Budgeting Tool
What is the Budgeting Tool?
Inverclyde Council's budgeting tool, is an easy-to-use, personalised budgeting tool, that will help you manage your finances.
It can be completed in minutes and will provide you with an overview of all your household income and expenditure. It is personal to you and the information you provide is safe and secure.
It can help you plan your finances and see where you can make savings each month.
Completing it should take no more than 10 minutes and at the end you can download a copy of your budgeting plan and keep it for yourself.
Why should I use the Budgeting Tool?
Many people struggle to make ends meet, particularly at the end of the week or month, before they get paid again. This can be for a number of reasons, but understanding what is coming in and what is going out, is one of the most effective ways you can avoid this happening.
This is a particular problem for people whose income fluctuates quite widely from pay period to pay period, especially if they are in receipt of Universal Credit.
If you regularly find yourself in this situation, using our Budgeting Tool will help.
What do you need to complete the Budgeting Tool?
In order to produce an accurate budget it is best to use exact figures. We recommend having a look at the list below and taking your information from these sources. This will help produce an accurate budget.
- Wage Slips;
- Bank Statements;
- Direct Debits; and
- A note of anything you pay for in cash.
If you complete the tool using estimates, you can go back later and update it with accurate figures if you login first.
Maxmising your income.
Another thing you should do when using our budgeting tool, is use our Online Benefit Calculator to make sure you are receiving all the income that you are entitled to. You can do this by clicking on our Benefit Calculator link.
Struggling with Debt
If you find, once you have completed the Budgeting Tool, that you cannot make ends meet because of debts like credit cards and loans etc. Visit our Struggling with Debt page, to see how else we can help you.
If you have any questions contact our online chat adviser or speak to and Advice First adviser on 01475 715299.