Use my overdraft every month. How can I get into the black?

[BG2015]

I earn a good salary. Single mum with 2 teenage boys.

I've sourced the best/cheapest utilities I can. We don't have sky, shop in Aldi and cook most meals from scratch.No debt apart from my car loan and paying back my parents each month. I'm overpaying my mortgage by £40 a month and I try to save £100 a month (more if I'm saving for something in particular)

I have a spreadsheet going which tells me I have about £650 left each month to pay for food, petrol, going out etc

It never lasts and I constantly dip into my overdraft. It costs me £17 a month in charges and it annoys me so much.

I would love to build up a credit in my account to act as a buffer. Any ideas?

I've tried withdrawing a set amount each week - it didn't work!

I'm in the process of moving to First Direct and determined to make a fresh start. I'm consciously aware of the money in my purse and trying to think before I buy.

Write down every penny you spend then compare to what you're putting in the budget, something's missing.

I second using You Need A Budget . It is amazing, once you get your head around it! You can set up a free 34 day trial. it will REALLY make you think about where your money is being spent. There are loads of free classes too and one of the main aims is to reduce debt and to stop living paycheck to paycheck by building a buffer.I am halfway through my free trial and it has made a HUGE difference already!
Before that I was using a very simple App called "spending tracker" which was also good. Basically, as name suggests, you log all your spending for the month and your income. You can set up categories such as groceries, clothes, petrol etc Then as you go on it produces a pie chart or bar graph which shows you how much you are spending in certain categories. Made me stop and think a bit more and was the first step in figuring out exactly where my money went each month!

I've got an excel spreadsheet that I use to track all my bills on my laptop and I know exactly how much I have coming in and going out. I also use an app called Money Dashboard which is really good.

I'm always £400 or so overdrawn by the end of the month, I don't spend it on silly stuff it's just life, money for school trips, extras you don't account for.

Once I get into the black and build up a buffer I can budget more carefully for stuff. First I need to get the overdraft down!

Amazon are usually pricey! If you've got poundland, b and m, wilkinson, home bargains then use those.

Depends what you're buying. If you want a certain book for a topic at school, Amazon are pretty cheap if you buy a used one. I paid as little as £1 for some books.

I'm a teacher and I often supplement my classroom with stuff I have to buy myself. I try not to but sometimes I have to. I often need a particular book you can only buy from a bookshop so Amazon is the cheapest way other than paying £6.99 from Waterstones!

I've been reading MSE and getting some ideas but and I don't buy coffee, sandwiches, newspapers or magazines. I don't buy CD's or DVD's. I don't smoke. My only vice is a bottle of wine at the weekend.

My 2 teenagers are the ones who bleed me dry. I have kids that eat half a melon, 2 bananas and some strawberries as a snack.

Doh....I didnt think of second hand books!

The kids need to learn that out of season exotic fruit isn't going to be available. Tell them to make some sandwiches.

Frozen fruit is a fair bit cheaper.

You need to look at those super cheap eating websites, find out what are the cheapest filling snacks and ensure that is all you have in! Sometimes I think it's cheaper to buy what you need each day because they can't get through a weeks worth of shopping in 2.5 days (and I only have girls and still know this issue!)

I've started hiding some food and then bringing it out mid week. My DC16 has finished school now so his friends are at our a house often, that doesn't help as they dip into my biscuit barrell.

I don't want to be the type of mum that won't even give a kid a biscuit, I just leave the cheap ones out!

I would write up a list of filling cheap snacks and leave it out and remind them e.g. Pasta with a bit of cheap sauce and so on!!! If they have to go to the effort of making a snack at least they really were hungry