What’s ‘quiet budgeting’ and should you try it?

If you’d rather not yell about your financial position, this trend might be for you.

Quiet budgeting is a worry-free approach to managing your money (Alamy/PA) (Alamy/PA)

You may have heard about ‘loud budgeting’, as a crucial tenet of it was people shouting and sharing loudly about their money decisions, especially on social media. “Loud budgeting is letting everybody know how much money you’ve got, what you’re doing with it, what you can’t afford, and what you’re not willing to afford,” explains Vix Leyton, consumer expert at thinkmoney. “Whereas quiet budgeting is a little bit more low-key, a little bit more old school. It’s about getting your money in the right place in a completely fuss-free way.”

Loud budgeting, she says, “became quite performative, and not everybody is comfortable with talking about every element of their financial life”. It was also a trend that risked people thinking, financially speaking, that “you have to be doing a lot, and if you’re not doing enough, then maybe you shouldn’t bother with anything. That fatigue around all the things you ‘should’ be doing risks people not making small changes that would have a big impact,” says Leyton.

Quiet budgeting is the antithesis of that…

Core principles

The basis of quiet budgeting is “making quiet decisions, automating what you can and not making yourself the main character, it’s just happening under the hood. You don’t have to worry about it,” says Leyton. “It’s about knowing how much money you’ve got to spend, straight off the bat, and then moving on with your life and living it without too much worry, because you’ve dealt with as much as you can deal with.”

Crucially, you know exactly what you have in your account. “That’s something that not everybody loves to do,” acknowledges Leyton, but, “it’s not having that moment at the checkout where you hope for the best that your card’s going to go through.”

Getting started

Keen to give quiet budgeting a go? Start by implementing a few simple steps. “Rather than make big razzle-dazzle changes, it’s making small ones,” encourages Leyton. She suggests that you…

Money date

“Get into the habit of setting some time aside, whether before payday, because that’s when you most need to free up some cash, or after payday. Have a scheduled money date where you just spent half an hour having a look at what you’ve spent, what’s coming up, and being really honest with yourself.”

Clock your main bills

“Look at what your bills and outgoings are. Ring-fence those to see exactly what you’ve got left to spend.”

Don’t forget the small stuff

“Have a proper audit of all the small things too. Look at all the subscriptions you’ve got under your Apple Pay or Amazon subscription tab and check if you still use them.”

Automate savings

“Make changes where you can automate. So if you’re trying to save, it might be worth using a round-up solution like Moneybox’s ‘save the change’ app, where it rounds up your money to the nearest pound, then puts that money away. So it saves it without you having to do anything.”

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Don’t be afraid to say no to nights out

“Say no to things you don’t want to do, but not in a way that’s ostentatious and makes people think, ‘We need to go somewhere cheaper’. Just saying, ‘You know what, I’m busy that night. I’m not going to bother.’”

Be aware of inflation

“As much as it’s depressing to look at inflation and the cost of living, be aware that maybe the shopping doesn’t cost what you mentally think it does because of inflation.”

Make the most of pay rises

“Account for any money in pay rises and bonuses as well. Instead of just continuing to spend at your normal rate until you hit your limit, have a plan for that money.”

Mindful money habits

Fundamentally, quiet budgeting is ‘mindful budgeting’. “It’s not rocket science, and it’s not new,” says Leyton. “It’s common sense budgeting for people who don’t want to make it the centre of their life. They want to do bits they can when they can, and not be worrying about this every single day.”

It does require a certain amount of discipline, “but it’s quite flexible,” too, says Leyton. “You’re not shouting at everybody and saying, ‘Please tell me if I go to buy something, shout me down, tell me I’m not allowed to do it,’” she explains. “A lot of people need the accountability of other people knowing they’re doing it. It’s why things like [stop smoking health campaign] Stoptober work. But some people don’t want that. They don’t want to be bullied, or chivvied. Or to rebel against big promises they’ve made. It’s why New Year’s resolutions aren’t always successful.

“Quiet budgeting is working it out as you go, rather than having a deadline or having really harsh rules in place that if you break, you feel disappointed with yourself,” she continues. “This is small progress over a long timeline.”

No pressure

Don’t feel you have to commit to this, or any money trend. “Just because something works for somebody else, don’t assume it’s for you,” says Leyton. “There is no one size fits all when it comes to money. If there are elements of this that make sense to you, but there are elements that don’t, just do the elements that make sense to you. There are no wrong answers when it comes to taking control of your finances – every small step you take is going to have a positive impact.”