Budget help

[coco1985]

Hi everyone

Ok so we are a family of 6. Two adults. A 13,12,2 year old and 7 month old baby.
I struggle with budgeting or knowing how much I should be putting aside for savings , Christmas, emergencies and just generally getting the balance right between money to live on and save.
We have £700 a month left after bills, food and petrol.
With the £700 it needs to go on clothes , savings , Christmas , birthdays , daily living , toddler groups/soft play , treats etc. Days out with kids , general living and emergencies.
What do you or would you budget for these different things ?
I want to make the money work for us the best I can. But I'm not great at budgeting. So looking to get an idea what other people do.

Thanks in advance !

£35 pp pw - totally doable but not a frivolous budget. What commitments do the kids have ie groups / clubs etc?

Re the car:
Have you also put by something for servicing, mot, tyres/brakes etc ie consumables? It depends how old your car is and whether it’s bought or leased obv.

What about any bills you pay annually and may have overlooked, have you put by money for that too?

Holidays?

Vet bills or non-prescription medications.

It’s depressing isn’t it!

How much you save/spend in each budget category depends very much on your current position and lifestyle.

Personally the way we always split spare money after essential bills was to put one third to short term savings to cover things like Christmas, Birthdays, Clothes etc. One third to medium/long term savings like emergency savings, new car, new kitchen, holiday etc and one third to be spent. So personally in your situation I would save £500 a month for things like Christmas, clothes, emergencies, car etc and keep £200 for treats and days out.

You need to work out how much u think u roughly need for all the other stuff.

For example: We have 2 cars one leased and one owned outright. I put away £100 per month to cover car tax (only £30 on 1 car) mot and servicing both vehicles and insurance. Also if any repairs needed on the owned vehicle. It means if car breaks down and costs £400 the money is there (well after being built up). There often ends up being plenty left over, some years we need no repairs or tyres.

I worked out £100 for both cars based on:
Car insurance £33
Car tax £15 (but now only £2.50) was £15 at the time I set this up
Servicing £20
Leaves £32 to cover repairs and tyres

I also put away £75 per month for family birthdays and Xmas. Again this was working out who we buy and roughly how much we spend.

Do the same for my 2 young kids (1 and 4) I put away £60 to cover both bday and Xmas. Sometimes go over though and dip into disposable income.

I have another account for holidays put away £300 a month. This covers a holiday abroad, spending money and a wkend or 2 in the uk.

I also have another account 🙈 for the kids clothes so I'm not thinking 😱 just spent £200 on new winter coats, boots and wellies! It's like oh well money is there kinda doesn't feel like it's costing me anything 😂

You need to remember to factor in some random things like, haircuts, kids activity classes, takeaways, pocket money, money for school lunch etc. Make sure ur happy with the amount left over each week to pay for treats or a meal out, cinema or soft play etc.