To think there’s not much else I can do with this budget.

[Itgetsharder]

My main income is approximately 2600
child benefits 280

So that’s 2860

Rent 1400
Life insurance 84 (which I will be reducing in the new year, I just can’t do it yet)
Internet and phone 52 (again contract is up in Feb, though most deals are similar)
Netflix 15
Disney 11
Bins 23
Apple 20
DS football 25
Electricity 120

Total 1750
Leftover 1110
Amount leftover is to cover food, petrol, other clubs for dc every so often (they are not monthly costs) more like termly and their dad pays half of them too.
I have my DC 50:50 custody but it doesn’t make a huge difference to food costs.
Im not saving a lot and would like to be saving more although I’m getting there.

Theres not much I can cut is there? The dc watch both Disney and Netflix, I watch Netflix and I use Apple Music etc A LOT.

I’m in Ireland so unfortunately I can’t do that but it would be great if I could 😂

Eir is the most expensive, I'm with sky and they're always doing special offers for newbies. You can build a package to suit your needs. We get TV, internet, phone we've most things like movies and sport and other apps, they gave us movies free because we took on the sports, so no point saying my cost but you can do a basic package, they also can include Netflix although we do that separately as it's cheaper to go through Netflix itself. Broadband is expensive here but you can build packages with most companies

£1100 for food, petrol and kid bits seems lots on the surface but of course it's all relative to number of kids and distance you need to travel. How much of it are you managing to save?

If you don't want to cut back anymore then the only thing you can do is to look at earning more. You only have your DC half the time. Could you get a second job? The odd evenings?

Maybe have a look and see if your subscriptions could bundled somehow.

Not sure about Ireland, but I got EE full fibre broadband for £30/month. It then entitled me to discounted mobile SIM deals - one of which was £30/month that you could then add 3 subscriptions too. In the options at the time I'm sure was Netflix and Apple.

I went with a cheaper one where I got unlimited data / texts / calls plus Xbox game pass for the kids for £19.99/month. I was already paying the Xbox pass at £14.99/month by itself so like I'm only paying £5/month for my mobile now!

£1100 for food and petrol is a LOT.

Wow! Thank you @Wendysfriend ill definitely take a look!!

ROI is an expensive place to live

But it’s not just for food and petrol it’s for haircuts, birthdays/christmas, money for clubs, car costs(tax and insurance!), holiday clubs, holidays. There’s always something. I know I just need to hunker down and increase my earnings yes.

Like this month my car needed to be taxed and it needs a service. Next month is insurance. @Wegovypictures not managing to save at all…I’m actually dipping into savings most months which is ridiculous!

I also had to spend €500 for heating oil this month (out of savings!) it’s never ending!

Though it's a good point - where are you doing your food shop?

You’re on the right track about increasing earnings (yes easier said than done, I know). I would take a closer look at the 1100 misc and really track for a few months. Generally that’s where you are going to find the fat to trim. Once you get that down to more detailed buckets you might be able to plan that spend a little easier.

Mostly Lidl…but the odd time I get meats from super value (I find them so much better) and I’ll used the offers and vouchers for that.

I am thanking god for the Nov and Dec double child benefits! It will be a HUGE help!

Yeah that's a nice little boost. Plus there is help for energy bills, but not sure when that's coming

Then just do the music. You don’t need everything else you have lots of other streaming services.

How many kids do you have and how much are you spending on food?

I’m American and it seems like our food is miles more expensive than in the UK 😫 But I do try to cut back just by doing better planning, batch cooking etc. Luckily we’re in Minnesota and all school meals are free (thank you Governor-Hopefully-Soon-VP Walz) but our small spendings on snacks and just grabbing things at the gas station are getting out of hand lately and we need to cut back.

I’m not one to say “no treats ever” because what is life for if you can’t have the occasional fancy coffee 🤣 But personally our “little treats” are getting to be more like “daily occurrences” so I’m going to try to rein that in a bit.

I don't let myself go anywhere near SuperValu, but if you're strict on the offers I guess that cancels it out

Get rid of Netflix, instant 15 saved per month

You still have Disney & broadband

2 dc and I spend on average 100 per week.
no free school meals here, so I buy lunch stuff each week. My dc eat quite healthy stuff too and are not allowed chocolate, crisps etc in school. So I have to buy lots of fruit and veg. Meats and bread rolls too. I make dinner from scratch every evening. The offends time I’ll do an oven based dinner (chicken Kiev’s and fries, pizza etc)

Who is this with please? 🙂

I’m thinking I’ll get rid of Disney. We don’t have tv channels as such, I feel like there’s more to watch on Netflix.

Yeah I know it’s expensive but if I spent €40 I get €10 off and then I have 4 lots of the 3 for 10 offers for the price of 3 🙌

We moved to Ireland from Britain a couple of years ago and the food prices are shockingly high relatively speaking. That's likely the area where you can make the most savings if you are very disciplined with meal planning, batch cooking, using the freezer, baking instead of buying treats, etc.

It can be a lot of work, but it's the biggest variable under your control.