Help me work out where I can save please.

[jessicawessica]

I seem to have absolutely no money left at the end of the month and can't see where I am going wrong and how to save something just for an emergency.
My income is £1,765.00 pm.
Outgoings are;
Rent £400
Gas & electric £162
TV, phone and broadband £72
Car finance £75
Mobile £15
Various Insurance £15
Car Ins £23
Petrol £70
Food/ cleaning etc £650
I should have about £300 left over every month, but I never seem to have this.
What am I doing wrong and what should I be doing?

[Crackery]

Food/cleaning £650. Is there scope for tightening here? How many of you are there?

(I'm doing a weekly shop for about £80 for 5 of us. Then maybe a £20 top up in week.)

[pumpkinpie01]

£650 on food and cleaning ? Do you mean you have a cleaner ? If so how much is that a month ?

[jessicawessica]

A cleaner! No, I mean cleaning products and toiletries.
There is me and 3 teens, all who are extremely fussy eaters.

[pumpkinpie01]

That’s still a lot on a grocery shop even if people are fussy that’s about £162 a week ! Where are you shopping? Also with regard to your other spending do you use contactless for bits and bobs I find that can soon add up

[anniehm]

Look at your gas & electric - I pay £125/month on a big house.

[Snowflake9]

TV phone and broadband £72!! My sister's was £64. I called up and got her a better deal with more channels for £38.50. Shop around and see what you can get, then call your provider. My sister was paying £2.00 a month for 1571, she doesn't even have a phone plugged in 😂😂

I have really budgeted myself now with baby on the way, so I give myself.a weekly budget. Draw it out in cash, and only use that for the week. I manage to save a lot of my wages by doing this. I leave my bank card out of my purse.

Do you tend to do top up shops? That costs a lot too. Try and meal plan for the week and only buy what you need.

Do you buy takeaways ? Do you do any online shopping?

[jessicawessica]

I think the tip about leaving the bank card at home is good as I do seem to do a lot of contactless top ups.
Broadband was sorted by moving to virgin meadia which wouyld have saved me £40 a month, but it fell through so am stuck with sky.
Fussy eaters....have to cook 3 different meals every day as none of them share the same likes in food. Absolute nightmare and I know i could save a small fortune if they weren't so picky.

[wishingforapositiveyear]

Surely the 300 gets swallowed up by council tax , water and teenagers!

[wishingforapositiveyear]

Your gas and electricity are high mine is 37 electricity 20 gas and We use a lot of both

[Weenurse]

You need to go on ‘Eat well for less’. Is that still filmed?

[SurgeHopper]

Fussy eaters....have to cook 3 different meals every day as none of them share the same likes in food. Absolute nightmare and I know i could save a small fortune if they weren't so picky.
^

So this needs to change.

[Ginger1982]

Why are you cooking 3 different meals? FFS they should put up or shut up! Rotate! One gets what they like tonight and everyone eats it or goes hungry then the next night another one and so on...

[RoseMartha]

The food bill is monstrous. I appreciate that they have different likes but they need to appreciate that you can not afford to spend that amount on food etc a month. Also look at what toiletries you are using and how you can save money.
You might have to sit them down and explain.
The gas and electric does seem a little high as well. Do you all leave lights on when not in the room or leave electronics on etc when they can be switched off.
You dont mention if you pay your kids phones or an allowance, do they have part time jobs if a suitable age ie 16 plus?

[caughtinanet]

That's a lot of money on food for 4 people, when you say fussy eaters what exactly do you mean?

[RainbowMum11]

Also tv/phone/broadband seems high, Amy scope to reduce it at all?
Likewise gas & electric - I'm electric only here and pay less than that.
Food etc, where do you shop? Any way to have some cheaper meals a few times a week or use different shops to maximise savings?

[RainbowMum11]

If they are teenagers and that fussy, why not give each of them a budget for their food for the week, and they then make the meals - will help them so much with planning, budgeting as well as taking a load from you.

[blue25]

That food bill is ridiculous! You should be able to halve that. Mine are fussy if I let them be. You have to be firmer. You can't afford to be cooking 3 different meals each day-it's crazy!

[Shylo]

• call sky, tell them you need to save money or cancel the contract and see what they can do. They will reduce you’re bill, just make them think you’re serious about leaving
  
• switch energy suppliers, you are absolutely paying too much. I’ve used moneysavingexpert.com before and switching is easy
  
• your food bill is astronomical. You need to look at what you are buying because even with fussy eaters that’s an awful lot. I find paying for online delivery saves time and money because actually I only ever but what I need and I don’t get distracted by other things which I would if I was physically in the shop

[ILiveInSalemsLot]

Your food set up is crazy. Sit down with them and come up with a list that everyone will eat even if they’re not loving it. They’ll get their favourite the next day of the day after.
Do you spend a lot on cleaning products? Can you go for supermarket own brands?
Shop around for gas and electric.
Look into how much you could save if you cancelled the tv part of your package. It might be cheaper to get Netflix instead.

[TokenGinger]

Your gas and electricity is extortionate. I pay £65 a month for both. Mine's a 2bed house. I can't imagine yours is much bigger at £400 rent.

My internet, tv and phone is through TalkTalk - £30 a month.

Your food bill is ridiculous. Shop at Aldi or Iceland etc. to cut down costs.

[Futureisland]

Gas n electric - use uswitch to see if you can get it cheaper. Mines is 80 for both combines

Broadband, tv and phone - consider going broadband only. We pay 25pm for broadband then also have netflix. Dont miss the previous tv package at all!

Food and cleaning seems high to me but then again we buy lunches out a lot so maybe you are about right

[Dragongirl10]

Op we are a family of 4 with 2 almost teen Dcs and l don't skimp on food yet only spend about 100 per week.....
Some ideas for you to cut down, buy joints of meat rather than slices goes much further, ie roast one day, cold with salad or pasta the following. I do 2 big meat dishes weekly ie roast beef or lamb or chicken, then bolognese/pasta based dishes/casseroles etc on others.
No soft drinks, total waste of money.
Bulk essential vegetables.
I do a twice weekly online Ocado shop and always buy organic meat yet it still rarely comes to more than £100.
For cleaning you only need 1 multi purpose kitchen/bathroom spray, 1 window cleaner, and one toilet cleaner every month, maybe £6 for all.

I wouldn't tolerate the multiple meals, as another poster said, agree tolerated meals and each's favourite one, on a fortnight rotation.

If they are determined to have seperate meals tell them to get a Saturday job, buy their own and cook it themselves!

It should be quite easy to save £60 per week on food alone.

Change energy supplier and compare broadband and phone supplies.

[MrsMoastyToasty]

I can't see
Council tax
Road tax
Water and sewerage
Petrol/diesel
Xmas and birthday presents
Clubs and activities
Subscriptions
Buildings and contents insurance
School uniform costs
Travel- bus fares etc

[ivykaty44]

Petrol is £70
Insurances £15
Council tax isn’t on the list, water is also missing.

Op I would suggest that you leave all your debit and credit cards in the freezer. Then take out £500 in cash on pay day. Take 4 envelopes and put £100 in each and place in a safe place.

Now put the other £100 into your purse, this is for you to spend on petrol & food for the week.

Keep every receipt and see where the money is going in 7 days, when you get 7 days in you can take one envelope and use that money for the following week - £80 for food and £20 for petrol

This will retrain you to think about what you are spending and how you are spending money. When 28 days are up you should have £100 left for the final 3 days of the month.

As for your teens, they don’t live in in a 5* dinner so serve them sensible food and if they don’t want to eat it then they can go without... £5 per person per day is ridiculous

[Chewbecca]

Keep track of all spending to find out where the £300 is going!