there's always money for gas, electricity, internet, health insurance, mobile phone, and other bills. Take charge of your cards, too. if possible, pay off loans or credit with the highest interest rate first and get into the habit of tackling smaller debts quickly.

Top tip

For large annual expenses, consider spreading the cost across the year. For example, saving into a Christmas fund, putting aside a small amount each month for your Local Property Tax, etc. 

Reason 3: Save for the future, whatever it brings

Set aside a small amount each month and over time it will add up to a nest egg to cover big life expenses (wedding, kids, university fees – not necessarily in that order); and relatively small ones, like your TV licence, household repairs, a dream holiday or car tax. 

Top tip

Sometimes we spend money without planning to and this spending rarely ends up on any annual budget plan. It is the lunch out on a busy day or the treat on the way home. These amounts can be small but they can add up.

The good news is, you don't have to forgo life's little luxuries completely, but you can plan for them.

 

  • Allocate a small pot of money each month for these unexpected discretionary expenses.
  • Review your spending over the last month. If you bought lunch out three days a week, you might consider taking a packed lunch some of the days.

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