Budgets aren't boring

When you think budget, you probably have a stream of words come into your head that read something like this: ‘restrictive, dry, painful, no, truly just a bit sh*t’. Not true. Not with Cleo's new one, anyway.

Budgeting isn’t about denying yourself of the good stuff, it’s about managing the money you have so that you can get it. And without eating packet noodles for every meal on rent week. No one knows your money like you do – that’s why the latest version of Cleo's budget now includes custom categories that are entirely yours to create.

Is it pints?

Is it McDonald’s? (Probably)

Is it sneakers?

Here's Why you should budget with Cleo

Literally why not?

You try it, you find out you hate it (you won't). It's a free investment into your future at the very least.

It’s not boring

It doesn’t stop at the personalized names. There’s nothing like a bit of healthy competition to get you motivated to beat your bank balance – that’s why we’ve set up weekly budget battles. Where you’ll battle it out. Against yourself. To beat your budget. There’s a chance of prizes even greater than the healthy money situation you’ll be carving for yourself too. Go and say ‘Budget Battle’ to Cleo if you’re done with being bored.

You’re in control

If ever there was a time where most of us were gagging for a bit of control, it’s now. You might not be able to control what’s coming into your account, but you can control where it’s going. And luckily, you don’t need to be swimming in money to take charge of it.

Actually, the worse you feel about your money situation, the more you’ll get out of staring it in the face. No one’s improved a relationship by ignoring it, and this goes for your money one too. By knowing exactly where the money’s going, you’ll be able to keep track of even the tiniest of spends that you weren’t aware were slowly creeping up, prioritize them and get them building in the categories that make you feel good. You can shift the amount you want in each category every week too – we know things are changing fast at the moment.

Speaking of, to plan for things like… 2020

None of us could’ve predicted this year and it's devastating effect on wallets globally. But we could’ve been budgeting some money into a savings pot each month of last year for the sake of it, and been a little more in love with ourselves right now. Don’t wait until you’re in the sh*t, take control of your money now for future you. And even if we don’t get another one of these global monstrosities in our lifetime (please God), you’ll be way more comfortable.

Goodbye unnecessary charges

Overdrafts are crap. Late-fees are evil. Capitalism is thriving off of our need for a little extra time, all while not paying us enough in relation to literal living costs. Cute. What may seem like a harmless dip into a lovely opportunity for a little extra money often ends up costing us even more than what we needed in the first place. Set up a budget. Stay within your markers (or try your damn best, no one’s perfect) and you won’t need to go into your overdraft. If you do dip in, you can rejig your spending categories for the next week to make sure you're getting out.

You might shock yourself

You know you spend money on those grocery shop snack runs, but do you know just how much? If nothing else, budgeting is a pretty fun way to clock your spending patterns. Guarantee you’ll be met with some shocks.

Get set up here, and show us your weird and wonderful personalized category choices here.