The easiest budget you’ll EVER follow...

Warren Shute reveals his failsafe system for staying on track with your cash without making life miserable…

This is quite controversial – but budgets don’t work. They are like diets. We’ll count the calories for a period of time and then we get fed up with it and fall off the wagon, because we are emotional beings.

Instead it is about managing portion size and getting some balance. You can have a bit of pizza, that’s okay, just have a smaller bit. It’s the same with money.

I call my method

Everyone should have two accounts and the first is an account which your bills are paid out of. Ideally this should be a joint account for couples and you would get your salary paid into it.

You want as many of your regular bills to be automated as possible, to take the effort and emotion out of them.

Go through every one – from utilities and mortgage to direct debits for magazine subscriptions – and review them with the following questions:

Do we need this?

Do we want this?

Can we get a similar experience for less?

This will make your outgoings as lean as possible and ensure you are aware of your monthly costs.

Then everyone should have a second personal spending account for a weekly allowance I call WAM – walk about money. This covers your spending cash, the variable costs that you can’t automate from your bank.

This could be buying petrol, getting your hair done, going for Friday drinks or buying a birthday present for a loved one.

You should pay yourself this weekly allowance from your bills account to your personal account on a Wednesday.

This is because it is there for the weekend when we spend most of our money, but if we’ve spent it all by Sunday, we’ve only got to wait until Monday and Tuesday before we get paid again.

I’ve discovered this tactic from 25 years of working with clients.

Anyone can go two days without chocolate and wine, a week is harder.

It is pairing psychology with practicality. Each member of a couple should have their own account for their WAM cash too, to stop arguments about who is spending how much on what.

Read more of Warren’s budgeting tips at warrenshute.com.