If I give you a complete breakdown of how much we spent last month can you show me how to save money?

[Ifcatshadthumbs]

Ok so last month I kept every receipt and kept a record of everything we spent, right down to parking tickets. I'm pretty shocked at how much it all comes to particularly as we made a conscious effort to stop frittering away money.

I meal planned and made sure I only do one big shop a week as I knew I was spending too much in supermarkets, have stopped buying takeaways, going to coffee shops so regularly, stopped buying the dc's endless "little treats" that add up considerably and have basically stayed away from browsing around town.

I never kept records of all our spending beforehand so I don't know how much we've improved but I know that we were spending around £100 a month on take away/coffees out etc, plus treats here and there, new clothes etc etc.

Anyway here is September spend, please help me get it even lower!

Mortgage £1050
Council Tax £181
Gas & Electric £100
Life & mortgage insurance £38.89
Water £42.00
Credit Card Payment £170 (Could pay this off but would leave us with reduced savings and it is currently interest free)
Refridgerator breakdown Cover £3.79
Savings for annual expenses (MOT/Car tax/home insurance) £120
T.V License £12.55
Phone & broadband £7.50
Mobile Phone £28.00 (contract ends soon so will get a much cheaper deal)
Family Gym Membership £73.00 (We do use this alot so don't want to cancel)
Contact Lenses £13.00
Speech Therapy for DS £100 (Likely to continue for atleast another year)
Food £323.02
Drink £73.22 (Includes coffee/dt coke/beer/wine/juice for dc's)
Petrol £120.16
Household items (washing powder/loo rolls etc) £34.00
Toiletries/make up £26.16
Clothes £69.98 (for dc's should be set until next spring now)
Birthday presents £10.00
Christmas Presents £22.99
Weekend Away £153.00
Eating Out/Nights out £128.39
Home Items £8.96 (toilet needed a part to fix it)
Cats Expenses inc food £41.18 (unusually high this month due to vet bill)
Train Tickets £12.40 (one off trip)
School Trips £27.20
Toys & games £2.50
Multivitamins & supplements £35.98 (I know this seems very high but ds2 has some big dietry issues, plus other problems)
Cubs (Includes Subs, uniform and payment for 2 trips) £118.90 (should have nothing to pay out now till new year)
School Uniform items £11.75
Haircut £30.00
Eyebrow waX £13.00

Ok so that comes in at £3202.52

Go on ladies work your magic! Oh and just to mention I do shop at aldi!!

Falls around laughing at the idea of anyone getting Sp&L Therapy from the NHS - not in our area, anyway
I was actually thinking that's a very good rate you are getting from someone.

Its all relative isn't it, if you can afford to live like this then its just fine. But if you are struggling you should have a look at the stuff you can do without like the waxing and hair, is there a local college where you can go they are well trained and much cheaper. And the drinks and nights out try to find things you enjoy but just cheaper.

Have you tried pound shops for toothpaste and toothbrushes?

The household items does seem high. I use half the amount of laundry detergent recommended and clothes are clean and fresh.

As others have said, eatings out and drinks seem pricey and good opportunities for savings

I think you need to do a separate list for items which you spend every month, items you pay regularly but not monthly, items which are necessities but spending more ad hoc and and items which are treats and emergencies.

For the ones that you have regularly (but not every month) (eg cub fees ), you should work out average monthly cost and add this to the monthly list.

For the other things which are more irreguar but which are in some senses a necessity such as clothes, i think you should do what you have done for car tax, MOT etc and try to come up with a number that sounds about right for the year and set aside a monthly savings amount for this and accept that in some months you will spend more and others less so long as it looks ok over the year.

And then have a separate number whihc you feel comfortable with for "treats" such as meals out and weekends away, but also emergencies such as one off house repairs 9recognising it is not necessarily problematic to plan for very large emergencies). So I would look at it as follows (and I accept that there are some items which I have put in treats but you might regard as necessity and vice versa). For things like drink and cat costs, you might put a basic amoutn in as "regular" and then allow a bit more in the treat/emergency list, but I have left in regular below. I am also assuming things like food and petrol are fairly standard (similar amount each month)

REGULAR PAYMENT
Mortgage £1050
Council Tax £181
Gas & Electric £100
Life & mortgage insurance £38.89
Water £42.00
Credit Card Payment £170 (Could pay this off but would leave us with reduced savings and it is currently interest free)
Refridgerator breakdown Cover £3.79
Savings for annual expenses (MOT/Car tax/home insurance) £120
T.V License £12.55
Phone & broadband £7.50
Mobile Phone £28.00
Family Gym Membership £73.00
Contact Lenses £13.00
Speech Therapy for DS £100
Food £323.02
Drink £73.22
Petrol £120.16
Household items £34.00
Cats Expenses inc food £41.18
Multivitamins & supplements £35.98
Cubs £30 (have divided by four assuming you have similar costs once a quarter)
Toiletries/make up £13 (I have halved assuming you dont spend this amount every month)
Haircut £15.00 (again I have halved assuming once every 8 weeks is must have)
Eyebrow wax £13.00 [assume monthly?]

IRREGULAR BUT NECESSARY
Clothes - you have spent £70 this month. Assume you dont spend £840 in the year, so maybe plan for £500 pa
Birthday presents £10.00 - need to work out number of birthdays you buy for and average expenditure
Christmas Presents £22.99 - need to work out who you buy for and allow a budget (with maybe some extra to spend if you have money left in the treats/emergency fund)
School Uniform items £11.75 [will you need more this year absent loss?]

TREATS/EMERGENCIES
Weekend Away £153.00
Eating Out/Nights out £128.39
Home Items £8.96 (toilet needed a part to fix it)
Train Tickets £12.40 (one off trip)
School Trips £27.20 [is this optional? If not, move to previous list and try to work out approx no of trip as a year]
Toys & games £2.50

I think with the first list, the only ones that look like they could be reduced significantly are mobile phone (which you have in hand), drink (where I would say allow say £20 a month in the first list and view the rest as a treat to be bought if finances permit), gym (which is good value for what you get - I pay that just for me - but you might regard it as coming out of the treat budget), cats expenses (again you might want to work out regular food/insurance cost and regard any expess on top of that this month as coming out of the treats/emergency fund), haircut (less regular?), eyebrow wax (diy?), toileteries/make up (maybe at least soem of this goes in treat list)?

For the secodn list, it should be fairly easy to come up with an annual budget for clothes and presents (and similar).
For the third, I would have a look at what is left after the must have and again come up with a number that feels ok, but recognising (for example) that some treats me have to go if you have more emergencies.

It looks pretty good to me!

You have to pay to join Costco, but I think I save it on some products - loo rolls, pet food (MASSIVELY) and huge pots of yoghurt v cheap, bacon and eggs. Booze and drinks are a lot less there too but don't tend to buy them unless a party. I have tried to simplify our food so there's not so many 'bits' and buy more bulk. Meat, toiletries, bread and cleaning products don't seem a lot cheaper.

Have you had a look for a local hair/beauty college? Things like haircuts and eyebrow waxes come in massively cheaper if you can get to one of these.

I would also second everyone who says the drinks budget could be chopped (no juice or booze here, try and keep coffee/tea down to respectable limits) as can the eating out. We eat out using the Tesco Clubcard vouchers. If it doesn't come free, we don't eat there!

If I had a time machine I would reconsider getting our cats, but we have them now, we've made a commitment to them for life and they're part of the family, so the fact they're expensive buggers is just something we're going to have to grit our teeth and live with. Do you shop about for cheap deals on their food? How about an annual care package from your vets to cover innoculations, flea treatments and worming, that can work out cheaper.

I think you have to make two columns. One for expenses you can't change such as mortgage and electricity. (I know you can shop around for cheaper deals but that aside) And look at the column of things you can. Weekend away jumps out for a start. Speech therapy is a lot but I can see why you would want to continue with that if it's helping. So it's a question of priorities. What you spend adds up to a lot but you don't seem to be frittering money away on nothing.

I think you'll have to cut back on things you can cut back on. Like eating out and weekends away. And household cleaning and make up could be whittled down quite a bit.

Thanks everyone. I agree putting things into columns is a good idea to break things down a bit.

I think what is a massive eye opener is that this was done whilst trying to be more conscious of our spending so god knows how much we were frittering away beforehand.

as for all those who asked about the cheap broadband and phone I will have ask dh when he comes home as he found the deal!

I'm going to go off and do a breakdown of the household stuff and toiletries and see if it was just an exceptional month. Am going to keep doing this each month as it is good to see it written down.

I have changed up some clubcard vouchers for next month so any eating out will be free!

I will do my own eyebrows but I won't change hairdressers as she is very good and i have "difficult" hair! Plus I save £26 a month by doing the males of the house hair myself! I don't have it done monthly more every 6/7 weeks anyway.

Plus hairdresser comes to house so I don't have petrol and parking costs that I used to have going to a salon.

Mortgage £1050 -nothing you can do to change this

Council Tax £181 - nothing you can do to change this

Gas & Electric £100 - could possibly economise, by ensuring all lights/radiators are off if no-one in the room, cutting shower time short etc, but difficult

Life & mortgage insurance £38.89- nothing you can do to change this

Water £42.00 - are you on a meter? If not, might it be cheaper to switch, or may work out more expensive!

Credit Card Payment £170 (Could pay this off but would leave us with reduced savings and it is currently interest free) - if you're paying £170 off credit card every month, you must have a hell of a credit card balance! This will reduce over time though. For now, throw the card away, and only buy things you can afford from the money in your account - don't buy anything more on credit.

Refridgerator breakdown Cover £3.79 - IMO, not worth the paper it's written on, but is only a small saving

Savings for annual expenses (MOT/Car tax/home insurance) £120 - seems like a lot if you're saving this every month??

T.V License £12.55 - nothing you can do to change this

Phone & broadband £7.50- nothing you can do to change this, broadband is pretty much a necessity these days

Mobile Phone £28.00 (contract ends soon so will get a much cheaper deal) - nothing you can do to change this short term, but as you say, there are cheaper deals around. Do you need landline AND mobiles?

Family Gym Membership £73.00 (We do use this alot so don't want to cancel) - is there a cheaper (council?) gym you can use? This is quite expensive.

Contact Lenses £13.00 - nothing you can do to change this, unless you go back to using specs

Speech Therapy for DS £100 (Likely to continue for atleast another year) - agree, you wouldn't want to stop this

Food £323.02 - doesn't seem exessive, though it's always possible to save on food. EG Do you buy many ready meals etc? Making your own is cheaper, and cooking in bulk and freezing stuff saves money, as does buying big joints of meat and using them for several meals

Drink £73.22 (Includes coffee/dt coke/beer/wine/juice for dc's) - cut out the beer, wine and coke. Squash is cheaper and better for DCs.

Petrol £120.16 - assume nothing you can do to change this, or could you walk/cycle more instead of driving?

Household items (washing powder/loo rolls etc) £34.00 - seems reasonable

Toiletries/make up £26.16 - seems reasonable

Clothes £69.98 (for dc's should be set until next spring now) - seems reasonable

Birthday presents £10.00 - seems reasonable

Christmas Presents £22.99 - bit early to be buying for Christmas IMO, but if it saves you money, then why not

Weekend Away £153.00 - could definitely do without this - assume a one off, and not a monthly occurence.

Eating Out/Nights out £128.39 - could also definitely do without this - invite friends round or get yourself invited to friends - much cheaper than eating out.

Home Items £8.96 (toilet needed a part to fix it) - OK

Cats Expenses inc food £41.18 (unusually high this month due to vet bill) - animals are expensive. But far be it from me to tell someone to get rid of a much loved pet - but you should consider whether you can afford pets if circumstances are that bad

Train Tickets £12.40 (one off trip) - could you have gone on a bus/got a lift?

School Trips £27.20 - were these strictly necessary? ie - were they educational, or jollies?

Toys & games £2.50 - assume you could do without these, but a very small amount

Multivitamins & supplements £35.98 (I know this seems very high but ds2 has some big dietry issues, plus other problems) - surely you can address dietary issues with diet? Are they self prescribed, or has GP recommended vitamins and supplements? Most of your £35 will be flushed down the toilet each month!

Cubs (Includes Subs, uniform and payment for 2 trips) £118.90 (should have nothing to pay out now till new year) - cub uniform is expensive - next time, could you ask your Leaders if they have any second hand uniform free or for sale (we keep lots of second hand unform our Brownie pack).

School Uniform items £11.75 - reasonable - assume one offs?

Haircut £30.00 - not necessary to spend £30 on a monthly basis, surely

Eyebrow waX £13.00 - buy yourself a tweezers and do it yourself

Simples

How about setting this out as a budget for next month and then keeping the same kind of record of actual spend vs budget? You then get a feel for how much "life" is going to cost you, especially if you extend it out for a full year.

I would set out each category, then round it up or down slightly for the budget, then you get to pat yourself on the back if you say stretch the haircuts to every other month or find a cheaper place to get eyebrows done/ DIY. Just being more aware of your spending on a regular basis, makes it much easier to keep control of making huge effort to get off MN and go and update own spreadsheet for the month

Get your hair cut every 8/9 weeks rather than every 6/7 -- could save you around £80 a year.

Look at pound shops for household items and toiletries (although double-check that they are actually cheaper). For example I can get five children's toothbrushes for £1 in our local Poundland.

What vitamins and supplements are you buying? Are there cheaper alternatives?

I think everyone else has covered everything that jumps out at me, I just wanted to query the refrigerator breakdown cover - is this not already included on your household insurance? I know it's only £3.79 a month but no point duplicating it if it's already covered.

I also thought toiletries was quite high, but I see you're planning on reviewing that. It might be worth looking at how much you actually use each time? I know I have been guilty of using way too much shower gel and hair conditioner!

What about cleaning products? Do you use much branded stuff? I find that white vinegar and basic cheap bleach will do most jobs between them. I also use about half the recommended amount of washing powder, or less.

I think I can see a couple of savings.

Do you meal plan? If you are throwing out food then something's going wrong.

Contact lenses, Asda do monthly lenses with fluids (good fluid with protein remover built in) for half what specsavers quoted me, and my prescriptions -5.

Aldi isn't always cheaper, eg I buy sainsburys smart price tea at 27p and dh regularly tells me how nice our tea is. I daren't tell him and were nearly 3 years in from the switch from pg tips. I don't buy different cleaners either, it's water and washing up liquid in a spray bottle and floor cleaner here. If you clean daily then it's not like your deep cleaning a hovel is it?. Homebargains loo roll is 18 rolls for 18.

I would ask your council if you can pay over 12 months not 10.

See if you can switch your utilities to a cheaper tariff, M&S is doing a cheap tarriff, I got £105 cashback off top cashback too plus £20 vouchers.

Do you really need protection plans on a fridge? Dh got one on the tv. In the past 7 years he's spent more than the cost of the tv, his dm has them on everything then when she claims on them for a new item they grudgingly give her £100 in vouchers when she's given them much more over the years.

If you join topcashback and quidco you can get cashback on a lot of retailers plus utility switches or mobile contracts eg my mobile contract is £7.70 a month with data etc but I got £60 cashback. If quidco is offering higher cashback topcashback will price match it.

I buy toiletries in bulk eg 8 bottles of cream cleanser from the bodyshop with 40% discount and 13% cashback with free delivery was very cheap and if removed using a muslin is pretty close to the liz Earle cleanser I used to buy.

Oh Fluffy didn't know that TopCashback price match Quidco! That's great - I average about £250 a year in cashback for things that I would buy anyway so always encourage people to use it.

OP when I met my now DH I was horrified when he said he would do a monthly analysis of our income and spending and now I look forward to checking the spreadsheet every month We are fairly comfortable but planning a family in the hopefully near future so are conscious of keeping costs down as I am self employed.

I think that the supplements are the only thing that really raises alarm bells for me, I understand that you feel them necessary but surely some deals or cashback could help you save? At £400 a year an assessment with a dietician might be more cost effective in the long run?

The credit card balance is from a while ago (holiday) we don't use it for day to day stuff (in fact don't use it all now) the £170 is to clear the balance quicker not the minimum payment (thank god) like I said I have enough savings to clear it altogether but feel uncomfortable not having savings. The credit card is interest free for next 12 months. What would others do?

Gym membership I will review after Christmas as dc's are signed up for swimming lessons until then anyway.

I agree about the refridgerator insurance but DH seems to think we can't risk not having it I think it may get "accidentally" cancelled this month.

Will cut down the drinks expense
Will plan car journeys better to cut down on petrol (May even consider changing cars for something more economical)

The £120 a month for house insurance/car tax/car insurance & mot covers 2 vehicles (we need two as DH is builder and as much as the dc's would love to jolly around in a van the size of a small bus there would be no room for me!)

School trips were educational ones and it's probably not something I would make the dc's go without unless we were Stoney broke.

I know the vitamins seem excessive but ds does have big dietary issues if I could get him to eat everything he needed to get his intake then believe me I would! Some of the supplements are related to his SN issues. I'm aware there is no hard science to say these will make all the difference but to quote tesco "every little helps!". Tbh I would live in a cardboard box and spend my money on any therapy or intervention necessary to to improve ds's life.

I noticed you are putting some money aside in savings, this is good. I don't see anything on here that's excessive, but did find some ways you could save at least 190 pounds.

Drinks 73.22--to 50.00. Cut out sodas, buy cheaper and less booze, have juice/squash with dinner only, drink more water, buy cheaper coffee/tea. Savings = 23.22

Eyebrows 13.00-- to 0.00. Shape them yourself. Savings =13.00

Eating out 128.00-- to 0.00. I don't think you are spending an excessive amount on eating out, but if you cut it out for even just one month you could apply that extra amount to your credit card bill. Savings = 128.00

Household items 34.00 -- to 20.00. Buy cheaper loo roll and use less washing powder. Vinegar or diluted bleach clean almost anything. Look in poundstores for deals. Savings = 14.00

Toiletries 26.00 -- to 10.00. Use cheap (but lovely and fragrant!) bubble bath or shampoo decanted into pump dispenser bottle instead of shower gel. Also showers use less water and product then baths. Again Aldi and pound stores can have some great deals for toiletries. I use very cheap hair conditioner instead of shaving gel when I shave my legs. It's much cheaper plus I don't need to use body lotion afterwards. Savings = 16.00

You might also be able to shave of a few pounds by having a cheap dinner a one or two nights a week. Something simple like pasta with pesto or marinara sauce or egg on toast is a bit dull but saves an awful lot. Whenever I cook I mentally calculate to cost of the meal and the breakdown per person.

Is there anyway you could get his vitamins for less?

Could you get the life insurance cheaper I wonder? Moneysavingexpert has links to life insurance, mine came out at £8 a month for a non smoking female.

Some online pharmacies do vitamins etc cheaper, plus you get cashback off tcb.

Weekend away, eating out/nights out and haircut could be stripped away. Eating out is a rip off and you could try getting a standby appointment for your hair. I had my hair cut at the weekend for £14 as I was a 'walk in'. Admittedly, it was a dry cut, but it looks lovely and I simply washed it when I got in. If you shop at Tesco could you use clubcard points to eat out? Xxx

Also ditch the eyebrow wax and pluck your own eyebrows...

Yes ditch the eyebrow wax.

Threadings much better

Try the MSE budget planner. It'll point out bits you could change .

Just thinking Holland and barratt often do brilliant offers so you could buy the vits in bulk then.

Also that mortgage is huge. If mine was that big we would be needing to move.