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?!

Where do you do your grocery shop? Do you have things like sky, expensive mobile phone contracts? You seem to have a lot going on at once finically.

@peepercountry sorry, I didn't explain that very well! I don't actually earn £24k, I earn slightly over minimum wage and get working tax credits plus help with childcare costs, plus maintenance from my ex who is a high earner. This makes my actual household income £24k.

I apologise if I’ve upset anyone in the current climate I probably shouldn’t have posted it. I will ask for it to be pulled.

For goodness sake there's no need to do that.

You're not responsible for the lives of the other posters on here.

So your 24k income is net basically.

Where do you do your grocery shop? Do you have things like sky, expensive mobile phone contracts? You seem to have a lot going on at once finically
£110 on virgin tv pm plus Netflix and prime?
Dh does Asda shop once a week which is £100 but then there’s little top ups here and there myself in Sainsbury’s I’ve spent £65 last week £70 week before not on main shop but top up and a xmas present here and there. So over £200 easily a week on groceries 😯 will be cutting that right down.
That’s lockdown typical rather than our usual normal though- no going out for meals so we are having more treats than usual.
Dh has a couple of coffees and snacks from drive throughs on working days so a tenner daily I’d say?
No childcare cost but both kids do swimming lessons, karate and dance usually so that adds up too- but I wouldn’t want to change that.

I agree it's the small things that add up.

My friend never has spare money, but spends it on magazines, prepared vegetables, car wash etc. I worked out once that she spends roughly £50 a week more than I do. £2600 a year is a lot of money to be frittering away.

Well, your latest update kind of explains it!

You easily spend £150 a month on broadband, TV and streaming services, £200 a week on food, plus another £50 a week on snacks and coffee!

If you have Virign TV you don't need all the streaming services too. In fact, it would probably be cheaper if you used Freeview, found a cheap as chips broadband deal and just used Netflix and/or Prime.

Food shop can easily be cut down from £200 a week. Make a list, meal plan and stop doing loads of top-ups. I find shopping online saves a lot of money as I don't make loads of impulse purchases.

And DH can make his own coffee and take his own lunches. £10 a day on coffee and snacks for one person when you have nearly 20k of debt is madness!

£200 per week on food is a lot! I spend about £60-£70 per week for 2 of us, I don't scrimp either. Plus buying coffees daily, if you really want more spare cash then you can easily kick that habit. I buy one takeaway coffee a week as a treat.

£110 on tv/broadband. That’s more than double the average

£200 per week on food that’s enormous

You are spending more than you earn

That’s a lot of money on tv. You can easily cancel some of those. Do an audit of what you use the most, and ditch the other two. You can also subscribe to Netflix for a couple of months then stop, if you want a change.

Groceries, as well. £200! We spend half that and I have two 18-20 year olds. Christmas additions will add some to the bill, but if it’s £200 every week all year, that’s a lot.

£110 on virgin tv pm plus Netflix and prime

Cut that right back.

Try & do your top up shop in Lidl or Aldi

Your updates makes sense. That's where your money is going.
A coffee and sandwich occasionally may not sound much...but £10 a day, assuming he works 5 days, is fifty a week...200 a month! That's A LOT of money!!

Also to the people saying they manage on less etc, people on lesser wages may be receiving universal credit or tax credits. Also depends on the age of the kids....having teenagers is SO expensive, they literally grow out of clothes every 5 minutes and things like trainers aren't cheap (which I kid you not, then don't fit 6 weeks later)

It's all relative isn't it.
Some people have grandparents to help with childcare, others pay hundreds a month, have to run a second car to be able to commute etc...

OP You could easily cut down on outgoings with the TV and DH coffees etc, it will help pay your debt off

So you don't have any money because you spend it all on lots of non essentials and a grocery bill that is well above average?

Plenty of scope to cut down then, so you can pay off your debts and go on holiday or whatever other extra you want.

OP, just to compare, I spend £38 a mo on a high speed broadband/ telephone pkg, £12-per mo on my mobile phone -all services, text, etc &£8.99 on Netflix. I have Freeview. That is less than half of what you spend, & gives me more than enough TV, data storage, text, & phone services. You need to shop around!
Also, look at your insurance costs, I am sure you can reduce these. Also utilities.
By putting in the time comparison shopping, you can save £1000s per year, with no reduction in quality or services. This is what people who seem to have more money than you do.

@Sabrina124

I'm surprised at all the people saying £1k is a lot on a mortgage payment. That is about normal - I assume the people saying this brought their houses a while ago when house prices were much cheaper.

£1000 on a mortgage is a lot of money. It obviously depends where you live also.

You're not being savvy, OP.

From the looks of it, even at first glance you could 'save' £200 month by cutting back on TV costs that you won't even notice and a tiny focus on groceries. Basic free view, plus Amazon & Netflix gives you enormous choice.

If you put those savings into a different account, you'd have £2.4k for a holiday within a year.

Your husband also needs to stop with the drive through. You've got credit card debt and an £18k plus debt. Over priced coffee is for another day x

My gosh OP your TV bill is far too high!! I would not shop in Sainsburys either, way too over priced. I agree with the other poster try Aldi for your top up food shop.

£140 on tv etc, I have Sky minus sports and I’m £78pm, your food shop is ridiculous, how many in the house? I can feed 3 adults for £80pw.
You could be saving plenty every month, at least £650 I can see.

£200 a week on food?! And £110 on TV?

You both seriously need to update yourselves on how much things should cost, and figure out what you can cut back on if you are actually wanting holidays. I'm going to take a guess that neither of you bother to check prices on car insurance, home insurance, gas, electric etc yearly and just keep paying the same companies? Probably not even noticing the amounts going up. That's what has pissed people off. You earn enough money that you don't even have to take care of things like that, and yet you're here whining about having no money. You have no money because neither of you are intelligent enough to manage it.

Why was a move to another house that needed renovating necessary? Especially one where you weren't fully aware of what was needing to be done?

It's astonishing that you're both lacking this much in basic maths skills when you've both got well paying jobs.

@Brunt0n

“Where is all my money going?”

^ you have nearly 20k in debt... I can hazard a guess you’re likely pretty bad with money

Not necessarily true. We've got quite a bit of debt - about 10k. However, we took it out to do renovations - were paying it back and not slimming ourselves to do that. The interest is low and it saves us waiting 2-3 years to do the "big" jobs. It's not always a stupid decision.

Op, write down your incoming (I would go for basic wage if ot isn't guaranteed) and and outgoings. Everything. And then work out what you've got left. Look at anything you can cut down like phone bills / telly / whatever subscriptions if you can.
You need to know what you've actually got left.

Right - Plusnet, Netflix, plus a cheap gas/electric like Bulb (check uswitch). Get rid of Virgin, Amazon. You'll save £60-£100 per month easily.
£500 is easily enough at supermarkets for groceries and toiletries if you're halfway sensible. £300/month saved.
Budget DH for one coffee and no snacks. £150/month saved.
£5400/ year before you even start trying.

Get your loan and credit card onto a cheaper repayment model like adding to the mortgage, you're probably paying far too much interest. If you make overpayments to pay it off though from your other savings, it would be gone in 3 years.

Don't get the thread erased @ThePinkGuitar there was some good tips here for people struggling.

Sounds like it was valuable for you too! Good luck!

If people are feeling pissed off about erosion of earnings/low income/cost of living rises/rising unemployment (which certainly is something to be pissed off about) I feel you’re directing your anger at the wrong person - it’s not the OP’s fault.