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OMG, I am Rosie Millard without the houses, remind me how to budget please?

23 replies

WideWebWitch · 06/08/2006 16:54

Well, I've just added up some stuff and am mid analysing the latest bank statement and it has scared the life out of me. So, we need to budget and would appreciate a bit of advice please.

We're suffering from dh not working for 2 months while we paid full childcare for dd and some childcare for ds (he was looking and needed to be immediately available) plus moving house 3 months ago plus general extravagence, although ds at state school so we are not like that awful woman on other thread re school fees. We do have a cleaner and both work ft but I'm not losing her, though it is a very obvious £200/month saving but prepared to consider almost any other cost cutting measures. We're in rented so mortgage not relevant. Thanks for any suggestions.

OP posts:
colditz · 06/08/2006 17:03

WWW Was it you who had the outrageous holiday food list? If i am right here, may I perhaps venture the opinion that maybe your supermarket spending is creeping back up to 'outrageous' range again?

puff · 06/08/2006 17:07

Having added up what you are spending in different areas, which do you think need addressing?

I was shocked at the amount I was spending in places like Coffee Republic and on magazines each month, plus my grocery bill got ridiculous.

We also ditched sky - now have freeview, but bought one of those boxes like skyplus, which records favourite stuff, don't miss sky at all now.

look on moneysavingexpert.com for loads of tips.

Gobbledigook · 06/08/2006 17:16

Personally I'd dump the cleaner, save £200 a month (which could frankly be better spent on shoes!) and just do it myself. However, I do quite like cleaning.

If you really can't face that, I'd say the easiest and most effective way is to meal plan and cut back on your grocery list. I must admit, we are crap at this now and our spending has rocketed, must get back to it. If you meal plan on a Sunday night and compile a list of what you need, perhaps do it online so you are not tempted while walking up and down the aisles, you could save a fortune.

WideWebWitch · 06/08/2006 17:18

Colditz, twas me with the list total but, to be fair, it was a holiday list! But I am about to subtotal amount spent on 'food' which includes Tesco and M&S but not eating out. May post it to shock you. And me!

OP posts:
charliecat · 06/08/2006 17:19

Write everything down, think you may have already done this. then see what you can live without, magazines, direct debits for things that you cant even remeber etc..
Work out your money, leave what need to be left in the bank and a £100 float...or £5000 depending on what sort of cheque might be forgotten about.
Get out of the overdraft if you have one.
Pay off nay credit cards right away.
Whatevers left over have IN CASH divide by 4 if you are paid monthly.
Then dont spend ANY more than whats left.
Cant go wrong doing that

misdee · 06/08/2006 17:21

i'd dump the cleaner too. i have one, what cost me £10 a week, and am thinking of puttinh the cleaner on hold for a while.

WideWebWitch · 06/08/2006 17:22

GDG, I do do it online! Just added it up and it's a stupid amount of money on food tbh. And there's no time to clean, well, not in my book, I leave house at 7.55am and sometimes don't get back til 7.30. DH works ft too and doesn't get home until 6, having collected both children.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 06/08/2006 17:29

buy EVERYTHING w/cash.

ditch the cleaner and get the kids a rota - if they're old enough. they're cheaper than cleaners and there's no harm in their pitching in and helping out the family.

expatinscotland · 06/08/2006 17:30

we eat at home. always. get a takeaway once a month at payday as a treat.

puff · 06/08/2006 17:31

i do reckon it's prob your grocery bill www - last month I didn't keep an eye on mine, no stuff done for the freezer etc etc. It was bayyyyd.

puff · 06/08/2006 17:32

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puff · 06/08/2006 17:33

...what about credit cards/loans... there's stuff on moneysaving expert about how to get them down more quickly - snowballing

colditz · 06/08/2006 17:34

Buy some blutac, and everytime you buy something, stick the receipt to your fridge. It really does make you think if you know you may have to justify that purchase.

frogs · 06/08/2006 17:35

Have just done ours, so in full money-anorak mode:

(a) Get a notebook and write down everything you spend for a month.

(b) Do a spreadsheet with fixed expenditures (childcare/rent/bills/cleaner/travel etc).

Once you know where your discretionary spending under (a) is actually going, you can decide target amounts and fit it into your budget under (b).

The two best websites for this kind of thing are The Motley Fool (you need to register to read the discussion boards, where most of the good tips are) and Money saving expert , which will mail you a weekly newsletter with current tips, but has a lot of useful info on the site and the chat forums as well.

The sections of the boards on dealing with debts are particularly enlightening in terms of seeing other people put up lists of their expenditure and having it radically pruned by other contributors. Once you've worked out the amount that you need to spend each week, it can help to withdraw exactly that amount in cash on a fixed day each week, and make it last through the week.

Otherwise, just the obvious:

Check your phone/broadband/TV package -- there's a lot of extra competition atm. Telewest reduced our package by nearly half just because I asked;

Think about changing energy suppliers in a month or so once the current round of price changes has stabilised;

Check the timer settings for your hot water/heating. I've just shaved 2 hours a day off the hot water programme, and we still seem to have plenty.

Meal plan, and do food shopping in Lidl;

Don't buy kids' clothes new;

Plan for christmas and birthday presents well in advance, and stock up in TK Maxx etc so you don't get caught out by unexpected birthday parties. Ditto wrapping paper and birthday cards;

Once you get in the swing of it, just not spending money works pretty well. I find that while it's easy to persuade myself that we need particular things, if we just don't buy them, we seem to muddle along perfectly well without.

Gobbledigook · 06/08/2006 17:39

Hmm, I can imagine WWW - i'm just going to tot up my food spend for this month, not counting meals out.

I do keep a running total of what is spent on the credit card - it gets paid from our account automatically every month so we don't build up a debt, but I like to see how it's going so I know whether to hold back on something or whether I can just buy it.

Gobbledigook · 06/08/2006 17:43

Ok, I wish I hadn't done that. I'll join you in a challenge to keep this weeks food bill to £100!

SlightlyFamiliarPeachyClair · 06/08/2006 18:31

Does everyone do a monthly total then?

We live in oneof two phases: almost bankrupt and not too bad. That can be deduced purely from the figure on the top of the bank sattement, and is all I need (or want) to know.

HOWEVER I do keep to a tight budget of £70 per week for food for five of us.

Gobbledigook · 06/08/2006 18:39

Peachy, it's just that I keep a running total of our credit card so I have an idea of how big or small it is (it gets paid off monthly anyway) so I just went in and added up all my Tesco, Sainsburys and butchers bills! Twas not pretty.

FrayedKnot · 06/08/2006 18:39

Someone posted a very useful thing on a thread recently.

Pay x amount into an account from which all your bills inc. mortgage etc get paid. Include a budgeted amount for the bills you don;t pay every month, e.g. once a quarter. Include the cleaner, childcare fees etc..that way, you have no need to touch teh acocunt except to pay the designated things, and no chance of not having enough to pay them.

Put the rest of your available funds into anotehr account.

Split the amount for the month into weeks.

That is your budget for the week - now you have to stick to it. Including food shopping. If you need a new outfit, then you could e.g. choose to shop in Lidl. If you have coffee today, you won;t be able to ahve one tomorrow. Etc etc.

Everything becomes a trade off, which keeps your spending down. It does seem to be working for me atm. I am also listing every expenditure & cash withdrawal, as an extra measure.

SlightlyFamiliarPeachyClair · 06/08/2006 18:42

Similarly I used to pay £17 a week (this was when I was working obv!) into an account, that was 'my' money and OK to dip into for the extra's. That worked too- in fact it often built up.

Earlybird · 06/08/2006 18:53

Does your cleaner come every week? If so, why not cut her back to twice a month if you can't bear to lose her completely?

Also, silly as it is, I subscribe to the mags I want instead of buying them at the news agent. Little changes like that in different areas can make a big difference.

WideWebWitch · 07/08/2006 21:16

Thanks everyone. I am taking drastic action, went into Tesco briefly today and thought bloody hell, I'm not giving you any more money this month so only spent a fiver, including paints for the children. Wish me luck!

OP posts:
Expectantmum · 07/08/2006 21:32

Not sure if this would help but once me and DH get paid, I leave enough in the bank account to pay the mortgage, credit cards, loans, bills etc, I have a monthly food budget of 260 for the three of us, so I take that out of the account and leave at home and do not touch the account for the rest of the month.

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