Ok so last month I kept every receipt and kept a record of everything we spent, right down to parking tickets. I'm pretty shocked at how much it all comes to particularly as we made a conscious effort to stop frittering away money.
I meal planned and made sure I only do one big shop a week as I knew I was spending too much in supermarkets, have stopped buying takeaways, going to coffee shops so regularly, stopped buying the dc's endless "little treats" that add up considerably and have basically stayed away from browsing around town.
I never kept records of all our spending beforehand so I don't know how much we've improved but I know that we were spending around £100 a month on take away/coffees out etc, plus treats here and there, new clothes etc etc.
Anyway here is September spend, please help me get it even lower!
Mortgage £1050
Council Tax £181
Gas & Electric £100
Life & mortgage insurance £38.89
Water £42.00
Credit Card Payment £170 (Could pay this off but would leave us with reduced savings and it is currently interest free)
Refridgerator breakdown Cover £3.79
Savings for annual expenses (MOT/Car tax/home insurance) £120
T.V License £12.55
Phone & broadband £7.50
Mobile Phone £28.00 (contract ends soon so will get a much cheaper deal)
Family Gym Membership £73.00 (We do use this alot so don't want to cancel)
Contact Lenses £13.00
Speech Therapy for DS £100 (Likely to continue for atleast another year)
Food £323.02
Drink £73.22 (Includes coffee/dt coke/beer/wine/juice for dc's)
Petrol £120.16
Household items (washing powder/loo rolls etc) £34.00
Toiletries/make up £26.16
Clothes £69.98 (for dc's should be set until next spring now)
Birthday presents £10.00
Christmas Presents £22.99
Weekend Away £153.00
Eating Out/Nights out £128.39
Home Items £8.96 (toilet needed a part to fix it)
Cats Expenses inc food £41.18 (unusually high this month due to vet bill)
Train Tickets £12.40 (one off trip)
School Trips £27.20
Toys & games £2.50
Multivitamins & supplements £35.98 (I know this seems very high but ds2 has some big dietry issues, plus other problems)
Cubs (Includes Subs, uniform and payment for 2 trips) £118.90 (should have nothing to pay out now till new year)
School Uniform items £11.75
Haircut £30.00
Eyebrow waX £13.00
Ok so that comes in at £3202.52 
Go on ladies work your magic! Oh and just to mention I do shop at aldi!!
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If I give you a complete breakdown of how much we spent last month can you show me how to save money?
Ifcatshadthumbs · 30/09/2013 13:28
Xmas presents so far have been 2nd stuff off ebay managed to pick up a couple of absolute bargains! Xmas is an area we will be seriously cutting back on this year.
I could do my own eyebrows (well try!), the haircut is every 6/7 weeks I couldn't leave it longer (I compensate by cutting DH's and DC's hair myself 
)
Firstly, well done to you for managing to write everything down - it's quite surprising when you see it in black and white, isn't it? 
The obvious things, I think you've already answered......
- Gym membership sounds like a LOt of money going out the house each month, but you've already said it's important and well used
- The weekend away and the 'going out' coming in at the best part of £300 is just something a lot of people don't have the budget for - so that's an easy one to cut down on (and I'm presuming you don't have a weekend away every month)
- the subs etc... as you say is all paid until the new year, so, in a way your 'monthly' spend is only 1/4 of that
- I know nothing of eyebrow waxing, but presumably you don't need to spend £30 every month on hair?
-Again the multi-vitamins sounds a lot, but you've anticipated we'd say that and have already made a decision that it needs to be spent
- Also, mobile contract is very high, but you've already said you will be re-looking at that soon. (I'm very impressed with how low your phone and broadband are )
- the make up bill sounds high to me, but then, I don't wear it, so it's something I would look at as an unnecessary expense, that others might say is non-negotiable.
How many people are you feeding with your groceries / toiletries, etc.? and what ages ? That might be somewhere you could trim bits from, (although around £450 doesn't sound at all bad if a bigger family)
OK things we haven't spent on when cash is short:
gym membership - surely you could do exercise at home and out running/cycling for free? At least explore other ways to keep fit.
Eating out / nights out, go back to a takeaway as a treat, it's cheaper!
Alcohol is an area you can cut back on for reasons of health and virtue
. I don't give the kids juice regularly, bad for the teeth.
Your household stuff seems expensive have you gone down to own-brand and price checked?
Eyebrow wax.
Monthly haircut - extend the gap if you can't face a cheaper cut. Do you know you can ask for a cut but no blow dry to make it cheaper?
YOur gym membership sounds like very good value when you are including dcs swimming lessons, plus the amount you use it.
I reckon that's just what life costs, tbh
I mean, if you were only getting £3200 (net) or less into your house every month, then it would be a concern, but if you are getting £3300 or more, then, is it really worth squeezing the last bit out of everything ? Life is for living now.
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