On a reasonable income but can't sell our old house

[drspouse]

We are managing OK and this is more of a "we need to pay the other mortgage [which isn't that big really] and it would be nice to have a holiday next year" rather than on our bare bones type of saving.

We are really going to benefit from the 30 hours free childcare thank goodness.
Older DC doesn't do that many expensive activities (swimming is probably the most pricey, if we add anything we'll drop something else. We may add Beavers but usually that is not too much).

I've totted up how much I spent on clothes last year and can easily halve that.
I sew some of the kids clothes (and mine) which does not save much but I have a huge stash of fabric so no new fabric! Same for knitting which relaxes me but I have plenty of yarn to keep me going. Cute kids clothes are really tempting though!

I've decided to start taking lunch to work - leftovers or sandwiches. I usually make coffee at work anyway, rarely buy it. DH unfortunately commutes an hour (yuck sandwiches on a warm train for an hour!) and works in a variety of offices so can't really leave coffee making stuff (but gets the Waitrose free coffee!).

We have a cleaner and I really don't want to stop that but could cut the hours.

I've also worked out we'd save about £500 a year if we switched supermarkets and brands using mysupermarket.co.uk

We have some house things to do we can put off I think, I may be able to get my dad to help me with a big garden job (DH and I can do the heavy lifting but we aren't experts).

What am I missing?

I think the problem is because we have a relatively large income, and big outgoings for the extra mortgage, small one off savings don't help that much.

I'm going to try Wally for budgeting, any other (preferably free!) recommendations?

[drspouse]

Right we are now talking about renting the house out, which will require talking to the mortgage provider but it seems so silly if it's lying empty.
DH says he buys one pastry and gets a free coffee (Waitrose) and then has the cheapest Tesco meal deal for lunch but he's going to work out how to make more coffees at work as that's where the big markups go!
We're having a s/c holiday and we've been taking drinks/snacks round with us and it's really noticeable how the cash in my purse has stayed put! Even if we have lunch out it saves quite a bit.

[junebirthdaygirl]

Best way to save for a holiday is to start a holiday account and put standing order in. Save first before you spend or money will never be there. I find when l do that l survive on whats left and the money adds up.

[NeverTwerkNaked]

If you can just about afford the mortgage payments at a pinch but money is very tight then renting seems like a very sensible solution. It seems bonkers to be penny pinching while you have a house sitting empty.

[drspouse]

june I am doing just that in my name so DH can't say we don't have the money - putting in savings from supermarket shops, clothes I buy and return, Ebay vs new purchases.

Never it is really awkward to rent a house out while it's on the market (both from the POV of the renting - the tenants won't want to show viewers round all the time and they have the right not to move out - and from the POV of selling - people won't want a house they can't occupy for months and months). So, we've decided to give our new EA a few months and then sort out renting it around Christmas if no further luck.