Lucy Wallington
- Aug 24, 2021
- 3 min read

The Budgeting Lady

Updated: Jun 28, 2022

I was absolutely shite at maths in school.

I literally cried over my homework every week and never really got much better! If you asked me a question now about hypotenuse triangles or fractions, my face will go pale.

But realising the dream of buying my own home at 24 made me change how I needed to view one application of maths - managing my money!

As a manager at Gap in the 90's I had to do some book keeping of sorts.

Business analysis was something I grew to love as it had a meaning behind the logic that resonated so well with me and I learned to play with numbers a bit.

So, if you wanted to improve parts of the business KPI's such as conversion

(volume of people buying vs just browsing) you would also invariably increase your units per transaction (amount of items per purchase) by reducing prices or putting on a promo - although your margin gets hit.

But if you want to improve on your average spend, you limit the promotions so your conversion dips but your gross margin improves...

Lessons on leverage learned!

This is me trying to look all professional in about '96 >>>>

I still remember what the sales & payroll reporting book looked like and it was essentially basic algebra, A+B=C columns

My own finances made sense to me as a new homeowner if I compartmentalised them in a business way.

Leveraging new cushions & candles for food mostly - it's a good job I love beans on toast.

Fast forward and budgeting and planning is 5 months old. Simplicity is key to managing your household finances but it can get complicated.

A lot of us use banking apps to make in the moment decisions & some will help to create that compartmental approach.

But there are a lot of people who don't really understand the basics enough to make better decisions for the longer term. If this is you, I've got you covered!

If you're more like Bridget Jones than Rachel Riley these will help you I promise.

A lot of women who's partners have managed the household economics, lose their way when they've lost their husbands (and vice versa I will add) I have helped several in this situation recently. It's a lovely thing to watch someone shine & rise up with feelings of empowerment. (And when I say "lost" I also mean when they've been politely asked to leave... R.E.S.P.E.C.T find out what it means to me... love Aretha Franklin!)

You lovely young twenty somethings who find yourselves aghast at how expensive life is when you've got to earn your own money to pay for it. And wonder how on earth you're ever going to leave home. We've all been there!

Even when Home Economics was still a subject in school, I spent most of my lessons giggling, mucking about and playing Dempsey & Makepeace around the halls instead of concentrating on textiles, cooking and home management. These lessons don't exist for most students now and whilst I can't say I learned much, it was at least on my radar that adulting takes effort.

Life shifts, evolves and puts roadblocks and new choices in all our paths.

Money usually sits at the root of what our next moves are going to be, so to have a clearer pathway for the next chapter in life is a great stress reliever.

If you're just going on maternity leave, if you are living solo for the first time, if you are saving every penny for your first home deposit or perhaps if you are shifting your financial gears with changes at work, there will be a simple system for you to help streamline the messy stuff.

And most importantly, help you to make your next, best move towards wherever you want to go.

Launching over the next year or so there will be toolkits for lots of life stages:

1 - The Family One

2 - The Living Solo One

3 - The Living with Others One

4 - The Get Me Out Of Debt One

5 - The Goal Focused One

6 - The Getting Started One

7- The Needs vs Wants vs Investing One

If you were to choose one, for you or for a loved one, which would it be?

What would you want it to include?

Where do you / they struggle the most?