Can you critique my budget?

[tomatopineapple]

Suddenly found myself unexpectedly single. Please can anyone review and critique my budget? I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet.

Mortgage £401
Help to buy loan £45
Council tax £102
Water £32
Internet £35
Gas & electric £75
Tv licence £15
Window cleaner £10
Service charge mgmt co £25
Home insurance £15
Dog food £40
Dog walker £250
My phone £19
DS phone £23
Life insurance £23
Club subs £18
Pocket money £60
School dinners £40
Car insurance £50
Car tax £20
Fuel £120
Car loan £180
Credit card £50
Groceries £160
£1718

Going to cancel:
£20 postcode lottery
£100 ISA stocks & shares

Take home £1620
Salary deductions at present:
Paying £300 pcm into pension - will reduce this to £150, increasing my pay by approx £100
Paying £150 into childcare vouchers - can reduce this to £70, increasing my pay by approx £60
Paying £400 into work saving scheme (this will make me more money so would like to continue)

Total take home:
Salary £1780
Maintenance £175
Child Ben £90
Total in £2045
Total out £1718

Make sure your budget amounts are truly monthly and not 4-weekly. Easy to underestimate.

I'm really sad to see so many people dismissing the dog walker.

Your dog i a living being entirely dependant on you and of course it needs to be looked after properly!!! A big lab needs a walk every day. Fun stop. And you are one hundred percent doing the right thing in paying for that.

Properly looking after a dog is expensive. End of. The answer is not to stop properly looking after your dog!! I applaud you for properly looking after the pup!

What's the £50 credit card for?

@FFSFFSFFS thank you.

The £50 credit card relates to an £800 balance (0%) for a new washer dryer.

If you posted on the Doghouse that you wanted to save money by stopping getting a dog walker even though you would find it difficult to walk DDog you would get SLAUGHTERED!!

Good lord and someone said that you should give your dog away.

Cripes.

Go give the pup a big sloppy lab hug and feel very pleased with yourself for being what is sadly unusual - a good dog owner.

I actually think you look like you're doing very well on your budget!

OP you might want to think about pet insurance

If your lovely lab comes a cropper that won’t be cheap

I personally could not countenance paying £250 for dog walking. Could you not do some sort of reciprocal arrangement with a friend

@JoyceTempleSavage - but she doesn't have time to walk her dog properly - so when is she supposed to reciprocate??

The OP doesn't have the time to properly exercise her dog. Its very unreasonable to ask someone reliably to do it every day of the week for free. So is being reasonable and paying someone to do it - and actually not really paying them very much if its 5 days a week!

Sorry to hear about your partner.

I would halve your pension and your saving. I really would.

Give your son a packed lunch. And halve the pocket money. The phones are pricey but I don't know what you can do if you're locked into a contract.

Also you're being ripped off on life insurance!!

Are you sure you have no extra spends like coffees out etc?

RE life insurance - unless you have a serious illness already.

she doesn't have time to walk her dog properly - so when is she supposed to reciprocate

Weekends? Evenings?

Doesn’t have to be every day. For each weekday she doesn’t pay dog walker she presumably saves £50 a month

Re life insurance I'm deemed high risk for cervical cancer I think due to previous CIN and have paid for cover which will pay out in the event of cervical cancer and breast cancer - not all policies do. It is also a fixed premium til the end of the term. It would be totally irresponsible of me to cancel my cover when I have a DS who is dependant on me.

Dog walker has advised they will do a discount if I pay monthly in advance rather than weekly so that will help.

I think it's just getting through til the end of this savings contract which will be hard. Then I'll have the savings to pay off my car loan so that will make me £580 a month "better off".

This is unhelpfully a suggestion for an additional cost - but do you also have income protection insurance?

Lots of people have life insurance but not many have income protection. But there is the risk that you will become ill/have an accident and not be able to work but obviously not get a life insurance payout.

Sorry op - I didn't think you might have a reason for life insurance to be 'more' expensive. Obviously it is essential.

@christmaschristmaschristmas no it's fine, it was a valid point and I asked for critique!

You were asked about the DLA? I receive it for my son who has ASD.

Car insurance sounds quite a lot. Can you shop around for cheaper insurance and/or consider downsizing the car which would lower insurance?

Your life insurance sounds cheap to me! Ours, which is from the bank where we have our mortgage, and will pay off the mortgage if DH dies and half the mortgage if I die, is over 200 a month 😱. Time for us to shop around I think!

Yes your car insurance is high, more than double what I and most if my friends pay - have a shop around. Food costs seem low.

Do you need 20GB of data? Could you go down to 10GB?

You have a lot of debt so things will be hugely easier once that is paid off.

You're all right, my car insurance is wrong thanks to my bad maths! I paid £400 ish up front last year. So monthly it's about £33.34. I haven't managed to save to pay annually this year though.

Water bill looks high for if you're on a meter but... I have a septic tank so only pay water supply, nine is approx £140 a year. I accept I could be wrong. Then we pay as and when for pump outs

I'd be cutting the dog walker
Reducing window cleaning
Ask dad to do pocket money
And perhaps childminding?

It would be reasonable for you to ask at any rate.

I'd try not to cut your savings too much if at all possible

You could cut the window cleaner, dog walker and school dinner money. Can your son take sandwiches?
The other obvious one is the work saving scheme. Can.you just stop that? Surely you need the money now in your pay instead?
Apply for tax credits they can only say no and you could apply for DLA for your son?

Do not auto renew any new bill or insurance, always use comparison sites to get cheaper deals. Stop window cleaner. I don't see any car break down cover like AA or RAC ? Use comparison websites to change electricity/gas supplier and car and house insurance. Pocket money seems high ! No child maintenance at all from your ex ? Put in claim via CSA don't guess or assume what they earn !