Family budgeting
that actually holds
Practical skills for managing household money — built around real decisions, not ideal spreadsheets.
Two sessions per week, each 75 minutes. Recordings kept for 6 months after the program ends.
Participation options
Observer
Live sessions only, no feedback on assignments
Full participant
Live sessions, assignment review, group exercises and direct instructor feedback
Self-paced
Recordings and materials only, no live access
Program structure
Eight modules, one working system
Each module focuses on one decision area — from mapping where money goes to building a buffer that survives irregular months.
A budget works when it fits your actual life, not a textbook version of it.
Assignments are short and applied — you work on your own household numbers, not hypothetical examples.
-
01
Mapping current spending
Categorise 3 months of real transactions to find where money actually goes.
-
02
Fixed vs variable costs
Separate non-negotiable expenses from flexible ones and see where control is possible.
-
03
Building a monthly plan
Construct a forward-looking budget that accounts for irregular income and seasonal costs.
-
04
Emergency buffer strategy
Calculate a realistic buffer target and set up a saving rhythm that doesn't collapse under pressure.
-
05
Debt and obligations
Order repayment priorities and integrate obligations into the monthly plan without guesswork.
-
06
Shared household decisions
Practical tools for couples and families where financial decisions involve more than one person.
-
07
Reviewing and adjusting
Build a monthly review habit that catches drift before it becomes a problem.
-
08
Long-range planning
Connect daily budget decisions to goals that are 1–3 years out.
What participants say after completing the program
These are real observations from people who worked through all 8 modules. Results vary depending on starting point and effort.
The module on shared household decisions was the most useful part for us. My partner and I had different ideas about saving — working through the exercises together made the conversation much less abstract.
Siobhán Creighton
Completed full participant track
I had tried budgeting apps before, but they never stuck. Going through the spending map exercise with my own numbers was different — I could see exactly which categories were pulling everything off track.
Dervla Ó Briain
Completed full participant track
The emergency buffer module changed how I think about savings. I'd always treated it as leftover money — after the workshop I treat it as a fixed line in the plan.
Nuala Hartigan
Completed full participant track
The assignments are short enough to fit around work and family, but specific enough that you actually produce something useful. I finished with a working monthly plan, not just notes.
Cormac Dunleavy
Completed self-paced track
Lead instructor
Orla Fennelly
Household finance practitioner with 11 years of advisory experience. Designed the curriculum around the questions real families bring to financial planning, not textbook scenarios.
modules covering the full decision cycle from tracking to long-range planning
per session — enough depth without overrunning a weekday evening
access to session recordings after the program concludes