Can you please check my budget?

[TheresLotsOfFarmyardAnimals]

We're buying a house and just want to check that I haven't forgotten much;

IN - 3,430
OUT
Mortgage - 783
Council Tax - 136 (10 months)
Mobiles *2 - 45
Contact Lenses - 18
Food - 300
Petrol (commuting and usual journeys) - 200
Car Finance *2 - 326
Car Insurance *2 - 56
TV, Internet & landline - 85
Phone insurance, breakdown, travel insurance - 15
Gas/Water/Elec - 100
Loan - 234
Buldings Insurance - 30
Life Cover - 40

TOTAL - 2,368

If we then save 150 a month this should leave 912 to cover;

Any socialising
Clothes
Holidays (if we can afford them)

What am I missing?

Thank you!

Home contents cover?

Boiler cover?

Food off your last list obviously

I put food in the first bit - 300/month. This usually covers smellies and cleaning products too.

Thank you!

Sorry, didn't see the food bit.

You've got plenty of cash for savings and ISA though. We've got about what you've got coming in and our mortgage is more than double yours.

Tell that to my DH, he's a champion fritterer

I think we should be okay, just want a bit of wiggle room.

car fixes
car tax
contents insurance

and £100 a month for all fuel bills including water is very cheap.

as you probably realise, there are some things on there that you shouldn't do again - car finance and loan leap out. I'd forget the holidays until that loan is cleared.

What about kids clubs, socialising etc? Also haircuts, gym membership or clubs for adults?

With that amount of excess cash I'd try to save more than £150.

No credit cards etc?

Thanks, maybe put a bit more aside for car expenses and I realise contents insurance and tv license too.

Dh pays subs so thats £7/wk and no other gym stuff.

All loans and cars will be paid off in 3.5 years but I imagine that the older car will probably blow up then. Ds will also gain hobbies... He's too young for any of that now.

Thank you for your input. Have improved our situation quite a lot and want to carry on getting into the black (ignoring the big 25 yr debt we're signing up for)

try this....

www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Child care?

Pension
MOT and car servicing
Save more towards new washing machine, boiler, decorating and general maintenance
Take the 'savings' money out first, not at the end of the month. We set up a standing order just after payday to a regular saver with a higher interest rate.

Is the council tax figure confirmed? I have a very small property in Band B and annual council tax is just under £1300.

Is the house freehold? If not, then there will be ground rent.
If the house is on an estate, there may be maintenance charges from land management/residents association.

House costs contingency: for things like fixing windows, roof, tree pruning / other gardening, plumbing.

Moving in costs: such as curtains, light fittings, activation/advance fees for services like phone/broadband/gas/elec. fitting appliances like washing machine, dishwasher.

Do not underestimate the cost of heating a house. You 100 figure for gas/elec/water may be rather conservative.

New carpet fund... Property may have carpets but will you replace them at some point?

What kind of house are you in? 100 a month for gas and elec and water seems a bit optimistic if you are in, say, a 3 bed semi or bigger. Ours is 140 for just has and elec and we're at work/school most of every day.

Also your food bill seems low which is good, but prepare it to rise massively as your children develop adult size appetites. At the grand old age of about 9.

We have a separate bank account just for car stuff: tax, MOT, tyres and repairs.Put on about 50 a month so when the big repairs come round it's not too much of a shock. We also save 150 in a savings account that is only for emergencies. Used it to buy a newer (used) car when someone crashed into our old one - whilst the insurance did pay out, they only pay out for a car of the same are and we struggled to find the same high spec of our old car because it was quite old, so we decided to put the insurance money towards cost of a newer one and top up with savings.

Our emergency savings is also for unforeseen housing maintenance costs too.

Open a separate savings account for holidays so it's easier to separate from the rest of your outgoings. It's nice to see it building up and know that your holiday balance will be all sitting there when the reminder bill comes in 8 weeks before you're due to go.

Meant to explain that if you start saving NOW into savings pot that you agree not to touch except in an emergency then you may find that you have enough money in it to pay for a car outright a few years down the line when your old banger needs replacing. We have never used car finance (but then again we go for second hand cars of reliable makes, not flash brand new ones that don't have a reliability factor)

Oh, and there is ALWAYS something in a house that needs replacing or painting etc. Even if you paint the whole house when you move in in a couple of years with kids in the house it will look grubby and need doing again. Carpets get spillages, appliances go kaput, gutters or roof needs fixing, kids grow older and no longer want all Thomas the Tank Engine themed bedroom, blah blah. Hidden regular (ish) costs that you need to factor in to yearly spending.

TV Licence

Contents insurance

Childcare?

Children's activities?

Perhaps you are childless, it is not clear from your op.

What about if interest rates rise to 3% (as is expected)?

I agree about gas/electricity. £100 plus water may be nearer the mark. On the other hand, when did you last shop around for life insurance? Unless you're chain-smoking, base-jumping bomb-disposal experts, you can get plenty of cover for less than half of that. Bear in mind that joint policies can be way more expensive than individual cover.

I think that £912 fun money and no retirement savings would be completely insane... Or have you knocked employers pension schemes off the incoming total?

We put money away for car tax, car repairs, holidays and emergencies at the beginning of the month. Might be something worth thinking about if you've got quite a bit left over.

Oh, and birthdays and Christmas too.