To ask what peoples income and outgoings are and amount left over each month?

[Datingdilemashmm]

Ok so I'm a single parent and my total income each month is £2300 with my biggest outgoings at £500 mortgage and £300 a month on petrol and parking for work. I pay £100 off credit cards (interest free). I also treat myself to gym membership of 60 a month. I have the other usual outgoings of £60 gas and electric, council tax £110 and £60 a month breakfast club for my son. £40 mobile. No car loans. £80 on my sons activities and clubs! How much do you budget for food?

Each month Im in the minus and I need to cut my outgoings (im terrible with amazon I admit).. I cant see anywhere online which gives examples of "good practice" monthly amounts.. i know it varies!

What do you have left over each month aftwr all necissities including food, petrol, kids clubs and phone etc paid?

There is no one fits all set of numbers.

Start by writing down every purchase you make. So you can account for every penny.

Then start cutting it back.

We have two accounts 1 for bills so direct debits eg phone, gym, utilities. We never touch this account and often pay in a rounded figure so end up saving a bit each month in there.
Then another account for spends e.g. groceries, petrol, meals, pub, clothes. We often over spent so now use goodbudget app and put stuff into 'envelopes' so x amount in groceries, x in petrol and each spend we pop on the app from the assigned envelope, that way we can see where it's going and if we can splurge or need to cut back. Its worth a try to just see where the money goes each month.

Earn Approx 3k a month between me and dh
mortgage £600
loans £300
council tax £110
Utilities £100
Sky £74
Mobiles £50
Petrol approx £200 ( 2 cars )
Cr card bill £100
Gym membership £37
Dinner money for ds £40
Food £ ? Too much

Should have loads left have other dd like insurance for 2 cars and home
Trying to save I spend too much on food & drink , trying to budget better not buy new clothes go out for meals except special occasions and 1 takeaway a month . I'm having a clear out and going to sell stuff on eBay . I want to save £500 for Xmas and clear my cr card bill owe about £ 700 it's 0% .

We don't have:
Gym membership
Sky tv/netflix/any paying tv
Costa/starbucks addiction
Holidays abroad
Credit cards
Expensive haircuts
Big nights out (including the cinema)

We do have:
€150/month car
€24/month DS' activities
€40/month pet costs
€60/month leccy
€30/month gas
€70/month water
€600/month rent
€120/month DS' school lunch

What we have left at the end of the month goes directly into savings. Our car is on its last legs (has been for 5 years! We might get another 5 if we don't mind lack of aircon and radio) but solid engine.

Sorry but i'm not putting our income online.

I do my money plan weekly. DP gets paid monthly & i get my MA fortnightly but i find i can better breakdown everything. Plus our rent is paid weekly.

I meal plan EVERY week. I have a list of what is in my freezer, fridge & cupboards that gets updated whenever things are added or removed. Sounds ridiculous but it has saved us a small fortune because I know what is there. My meal plans are based around what we have in, then we add to wherever we need.

DD does a few clubs & piano lessons that get paid as soon as DP is paid. Unless we drop them we can't avoid those so i kind of write them off.

Amazon is dangerous; turn off 1 click buying for starters. That way you have to go through the rigmarol of putting in details when you want something, which might make you think.

We budget £100 a week for food (3+ff baby) but that includes toiletries & washing powder etc. We ALWAYS take cash. I keep a rough tally as we go & we stick to the list, then add extras in at the end. If we don't have the cash for it at the till, unless it is major necessity, it goes back. Fuel we only use the car when we need to...we are trying to walk more.

We are comfortable atm & have managed to squirrel into savings but my MA runs out in December. I'm so used to doing the budgeting that i'm not worried about the massive drop in income when it stops. You have to be strict with yourself. Every time you want something, take five seconds & think 'do i genuinely NEED this?' Usually the answer is no.

It might be worth you looking at the Debt free wannabe forum on moneysavingexpert. The folks there give good advice on budgeting.
What jumps out from your post is the mobile, gym and clubs costs. These seem very high. For 2 people depending on your son's age I'd say maybe £150 a month on food?

I'd start by budgeting what you need for essentials (not nice to haves) and then see what is left

450 a month. Nothing left after bills. I have 100pm in widows benefit but that stops in June. I get single occupancy ctax benefit. What I can't buy I just can't have.
So, to me op looks very well off. Packed lunch for DS, meal planning, and walk rather than gym. Save a packet just there.

Gym is a luxury you can't currently afford so id cancel it

Can't afford the gym? Am I missing something?

I'm not putting our income on here either, but we are paying £2k per month extra off the mortgage and have just cleared all but one of the credit cards, and that will be gone next week.

We are at the stage that ds is through uni, and as we paid for that, so he has no loans, I now have more money per month. He is home, but the increase in food doesn't equate to what we were paying per academic year for him.

We spent a long time with minus at the end of the month, so it is strange to look at the accounts and see that they are all in credit.

Even with a good income, I meal plan (and I'm trying to use up as much as I can before we move back to UK in 14 months time). I have a Kindle habit (but normally the 0.99p books) and I have craft stash, but that's about it. If we eat out we do it locally for about €20 per head. We do pay for TV, but we wouldn't do that if we could still do Freesat, but the buildings near us mean we can't get a signal.

DP and I earn around £2500 a month between us.

Rent: £595pm
Gas and electricity: £40pm
Water: £35pm
Broadband: £24pm
Food: Around £150pm
Council tax: £118pm

So we have around £1500 left at the end of the month for days out/takeaways/clothes/disposable income.
There's just the two of us in a one bedroom flat. Neither of us own a car (I can drive but didn't see the need as we live dead in the centre of a large town). We're fortunate in that we aren't in any debt.

However I anticipate our expenses going up soon as we've got a baby on the way!

Between £200 and £250 depending on the month.

Depending on who your phone is with they will let you reduce your bill if you tell them you're struggling. Once the handset is paid off (assuming that's why its so high) do SIM only deals. No upgrades.

Gym definitely cancel. I'm all for 'everyone needs a treat' but treating yourself to £60 a month when you're ending up in negatives is too much. Get a couple of fitness DVDs to do at home maybe?

We have an income of just over £3k

Rent and bills £1100 at least
Childcare £850 (then we get the tax free top up)
Add in food, travel, debts, additional expenses, and we have £200 left after everything
Food, we spend 60-80 per week to feed 3 adults and a ravenous toddler.

Minus several ton a month here. Household income of less than £18k, some tax credits & CB, £600 mortgage (prisoners of NRAM in a tiny 1.5 bedroom apartment), £120 council tax, £220-£280 on debts, £50 gas/leccy, £50 car insurance, £120 for food a month for 3 mouths, £60 service charge for apartment building, £70 bus pass for work and spends for activities/second hand clothes for our 18m old.

I cry every payday, and when I have to ask my Mum for money to buy food or nappies or milk.

We'd be worse off if I went to work because of childcare costs. We dont and wont qualify for free hours and will never be able to afford the costs of wrap around care.

I've signed up to do an OU degree while I can create time for it in the hope that I will be able to get my career back in a few years. I used to earn £25k myself several years ago. I retrained in an animal based role but the childcare outweighs the wages now my parents can't help mind my son. I'm currently scrimping to even be able to buy mouthwash and toothpaste until the tax credits clear next weekend. Payday was only yesterday and every penny has already gone.

Do you not have almost £1000 left after you have paid everything listed in the op?

Or have I missed something or miscounted?

Outgoings around £3000

When I’m not on mat leave, income £4600
Currently £3400

So we both have surplus around £200 each at the moment and more like £800 (although we saved a lot of that) when I’m not on leave - however that will change soon as we’ll have a childcare bill soon when I return to work which we didn’t before.

I suspect we’ll have around £200 each a month until our baby gets the 30 hours childcare.

So your listed outgoings are around £900 and food comes out of that, say, £500 a month - you’re left with £400 - where is that going? It’s a lot to ‘lose’...

I would look at cutting gym and mobile bill personally

You're not alone @AlphaBravo. I have less than £900/month coming in for me & 2 DC and every penny is spent well before the basics like food and heat are covered. I am resigned to no central heating at all this winter as I just can't afford it! I'm better off than I was a year or two ago but still end up having to borrow to pay for tampons or washing powder sometimes! If anything breaks it is a disaster - my slow cooker pot has just cracked, only two of my four toaster slots now work, the microwave heats but won't rotate any more, the fridge is on its last legs, the kettle broke last month, my laptop screen broke so I use it plugged into the TV, then the touchpad died and two of the usb ports no longer function, the boiler needs fixing, rain has started dripping into the kid's bedroom... you get the picture.

I feel like many mumsnetters live in a different world sometimes - which is GREAT, I'm very happy that they are doing well financially. Just didn't want you to feel like you were the only one on here who felt this way. I was earning over £30K before I had DS2 and everything went pear shaped.

It completely depends what's normal and achievable for you. 5 years ago I took a career break to care for dc and dh had high expenses for his commute. I aimed to save £300 a month. Now we both work I expect to save £1k a month and am annoyed with myself if we save less than £800. I couldn't imagine that 5 years ago but you get used to what you have.

Well most of people on here have way more money than me....I work 2 jobs to make ends meet every month.
I pay full rent full council tax. I live hand to mouth every month can't remember the last time I bought myself something or even treated myself or my hubby. As long as our kids have what they need and are happy that's all we care about.

We're happy

Well, if you watch Rich House/Poor House on channel 5, they'd have you believe that £150 left over per week after paying your bills makes you cripplingly poor.

We have £135.45 per week and don't feel poor at all.

The Squirrel app is quite good for working this stuff out, OP, even if you don't end up using it to actually manage your money. I'm happy to get paid straight into it, but I know people can be wary.

Income is about £3k a month. Not sure what our exact outgoings figure is but we manage to save £200 a week. Although, I will be cutting this down to £150 soon for the run up to Christmas, to pay for presents.

We have treats and pay £125 a month off the 0% Interest credit card. That will be cleared off soon.

Agree that you should stop the gym membership. Could you not get it cheaper at a different gym? Mine is only £24 a month!

Two adults, two kids and two dogs in our house by the way.