Help me figure out where my money goes!

[Meyouandbabytoo]

Please can anyone give any ideas?

So I've looked through my outgoings, and as a household we should have around £1000 left every month after bills and shopping etc.

But I'm skint, we've literally got about £100 left until payday in just under 2 weeks.
I dont understand where all my money is going! I must just be buying rubbish all the time but I don't feel like I am.

Any ideas on not spending that spare money? How do you all save instead of spend? I'd like a holiday, which means I need to stop wasting my money.

Chances are you are not listing all of your outgoings across the year

• car tax
• water bills
• the oddity ones

and you are underestimating the amount that goes on things like coffees.

On the spreadsheets thread (I'll bump it for you) is a budget sheet you can download and play with

also, for the next two month, buy NOTHING in cash. Do everything on your bank card
as then you'll have an audit trail of where every penny goes

Keep a really strict record - opens your eyes! I've done it for the past three months - it was actual madness to start around Christmas, but it has made things clearer.

Pay your savings first, so on payday transfer out your savings like a bill and leave the rest to spend. Also keep a spending diary and a running total of all spends.

There are apps to help.
Ynab and others.
Starling bank keeps it all for you in a handy app based bank account.

we are exactly the same - we should have more than enough to live off 9 2 wages., no mortgage) but are having to dip into savings when we shouldn't need to !

Get a notebook, for two weeks or a month, note down absolutely everything that you spend, however small.
When you check and break down the notebook information it will help you discover where your money is going.

Once you know how you are spending your money, you can work out where and how you can make savings.

Get a Monzo card and transfer your wage and use it for a month - it tells me exactly where all of my money goes (I lose a surprising amount of money at Tesco on top ups and work vending machines

How do you pay for day to day items - cash or card? If it's card, chances are you can download the transactions into a spreadsheet and they are all categorised so you can sort them into categories and see what you are spending on shopping, restaurants, etc.

Look at coffee and lunches out of the house and other forms of eating out. That's a huge way to spend a lot in little amounts. It might only be a few quid a day, but that can add up to hundreds of pounds a month. Also see if there are any direct debits going out of your account for things you don't use.

YY to annual expenses, if you have a car you need money for insurance, MOT, repairs, tax, breakdown cover, so this could be at least £50 a month, averaged over the year. Also need to account for Christmas, insurance, white goods replacements etc.

Moneysaving expert is very good for this sort of thing.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning/

Also are you paying interest on overdrafts or credit cards? Money down the drain if you have disposable income and should be able to stay in the black.

You say 'we', so how much is your partner spending? The whole household needs to look at this, as one person's spending could quite easily undo a more frugal partner's good work.

Keep records - it's amazing how much you spend on tiny things. I also started drawing out £50 and when it's gone it's gone no more coffees, lunch, etc

On payday put the £1000 into a savings account

Put your debit & credit cards in the freezer

Draw out £50 cash and keep all your receipts for the week in your 👛

You’ll soon find out where your money goes

Me and dh put a set amount each into the joint account, which covers all household bills, food shopping and maybe a takeaway a month or so.

We alternate using our own accounts if we want anything extra like a meal out or something.

My maternity leave ended middle of the month and I'm on annual leave now, so I should get a bit extra in my wage this month. The extra is going straight into savings, and I'm going to be a lot more strict with myself on food shopping etc. (Not buying things unless i know I'll use them and that kind of thing).

My husband spends a lot more than me, and I would consider him to "waste" money rather than spending it.
He's now got a thermos to take to work instead of buying a coffee every day.
I added up his coffees and lunches, and he's spending a tenner a day which is just ridiculous.

Put money into savings as soon as you get paid . £10 a day of unnecessary spending at work is a lot . Flask and taking in sandwiches from now on .

Have you gone through your bank statements, and do you use cash?

I’d second the Monzo account. It’s been really interesting to see where I’m spending money. And I’ve saved loads as a result.