Overspent. How do you budget?

[Leflic]

Bollocks. Was sticking to a New Year budget. Basically after bills got £100 a week for food ( £40 normally) tank of petrol and £10 for whatever.
We don’t have Asda nearby but was near one due to a rare work event. Went in afterwards to buy loo roll as they have an amazing Shea Butter variety at £3.50.

So I also found DS jeans ( really long legs) and socks, 2 bottles of wine, a shirt for DB birthday, bra and pants in the sale, fresh pizza and garlic bread, a picture frame I needed but the sale for £2, custard slices and rice. Gulp £50
And their petrol is cheap so £45 on a tank afterwards.

Is this normal? Individually everything’s a bargain. But that’s £50 gone when I hadn’t planned to. How do other people budget? At some point I would have had to buy my DB a present, DS needs sock now and some clothes, I’ll need a new bra at some point but a bra and 3 pants was £9. Is there any help budgeting given I messed up and it’s only the first week of February.

I do this every bloody day.

So your '£10 a week for whatever' has to cover clothes and presents and treats. That maybe isn't enough. or if it is all you have then you need to work out how that ~£40 a month is going to be split between the different things it is for.

So e.g.

• How many presents in the year, budget per present?
• What clothes might you need in a year (list all the basics you have and work out how long they last, how much they cost)?
• Can you still afford a monthly bottle of wine?

It's not a bargain if you didnt need or budget for it.

This is how we helped DD1 set a budget when she started working full time.
e.g.
Presents

• who does she buy birthday presents for - cost per person
• all the extras for BF - eg valentines, Easter etc etc etc
• What does that average to per month?

Christmas has its own budget to include presents, cards, entertainment. Christmas has to be saved for Jan-Oct and then spent in Nov & Dec.

Clothes

• We listed all her 'very day clothes including shoes
• Against each one we estimated how long they last
• We estimated replacement cost
• From that we worked out average spend per year and then per month

etc.

Does the bills money include irregular essentials like DC clothes, along with all the other stuff that people may or may not regard as bills but spend money on like Christmas, annual insurance renewals, broken appliances etc etc?

Because if it doesn't, £10 for whatever is unlikely to cover it, along with everything else, but the money needs to be found from somewhere.

Is that £100 pw for food? How many is that for? Unless your family is 5+, there might be a bit of scope to cut down there.

If your DB is an adult, you don't need to be buying him a gift if money is tight, and you must know that wine and picture frames are luxuries that you might have to do without if you're trying to stick to a budget.

Obviously you need adequate clothing, but was the underwear essential this time?

Also make sure you've cut back on all your bills where you can - switched utilities, cut back on pay TV/got a big discount for threatening to cancel or just having Netflix and not expensive Sky/Virgin packages etc.

Sheabutter bum wipe cost you £95....

Yep there marketing is working well 😂

Food is £40: petrol needs a tank £40 -£50. £10 over is to buy the odd stuff. Emergency present, thing for school, something nice.
Perhaps I should budget presents better. But I buy presents depending on if I good or not, otherwise it’s a just card or card and cash if I have to.

So do clothes for you and DS come out of the £100 too or is there a separate clothes budget?

There’s no other “ bum wipe” better. Long roll, last for ages, super soft, smells great so my whole downstairs loo smells delicious and same price as everywhere else.

Is £100 tight?
I need to put certain pictures in frames (wedding) so £2 was a bargain.
DB shirt was £6 but has a super appropriate print. So more than a I need to spend or a bargain gift. It’s so hard to decide.

No seperate budget for clothes as DS (16) isn’t bothered by fashion or clothes. He looks after pets on holiday so buys what he needs really.
I buy cheap, charity shops but I am zoned. I have a style and luckily it only really heed cool shoes.

Im confused
Why are you browsing stuff if you are trying to budget ?
Its not in the budget so dont go there!

So after bills, food and petrol you have £10 a week for everything else, treats, leisure etc? no other disposable income?

We have a separate account that we put money for bills, food and petrol in and then keep disposable income separate to spend throughout the month. When it's gone it's gone, but I know there's enough food/petrol money to see us through the month. My husband and I each have about £50 a week disposable income.

You obviously need to live to your means but if you can afford to give yourself more disposable income it might be a lot more realistic to stick to.

So does that mean DS will pay you back for the jeans and socks?

I think your budget is tight if £10 is to cover everything else. I have £20 per week for extras and a separate budget of £50 a month for things for my DS (clothes, hair products, toys etc.). I have an endless list of things I could spend money on for the house but am having to just stick to my budget and wait until I have saved up a bit more money.

I'm just back from ASDA and bought a couple of t shirts jeans for ds crumpets noodles hair dye. It came to 40 quid

Take out cash. £100 per week. Only spend that. Leave your cards at home.

Do you have debts? Why do you have a budget, is your goal to get debt free or save up? If you know your goals you will be more able to focus on needs vs wants.

Knowing the true cost of living for a real month is the key. Some things come once a year but really you can budget for them each month. If you literally spend more each month than you earn you need to stop!

Meal plan every week
Write down everything you jeed to buy for the week based on meal plan
Stick to the list when shopping
Don't but anything extra, not even if it's a really good bargain

Write down everything you need other than food, on a separate list, whenever the need occurs. So, if your DC needs a new pair of jeans, write it down when you realise the need. I didn't this on my phone as I always tend to have it on me. If you see a really good bargain but it's not on that list, don't buy. You don't need it.