Money · 3 min read
A ten-minute money check-in for a big family
For years our family budget lived in my head. Dinner money, club fees, another pair of school shoes, fuel for yet another lift. With ADHD, that's exactly where things go to get lost, and I'd only remember the club fee when the reminder email landed at 11pm.
One short check-in, same time every week
What finally worked wasn't a big budgeting overhaul. It was ten minutes, once a week, at the same time. For me that's Sunday evening with a cup of tea once the little ones are down. I look at what came in, what went out and what's coming up this week. That's it. Ten minutes I can manage. A whole afternoon of spreadsheets I never would.
Write down what's coming, not just what's gone
The money that catches me out is rarely the big bills. It's the small, scattered things: a school trip, a birthday party present, a bake sale. So the first thing I do is a quick brain dump of everything coming up in the next seven days, every child, every club. Once it's on paper it stops buzzing around my head.
Give every kind of spending its own pot
I split the week into a handful of pots: food, school, clubs and activities, getting about, household bills and our extras. When a pot is empty, it's empty, and I can see it on the page rather than finding out at the till. It turns money from one big worry into a few small, clear ones.
Make pocket money visible
With five children, "but she got more than me" is a weekly event. A simple pocket money page with everyone's name on it settles most of it. The older ones can see what they've saved and what they're saving for, and I don't have to remember who's owed what.
Have a plan for the too-tired weeks
Some weeks I won't manage the full ten minutes, and that's fine. On those weeks I do the smallest version: what's coming up, and is there enough in the food pot. Two questions. Skipping one week is normal. The trick is just not letting it become six.
If you want the pages ready-made
That's why I made The Big-Family Budget Tracker: a weekly money glance with a too-tired mini version, envelope pages for each kind of spending, an undated month at a glance, pocket money with 7 blank name slots, saving goals and a money brain dump. 14 pages, A4 and US Letter, £8.50.
Or start with the Big Family Weekly Reset Checklist when you join the Calm Club below, one page to get the whole week back on track.