To not be sure how we never have any bloody money?!

[ThePinkGuitar]

I know lots of friends that earn the same or bit less that get to have holidays aboard, lots of days out beautiful home.
We are nearly at the end of renovating our house but no money to finish it off. Dh earns 40k plus does lots of side jobs so probably on average another £150 pm. I earn 28k (22.5 hours pro rota).
We have 2 children never have been able to take them on fancy trips. We don’t wear expensive clothes, no cosmetic costs (dye my own hair and use Rimmel make up lol).
We have an average car, pay 1k a month mortgage. We spend a lot of groceries.
But seriously where is all the money going I genuinely do not understand?!

Renovation costs eat up income. That and the debt repayments will be the bulk of it. Can you renegotiate the payments? Also research cheaper utility providers . I saved £300 a year after a 5 min session on a comparison website.

@CCSS15

Try using something like yolt - it will bring together all your current accounts and credit cards so you can track what money is going where - its super easy to use. It will also flag large payments made / due so you don't go overdrawn

Review the interest rates on your credit - credit cards, loans, mortgage etc and switch if possible

Review utilities to check you are on best deals

Council tax can be spread over 12 months rather than 10 to lower monthly commitment

I used to do this every year, but got lazy this year after a house move. As a result, only just realised my credit card 0% ended and both me and DH been paying interest on card balances. Sorted that this weekend and saved around £125 a month on card payments and them checked my car insurance too abs got it down to £51 a month instead of £89!

Go through ALL expenses and try to get them down!
Do you need all your tv channels plus Netflix and prime?

These threads always go the same way. On one hand you will get posters saying the OP is rich & has no knowledge of poverty, is inappropriate etc, but on the other hand some posters will say the OP is poor & their income is 5 x the OPs but their mortgage is £5.
😆

I really got a shock at how bad some people are with budgeting. I agree it should be taught at school that and cooking, sewing, basic woodwork house maintenance. Just a few lessons on each. I have friends who cant sew a button on, change a plug or hang a picture.

It's not like you can't learn this when older though. YouTube has so many videos showing you exactly how to do stuff like, there's even videos on car maintenance for simple things like changing a light bulb so you don't have to pay a garage £30 to do it each time. There's recipes all over the Internet, videos to show you the steps as well, videos on how to do basic DIY etc. The problem I think is that people are lazy and just don't want to do it, and if they have the money they'll just pay someone else to do it. It's like how oven cleaners are becoming more popular, whereas before people would just clean their own ovens. Now you can pay someone to do that (it is a horrible job). But if you're paying out for all of these little things, even if you have money, suddenly you're spending a lot more than you planned.

You need to pay off that debt, that's what is holding you back. Cut down on your food bill by wise spending and try and get at least the cc debt to be paid off by the middle of next year (then cut up that card!) live within your means

I've tried everything, tiling, painting, plastering, rendering, pointing, bricklaying, tree surgery well chopping down. I even fixed my rusty car wheel arches. All successful apart from plastering, never again, I wore more if it. If you dont try you dont learn. I'm really good at tiling! I sew, cook but not good at baking. I hate to pay for odd jobs. My friend is plumber, electrician and is appliance engineer. I am saving to get kitchen worktops replaced. Not something I would try. Too expensive to go wrong. I clean my own windows and car. Never buy takeaways, mainly becouse I dont like. I have very little money but have never been in debt. If I want something I save for it. I buy a car then start saving fund for next one. Holiday fund, car fund, Vivienne Westwood bag fund.

Ditto to what others have said, you need to pin it down.
A few years ago, living with a partner just the two of us, I did a budget.
It's easy to write down what your mortgage & utility bills are, it's there in black & white.
Then I guessed that I spent, say between £200 & £300 a month on food. After all we didn't eat out or order takeaways - I did all the cooking myself. And I believed what they say, that two can live as cheaply as one! But I did wonder how much I was really spending on food..... was it nearer to £200 or £300? So the next month I kept every single receipt. I found I spent £575 on food!

It can give you a shock to find out what you're spending where, but if you don't know you can't fix it

You haven't specified what " renovating the house" has involved
Have you done the work yourselves or paid other people to do the work ?
Did you under estimate the cost of the renovations ?

Plus you want a comfortable lifestyle
Plus you want holidays

It sounds like you can't have it all

Do you have a plan of how to pay off the debt ?

Pay off debt, before holidays ?