What am I doing wrong on this salary?!

[Llkkg]

I earn enough money, around 3100 after student loans. My mortgage is 950 and council tax 180. I have some credit card payments of around 120 but that’s it. I will need to get a car soon though as that’s around 350 a month.

For some reason I constantly run out of money and I don’t know where it goes. I don’t buy clothes often or anything like that. I know I have enough money and I feel shit that I can’t seem to keep on top of it. I don’t feel like I spend a lot but I’m obviously going wrong somewhere?!

You'll have bills to pay too and food.
How much are you spending on those?

Well, you must know what you spend it on - you can just look at what goes out of your bank

Sit down, review it, and make an actual budget

There are few people who can just spend without thinking about it - and again from your OP why £350? Are there cheaper ones? Do you really need a car or you just want one?

Starting next payday start keeping your books. You'll soon learn the answer to your mystery.

Is it just you or are you paying for others?

The only way is to log everything you spend for a month. Use a spreadsheet - or there's doubtless apps for it somewhere. This will tell you where your money is going.

It's surprising how small things can add up - things like take away coffee and food, travel fares etc.

Write down everything you spend, literally everything, for a month. Mortgage, gas bill, council tax. Coffee out. Lunchtime meal deal. Holiday deposit. New shoes. Sale bargain. Loaf of bread. Bus ticket. Birthday card, present and postage for niece. It can be very revealing.

is that £3100 before or after tax?

I have to get a car for work unfortunately.

i think it’s probably going on food actually now I think of it. I will sometimes get a takeaway which is 15 quid here and there.

I just feel panicked really as my salary is unlikely to go up now and I really need to sort this out. I was paid on Friday and got 900 left already.

I will sometimes get a takeaway which is 15 quid here and there

Well, there's an immediate saving you can make. Make it a once-monthly treat rather than a regular thing. Even if you don't want to cook from scratch, a good quality ready meal or supermarket pizza is a fraction of that cost.

How much food and drink do you buy while out, plus takeaways? Can add up enormously.

Download all your transactions from your accounts including credit cards for the last few months and categorise them, to see where your money is going.

Do the moneysaving expert money makeover for a systematic way to review everything and learn to budget.

How much do you actually owe on your credit cards? How much do they cost in interest? Are we the balances actually going down or are you just marking time?

Do you need to spend so much on a car? Is that just the finance or does it include insurance, tax, breakdown cover, maintenance? How do you expect to be able to pay for a car when you apparently have no spare money?

The first thing you need to do is understand how you spend your ££ at the moment, so I'd start with that.

I moved bank to Starling recently (v easy) and it's a huge insight into spending habits. It show ms you what you spend by category (eg groceries, eating out) and by retailer, for every month. There are other apps you can use to do this, or you could just log it yourself, as others have said - but it's been really helpful for us.

Cross posted, definitely look at the takeaways. Is that £15 just for you?

That's loads, you could get a load of nice supermarket ready prepared food that costs loads less per portion, or oven Gousto or similar.

£900 for the month should be fine though.

Have you looked at your regular outgoings - add up all your direct debits. What do they add up to and can you cut/reduce any of them?

Yes, a budget. Do one first based on actual spending not hypothetical, optimistic guesses. Include everything from the small frittering spends on coffees & snacks to the big stuff like annual holidays. Keep receipts for everything to do this, and break down basic costs from discretionary e.g. in a supermarket shop, split out the alcohol & treats from basics.

This will show you where the money is going and how 'short' you are each month
www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#planner

You can then do a new budget and give yourself targets., having decided where to cut. Religiously monitor spending every month without fail and see how well you are doing. Adjust as you go.

Everyone should have an emergency fund - ideally 3 months net pay, to provide a buffer from unexpected costs and even job loss. Building tht up should be a priority.

Look up YNAB. You need a budget .com
Life changing for me.

If you have met all your bills and have £900 left with less than four weeks til next pay, you’re fine.

thats £30+ a day. Just try not to fill up your car too often.

I think you need to spend a couple of hours going through your last 3 or 4 months and writing all of the spending down so you can figure out categories. What about things like the hairdressers or the dentist or the opticians? Birthday gifts? Christmas gifts? Holidays? Travel? It's scary how quickly the less frequent purchases add up.

Afraid it’s going to require detailed budgeting. Try Martin Lewis website for a budget planner.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

Set aside at least half a day to understand your current spending and then make it a habit to spend an hour a week on reviewing and making improvements to your money management.

I have been asked by friends before to help them sort out their finances and what I see is a lot of people trying to live a lifestyle that the multi million corporations push at them as ‘normal’ when it’s not really affordable. I think people compare themselves with what they see around them and think they should have the same when in fact lots of people are swimming in debt. It’s the same reason so many people are now overweight - big companies using armies of experts to pull every psychological trick in the book to sell you stuff, be it food, clothes, cars, holidays etc.

£350/month on a car is way too much for a start. Try reading ‘The Millionaire Next Door’ by Thomas J Stanley. Don’t buy it - that’s more unnecessary spending. Get it from the library or go on line and find a synopsis.

Do you live alone?
How much do you spend on subscriptions, coffee on the go, travel, eating out, entertainment? What kind of food do you buy? Is it all organic/ ready to eat etc?
It’s difficult to say what you can change but you definitely can save more.

The sad fact is it's really hard to live a decent standard of living if you're running any kind of household on a single income, even a fairly decent one.

Since DH died, I am shocked at how expensive living a single life is. My household expenses are much the same, my income is lower, my tax is higher (because I get a small pension from DH's employer) I can't benefit from any couple deals (241 meals, reduced train tickets) and I have to pay extra to go on holiday.

I must admit I'm very confused as to why £900 left after bills and rent is an issue.

If I had that much I'd be laughing - even with a baby to care for.

OP you just need to do as PPs have said and write down everything you spend money on and create a budget based on that. You can split any excess between paying off your CC and saving. Job done.

Do you have online banking? Surely it’s pretty easy to see where your money is going by looking at your bank statements - download or print a statement and then divide the spending into categories (eg: bills, groceries, bus/ taxis, takeaway meals, clothes, coffees, nights out etc) and you should be able to see where the money is going and where you are spending and where can cut down.

It sounds like you are mindlessly spending and not really thinking about a budget when you do things like a weekly shop or decide to get a takeaway and if you do that it’s easy to burn through money. Setting yourself a budget for how much you’ll spend on groceries each week, avoiding expensive brands in the supermarket and things like limiting takeaways or other treats to just once or twice a week should make it much easier to spend less.

We have about £3000 between me and DP and we have 2 kids!!!!
Rent, bills, childcare, car
Not to mention food and clothing

We manage we're not well off but we manage

How you can't manage on your own with that is just madness really

You need to make a list of all essentials, the bills that normally go out by DD so mortgage, council tax, gas and electric, water, insurances, Internet, mobile phone, TV licence. Anything like that. Then set a food budget, a realistic one that includes takeaways. Then travel so if you don't have a car, bus or train fares. Then you need to set some aside every month for xmas/birthdays /holidays. Then some more aside for emergencies. Anything left after that can be fun money and anything that's left goes into savings

Download your bank statements into excel. They you can see each month how much you spend at Tesco, Costa coffee etc and where it's being frittered away.

£350pm is way too much for a car!