Help me budget so I can save

[sandybcz]

I'd like to have more cash set aside for a rainy day. So if my washing machine broke down, or I needed a new mattress etc, I'd have money set aside for exactly this

I just don't know where all our money seems to go. It's a nightmare. Although we are not by any means struggling to eat and keep warm so I can't complain too much, I'd like to know though why I always feel so skint

Rent is £830
Other bills take the total to £1,222

Income - DH's salary of £1,820
UC - £1,190
Child Benefit - £120 (about that)
DLA for DS but that's used for him etc

Where are we going wrong?

Don't have Sky. Don't really watch telly, H just likes the soaps. We do have Netflix but that's fine. No other subscriptions other than Amazon (£7 a month)

Phones aren't contracts, just cheap pay as you go as they're all paid off

I suspect a lot of this is (horrifyingly) just on food shopping

We don't really eat out (can't because of DS really)

Spend a lot of the time swimming but that's £2.50 a pop or £6 max at a different pool

DS does swimming lessons but that's his money

DH goes out twice a month with mates/to their house and probably spends £50 a time max

My mum is a hairdresser. And I do my own nails. I do spend £10 every 3 weeks on brows, that's it

Where is all the disposable going?

What are you including in other bills?

@namechange30455 cars/petrol, council tax, gas/electric, water bill, life insurance

I use an app called You Need a Budget, which does exactly this. It’s quite a different approach, but I found it easy to build up a picture of my finances over time, and introduce pots for savings goals as I got on top of things. You probably do need to be interested enough to follow some of their material about how it works, as people who have budgeted in more traditional ways don’t find it intuitive. You only budget with money you have, not money you know is coming.

You need to write down exactly what your monthly income is and then write a list of exactly what you spend in each category. Some of the things you’ve mentioned above you have guessed or suggested an amount you spend on them but not exact figures. You might be surprised when you actually see what you spend your money on.
have you included all utility bills?
child associated costs such as party gifts,school uniform, days out etc
might also be worth checking what direct debits you have set up. Sometimes people uncover an extra Amazon account they forgot or a charity donation that comes out each month that they hadn’t accounted
for.
Go through the last two weeks bank statements and write down every outgoing. Is also recommend watching on YouTube ‘she’s on a budget’, budget with ira, Rachel Cruze.

I had to have a firm sit down a few months ago with myself and figure the same out.
Best advice I could get you is get a bit of paper and pen.
Write all your “normal” outgoings/direct debits etc.
Total it and figure out what you should have “left”.

At the very start of the month write down EVERYTHING that isn’t on the direct debit/normal outgoing.
For example:

This month we have: (example)

Apple tree for front garden: £9
New bra: £14.98
Birthday gift £41
Vet Bill £161.80
Oven gloves: £6
Ice cream(when out): £7
Lightbulbs: £16.99
Batteries: £9.99
Meal deal at work:£4.99
Baby shoes: £14

etc
etc
etc

It alllllllll bloody adds up but I tell you writing it down makes me REALLY think twice about how much we are spending and do we actually need it?

But good shopping is ridiculous at the minute we have gone from roughly £60 a week to near enough £100 🙁

£400 for all that seems pretty low. Are you including car and home insurance? Broadband?

When was the last time your DH asked for a payrise?
If not, NOW is the best time to ask. Get him to prepare a speech about his contribution to the organisation and his aspirations with his role in the future. Asking for a payrise is going to be much easier than saving in a high inflation environment.

What's your family's strategy for increasing household income? Will you go back to work at some point?

First thing to do is work out where the money is going. Print out a couple of months of bank statements, and work through them line by line, adding up all the payments into simple categories. You need to track where every single penny has gone over a couple of months. Only then can you decide where you are overspending and take control, by creating a budget and sticking to it.

No, I won't be as I'm a carer

It's scary where it all goes isn't it. As others have said write down every little thing.

Haircuts
Clothes
Opticians
Coffee with mates
Car servicing/MOT/insurance/recovery
Petrol
Every little trip to Tesco for some bits for lunch and so on.

It soon adds up.

What's your food bill? Can you eat less or no meat?

Sorry just saw your food bill. Seems a bit high. I feed 3 of us, one a teenager, on less than 80 quid and that includes toiletries and cleaning. But we don't eat meat or drink at home.

Do you get carer's allowance? It sounds like you're entitled to it. Also look at a Help to Save account on gov.uk where you get a 50% bonus on what you do save on up to £50 a month.

How do you pay for your grocery shopping? If it's all been paid for by card, download a few months of statements from your bank/credit card into a spreadsheet and use that to analyse what you've spent on groceries and everything else. Does your DH buy lunch and coffee at work? That can add up if done regularly.

Do you waste food? Buy expensive things/brands when you could buy a cheaper version without significant compromise? Eg own brand, in season or cheaper fruit and veg (sprouting broccoli is about five times the price per kilo of standard broccoli, for example). Watch a few episodes of Eat Well for Less on BBC iplayer for all sorts of ways to reduce your food cost if this is where your money is going.

Have you accounted for the increases in food, petrol and utilities? A lot of the extra cost could be unavoidable unfortunately.

I wouldn't bother with YNAB, you're paying for something that needs 'work' to do properly and you can easily do yourself for free by splitting your money into different accounts or pots.

One for rent and bills paid on direct debit. Don't touch this for other day to day spending.

Once you've set your budget, send an amount each month for annual and irregular expenses to a savings account - Christmas, insurance, washing machine etc replacement, car repairs. Don't touch this money for day to day spending.

Put your grocery shopping money in another account and then try to stick to it .

Then send personal spending money for you and DH to your own accounts to use as you wish.

Have a look at Moneysaving Expert for a budget spreadsheet and ideas on how to reduce the cost of everything.

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

How much are you spending on swimming? I know you say it comes out of DS DLA money, but you still might be able to make that money go further or save some of it for when he's older or if he needs specialist equipment etc - can you get a membership/monthly pass for the pools you use?

Use an envelope system so you have different pots and are allocating money before you spend and ringfencing funds, it helps. I also use YNAB as some other posters mentioned (it saves us more than it costs) but you can do it for free on a spreadsheet or pen and paper. I just find the automation helps me a lot otherwise I get tied up in knots.

Food shopping has definitely increased over the last year or two and if you do a lot of top up shopping it can be easy to spend a lot more than you realise.

I've set up little savings pots - my bank account lets me do that. So each month, I pay myself first as soon as my salary comes in.

That is, I put some money away for various things to create an annual budget amount eg. Clothes, household items, dental bills, replacement of laptop (whatever expenses you might expect annually or for things you know you will need to buy/do) etc.

That way, it's there if required and I can take advantage of big sales. I don't have to spend it but if it's needed, it's there.

It's absolutely illuminating when you go through your bank statements line by line. Put the detail into a spreadsheet with columns such and you'll soon see a pattern of where your money is going.

I use YNAB and gave categories for
Pocket money
Window cleaner
Kids classes charitable giving
Mag subscriptions
Eating out/takeaway
Holidays
Gifts
Travel (petrol, parking)
Car tax
Insurance
House maintenance
Etc etc.

I've no doubt you'll find more categories than you expect.

Monzo or Starling bank apps are great to use for budgeting. You can search expenses by category.