If you’ve lost control of your finances, creating a budget can help you get back on track. We all need to budget in our lives to have a better quality of life. Then, you won’t lose sleep, wondering how you’ll pay your bills.

Start by listing out everything you spend. You’ll need to work out how much you spend on:

• household bills
• living costs, like clothes, school or work costs
• financial products, like insurance, bank charges or interest
• family and friends, this could include gifts, travel to events like weddings
• travel, car costs like fuel and MOT tests as well as public transport
• leisure, including TV subscriptions, meals out or other entertainment.

It’s also a good idea to get everyone in your family involved with keeping to a budget.

Sit down together and make a plan that you can all stick to.

Split your costs into wants and needs and agree between you what you’ll each have to spend. If you can’t afford all your wants, decide what matters most to you or look at ways of cutting costs.