Right! This is what I earn, tell me how to budget and save because I am a complete money disaster!

[Sortmeoot]

Ok here goes!

Between dh and I we have £2600 AFTER rent/council tax every month.

Out of this £2600 I have £600 direct debits (gas/elec/car/life home car ins etc) this leaves us with £2000.

I prob spend about £100 on petrol and the rest completely disappears! I am always up to my £1200 overdraft limit.

I HAVE NO SAVINGS!

Am fed up of living like this, we should be able to manage so much better than we do.

Starting wed (payday) it's all going to change.

I can't get better deals on my £600 direct debits and can't really decrease my petrol costs so what I would like advice on is

1/ how much should I be budgeting for food/clothes/birthdays every month

2/how do I go about decreasing the overdraft (I.e £100 a month or get rid before I start saving?)

3/ how much should I try and put away in savings every month?

There is dh and I and 3dc to feed, one still in nappies!

Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan.

Also I spend so little on clothes (I need a few suits a year, but apart from that my great charity shops are a godsend for me clothes, kids are supermarket clothes and hand-me-downs)

Supermarket own brand nappies and wipes...I can get 2 large packs of nappies and 6 packs wipes for £14.50! (asda)

I have started to use Aldi for cleaning stuff - their non-bio gel is less than half the price of Fairy and is accredited by GH!!! Loo roll and kitchen towel is also much cheaper there.

Live in a small village so do top up shops at the local (next village) co op....I just went in and got milk, muffins, bread rolls, bananas and coffee and it was £14!!!

Cant use UHT as ds1 wont drink it which is a shame as you can get a litre for 49p at Aldi!

Not buying premium brands really helps too!

Thanks for the tips everyone!

I'm taking all the advice on board.

Ideally I would like to clear the overdraft by dec then start saving £500 every month. Fingers crossed!

Loads of good ideas already. I would go mad without meal-planning. What really helps us keep on top of our income / expenditure is using a money-management programme (we use Microsoft Money) where you basically input all your spending and income each month and allocate categories, and then you can see exactly where your money is going, and how much it changes from month to month. DH sits down for half an hour or so at the end of each month and puts in all the figures (from our online bank statements). It's really helpful and means that you feel in control, rather than wondering where your money is going. And also means that you don't feel guilty about what you are spending as you know what you can / can't afford. Good luck!

I agree with everything everyone has said so far. MSE has a budget sheet:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning

that you may find useful as well.

I am a great fan of online food shopping because as it has been said before it is easier not to put in any "fancies" then.

I'd recommend you and DH do the following

1. Set up a standing order to put £200/month in a simple savings account with your bank to leave the day after you get paid. By doing it as a SO it will go automatically and you won't miss it so much. Keep £200 in the savings account for a 'rainy day' and use the rest to pay back the O/D. This sounds like a faff but once your O/D is paid off you will then have a healthy savings habit. Once the O/D is paid, increase the SO as appropriate and think about converting to a Cash ISA so that you get better interest and don't pay tax on the savings.
2. Only use your credit card(s) for petrol & groceries and set up a DD to pay the account off in full every month
3. Use cash for all other purchases as cash is harder to spend Decide on how much cash you each realistically need to spend per week, take only that amount from the cashpoint and agree between you not to go back to the cashpoint until a whole week has elapsed. If you get to day 5 and only have £10 left in your purse, it's amazing how reluctant you become to spend it.
4. You could budget £100-120/week for groceries and eat really well as a family. Planning ahead means you're less likely to be buying lunches out (take pack-ups) or takeaways at weekends. Cook from basic ingredients rather than relying on ready-made foods as it's cheaper.
5. Get to know car boot sales & charity shops as they are great for children's clothes. Limit yourself and DH to a few good quality basics and look after them
6. Also recommend Microsoft Money. Once set up with DDs and kept updated with receipts it becomes very easy to see where the money goes. The 'cashflow' function is very good and there is a debt management plan which could help you tackle your overdraft.

Good luck

I know there is a 'cashflow' advantage to using a credit card, but I much prefer to use a debit card, simply because you know that it is coming directly out of your account, and its very easy to keep tabs on spending.

cog How do you set up Microsoft money???

couldnt agree more about meal planning. We love good food and try to eat a healthy balanced diet and therefore only buy meat once a week (something that usually lasts for two days). So buy an organic chicken or piece of meat and first day have roast with vegetables one day and make something else out of it for second day (curry, mix with roast vegetables and serve with rice etc). We have fresh fish on fridays. Other days we have a pasta day (with salad and a veggie sauce but use quorn or mushrooms), an egg and/or cheese-based meal (cauliflower cheese or grilled halloumi with roast vegetables and cous cous, or a frittata or veggie quiche). we use quorn mince to make a mince meal, e.g. chilli (serve with rice, guacamole) or shepherds' pie, spag bol, etc. Then we have a tinned fish meal e.g. tuna and broccoli pasta bake or salmon fishcakes or tuna chilli. We sometimes have veggie pizza with salad (shop bought or make our own using wraps). We do love wine though so buy these 3 for £10 at asda which is a real bargain and NEVER do a local shop apart from milk and eggs. No exceptions to this rule at ALL. good luck! we dont have puddings but do have fruit and cheese.
We eat out very rarely and never just "go shopping" to browse around. We only go into town to shop when we know there is something we need and make a specific journey there to do it (furniture, shoes, etc).

good luck you should easily get there!!

I really think you need to start with the £700 you're spending at Tesco each month - I'm being cruel to be kind (hopefully) but that's an ridiculous enormous amount to be spending for 5 people even allowing for nappies.

Are you able to break it down to find out where its all going?

If you're not already could you trade down brands - Martyn Lewis has a lot of good ideas about that on MSE.

I'd agree about writing everything down as it will be much easier to cut back once you know exactly where every penniy is going. And generally it will make you think twice before you spend as well which in itself will help with saving.

Keep posting and hopefully you'll be sucessful very quickly

Right, me and DP have £2450 after tax and pension payments etc each month. We spend £1400 on rent and direct debits and food each month, and a further £330 on travel to and from work.
The rest, about £300 each, ends up spent on clothes and socialising (which is horribly expensive!). I have to write everything down and work out how much I have each day. It is usually £10, so if it is the first day after pay day, I can't go out and get £20 makeup until the 2nd day iyswim? If I know I am going out at the weekend I don't spend anything during the week so I have £50 for travel, meal drinks etc.
Hope that helps!

Just to add, to make meal planning easier, could you do online shopping. I found if I sit one evening, with recipe books, look at what's on offer and then plan round that - even allowing for delivery charges I've saved a lot doing that. It's also easier to keep a running total of what you're spending, then when it goes over budget, you can go back on the list, change a meal and work it again.

For clothes etc, plan for what your DCs will need for each season, make a list and start buying early in sales/buy next size up, but just get off that list, don't 'graze' shop for clothes for DCs, I found that by being roughless with what DS actually needs, I stopped myself saying "oh, this jumper in Tescos is only £6" and buying another in the weekly shop, I know he's got everything he needs for Autumn, I will need to buy him a new coat for winter, but that's it.

For yourself/DH, look at your wardrobes for winter now, will you need any new items before Christmas? If not, clothes/voucher request for christmas to cut down on your spending.

Finally, budget for treats for everyone! I put aside £50 a month for myself, £20 a month for DS. If I want something like a new skirt or shoes, it's got to come out of that, or save so I can spend more the following month, similarly, DS can have a toy from that budget, but nothing else. (It's stops the 'only a tenner' here and there and before you know it, you've spent £100)

are you looking at the quantity of food, as well?

Are you or DH overweight? (sorry if that sounds blunt or a bit rude!). If so it's perfect opportunity for you to cut down and get healthy. I would find it hard to spend £700 a month on food and drink, I think, unless I were buying lots of very top-end luxury/gourmet food and wine.

I am overweight but not massively so, I do loads of excersise though and my £50 per month gym membership (with crèche included for baby) in my one luxury that I won't give up.

It keeps us busy 5 times a week when otherwise we might be tempted to the shops and spend more on rubbish and I get in free for a weekend family swim.

I need to look at my gas/elec as I have not switched them for ages but other than that the £600 is pretty set in stone.

I'm going to be brutal with the meal planning from tomorrow onwards, Was going to try online shopping with tesco but there prices seem to have risen so much lately.

I did a top up shop at Morrisons on sun and seemed to get a lot more for my money, esp fruit/veg so going to try doing my big shop there this week.

Dh is also bad for taking money out the cashpoint then giving the change to the kids who either lose it or spend it on rubbish so he is going to take out his "pocket money" on a Monday then make it last all week.

That will make it easier for me to keep tabs on everything.

I would second the posters who recommended a standing order for savings. Do you ever go over your overdraft limit? If not you sound a bit like me - I will spend however much is in my current account over the course of the month (though no overdraft), whether it is £50, £500 or £5000! (Sadly, it is never and is never likely to be £5000...) I find I budget pretty well with whatever I've got, whether that's normal, less than normal or more than normal. So what I do is have standing orders for savings (that I tweak every now and then depending on how we're doing) which means that if the money's not in my current account, I won't spend it. Technically there's nothing stopping me getting money out of my savings whenever I like but in the same way that I have 'mental permission' to spend whatever's in my current account I have a personal 'mental rule' against spending any savings (apart from on whatever it's been saved for, obviously!). So I never touch them. You might find that if you took £500 out of your current account and put it in your savings you'd just cope automatically on less spending money.

But also agree that you should definitely clear the overdraft/any credit cards etc first.

Sorry that's a bit waffly.

Yes that is exactly me, I never go over my limit but at the same time any money has to be spent right away!

Payday is shopping day whether we need it or not. I really really have to break this habit.

I am also a bit of a control freak though so I think if I started writing every thing Down and saving that would become my new obsession rather than spending :)

Internet shopping is great because it means no impulse buys.

The problem with going to the big hypermarkets is that you don't just buy your groceries, you end up with clothes, DVDs, a new bathmat etc. Loads of stuff you just didn't need.

There are 5 of us, and we spend about 450 a month on groceries and we eat well. DH is a total carnivore so lots of meat, and we eat loads of fruit and veg.

Don't get too much cash out of the machine 'just in case' as once you've broken a tenner it's gone. Get cash as needed, or not at all and put everything on a debit or credit card (as long as you pay it off in full each month) so you can keep track of your spending.

Microsoft Money.... sadly it's an application that is no longer getting MS support. It's often already installed but can be downloaded free by following the links here I've been looking at replacement software packages but haven't found anything I like yet.

I am very disciplined with my food shopping and £90 pw feeds 2 adults and 2 large teenagers and our rescue Staffie very well. I draw out the money in cash each week and keep it in a separate purse and do one big shop of £70 and a top up of £20. I start out in Lidl to buy jam, bread, cheese, celery and some other fruit and veg and all our toileteries - saving about £5 a week over Tesco prices. I move on to Tesco for the main shop. I always buy special offers on toilet rolls, diswasher tabelts etc. to keep up stocks, but only bother with the BOGOFs etc if I really need them. The 3 for £5 on Quorn mince and pieces is a great offer that has been going for ages.

I do my top up shopping at Sainsburys to get full advantage of a third set of offers. I always make sure I'm really well stocked up with basics like Tuna and tinned tomatoes and beans by taking advantage of offers when they come up. I might very occasionaly need an extra carton of milk but at the end of te week we make do with whatever is left over, and I make veg curries or pasta sauce to ensure everything is finsihed off before I go shopping again.

We are not hard up, and have more than the OP left over after necessities.
I am very aware that it is possible to spend spend spend on food these days and that it would be really easy to spend over £200 a week if I didn't have a plan and a budget and stick to it. Between us we save about £600 per month and a large of this is down to being very careful indeed with food spending.

Eating and drinking out is also very expensive so I usually take a picnic if we go out for the day - more fun too.

How much food do you toss out? Do you eat up all the leftovers? How bursting are your food cupboards? When you meal plan, go thru the cupboards first and use that stuff up first before buying anything, as much as possible.

I know some people find Tesco good value, but since I have started shopping elsewhere i have reduced my shopping bill considerably. Morrisons is incredibly good value, although occasionally they don't stock the items i really want (usually chorizo, which is brilliant for adding 'meatiness' to recipes like risottos and pasta and a little goes a long way). Sainsbury's basics range is mostly excellent and generally i find the store better value than Tesco. Aldi also have some great bargains. TBH it doesn't seem to matter where i go, aslong as i avoid Tesco i seem to spend less money.

Good luck, I am on the same journey!!

I know it sounds nuts because they're so expensive usually but Waitrose essentials range is a) much, much nicer than other supermarkets' cheap ranges and b) very good value. Also, they don't charge for online shopping delivery (unlike Tesco which I think charges about a fiver) and will deliver to your kitchen, so if you're clever with what you buy you can save on petrol too.

Pippaandpolly - Waitrose 77p for tin of Essentials red kidney beans, Tesco value 18p!!

I didn't say they were the cheapest-just nicer and good value compared to branded products! E.g. Tesco value dried pasta tastes (to me) like cardboard while Waitrose stuff is indistinguishable from branded. Cost isn't our only reason for buying though-I'm sure we could knock hundreds off our monthly shops if we wanted to but we're lucky enough to be in a position where we can buy better quality where we want to. I would never buy cheap meat for instance. But this thread wasn't about finding the cheapest options, it was about spending within your means, which we do!