Please, look at my budget. What, if anything, can I do?

[SeraphinaR]

NC.

Been going through my monthly budget and things aren't looking great.

Mortgage, Ins, Maintenance, etc. £1071

Electric, Gas, Water, Council Tax £278

Cars £96

TV, Broadband and Phones £100

Total is £1545

Then there's

Food £500
Fuel £250
Nursery Fees are either £292 or £363

All together that's £2658 using the highest Nursery fees figure, without any savings for Birthdays, Christmases, Clothing, Emegencies, etc.

Our joint income is £2600. Occasionally DH might earn slightly more if he gets a small efficiency related bonus but it can't be relied upon but some months it would seem we may be -58 short if DH makes no bonus and we have the higher month of Nursery fees.

I'm going to look into a second job. It isn't a route I wanted to go down but things just aren't comfortable as it is.

Any suggestions?

First of all, no work is unskilled work. That's an awful phrase, I wish it was banned. Even if you just fold clothes in a shop or clean an office, you have skills and you should be proud of being good at your job and enjoying it. You just have to think, though, are the other things you describe - no holidays, no new clothes, etc. etc. - is that how you want the rest of your life to be? Because you're not going to wake up one day to find that it's all just sorted itself out -savings, retirement, a comfortable old age - and you're not going to get to that point just by figuring out a way of spending £20/less per week on groceries. Your partner may be able to scrape together more money from working on cars, or you might, from an evening job, but that's less time with your family and, again, not a magic solution to your problems. Why not make more money in the time you're working anyway?

My highest-paid jobs were not, overall, more stressful than my lowest-paid jobs were. Work is easier now, and way more flexible. Obviously you need to do what makes you happy but don't discount the idea of improving your career just because the job you have now is pleasant. There are probably lots of other pleasant jobs that pay more.

Why don't you start doing matched betting? I started 2 years ago and make on average £500 per month. It's tax free and a really fun hobby. Have a look at OddsMonkey or Team Profit and there's a thread on here too.

You say your employer wants you to work 3 days not two. Can you negotiate? Working from home 1 day? (so no extra fuel costs travelling? and maybe work evenings so no extra childcare costs? Or condense extra hours into your current working days s, say start at 7 rather than 9, finish at 6 rather than 5 gives 6 extra hours? Or working 2 evenings a week at home?

@Snuffalo that's very true. Of course I don't want to loose the time I have with my family by having to work evenings and weekends, trying to hold down two jobs to get by, etc. With no future prospects in regards to savings, pensions. I look at the job sites daily but never seem to see anything I'm qualified or experienced enough to do. Certainly nothing that pays more than what I earn now.

There is a company called Utility Warehouse. My friend works for them. They can consolidate your gas and elec costs, and insurances, TV subscription channels, broaband and mobile phone costs. The more items you add into the bundle the cheaper it becomes. It's free to get an estimate. It would have saved me money but my homelife is probably about to change and I want to be able to switch and possibly drop the TV package entirely. Definitely worth looking into.

Also try the cheaper supermarkets. Aldi and Lidl are very cost effective. Their food is equal or better than the Tesco and Sainsburys items.

Good luck.

@FreckledLeopard would love to do something like that but I'm abysmal with numbers. Is it still for me?

how old are his children/when will child maintenance end?

@Ariela unfortunately not but that would have been a good solution otherwise. I have a customer facing, receptionist type role that can't really be done from home. It's office hours 8-5 so the job can't really done outside of those hours either

@JoanMavisIcecreamGirl eldest is 15 youngest is only 9

I mean this kindly OP but the reality is that raising 5 kids on one and a bit low income jobs is always going to be a stretch. It's important to distinguish what is actually a necessity and what's a luxury.

A massive food budget, two cars - one of them excessively uneconomical, two smartphones, netflix etc are all choices you are making at the expense of other things. Sometimes it just isn't possible to have it all and like the rest of us, it's about choosing what's most important.

On another note, if your husband's job offer is closer to home even if it's not as well paid, would it balance out with the money that would be saved in car related costs and work/life balance?

Keep boxes of crisps and treat out to F the way,. So you have to go to the shed or garage to get them,. Just that extra effort stops you from binging,. I keep mine was n the carboot, great when we go out for the day. As snacks can knock you for £10.
Set you food budget as £70 a week and plan meals as you buy food,. Not just random buying. .Iceland's are such good value as well . They deliver for free if you shop in store.

@SeraphinaR I don't see why not. All the tools are there for you on the websites. My friend who is seriously dyslexic started three months ago and is making a fortune (she does it full time).

I did the 'start with £100' guide on Team Profit and it's so much fun!

On cars, I know you said you looked at the economy of using a taxi rather than your car, and appreciate you can't drive your DHs car. Does that mean you looked at the relative cost of what you're doing now vs your DH driving your car and you taking a taxi, or just the cost of a taxi vs your car. Because it's the former calculation that matters.

If it's still more expensive, is public transport from DDs nursery possible? So you take a taxi to drop her off, and then public transport to work from there?

@StrippingTheVelvet @StrippingTheVelvet Yes, I know, you're right.

The food budget needs to be addressed for definite. I think this is largely my fault too. If my DH was in charge of the food budget it was probably be 200 odd pounds less, maybe more. I had a thread running recently under a NC that had a bit more detail about my awful eating habits.

The two cars is a tricky one. We survived for three years with just DH's car. We did work for the same company so it was a lot easier. A family member actually bought my car for me as a gift. With my new job and DD to look after they wanted me to be more self sufficient and independent. They'd be really hurt if I now only a few months later got rid of the car. Transport links aren't great here either. Not terrible but not great.

The Netflix is obviously a luxury that we can rid but it's easy to justify when you think of it like, 'it's only a tenner a month,' we have no other luxuries, etc.

The smart phones, DH got his on contract a year and a half ago. Bad decision not just to keep his old phone and do a sim only or pay as you go but I can't do anything about that until the contract ends. My phone is owned outright, a birthday present. So I have a sim only contract which I'll look to reduce to the bare minimum in a few weeks as the current contract ends this month.

His job offer was closer to home but it was significantly less money for more hours and didn't counteract fuel costs.

op you keep missing the question about childcare!

And about why he can't use your car 3 days a week

@TheBossofMe it was DH keeping his car and me getting a taxi that worked out marginally more expensive than me just driving my car. But DH getting rid of his car and having mine whilst I get a taxi wouldn't work because my car doesn't have enough seats for his kids so he cant axe his car sadly

Can’t you claim back some of the childcare via benefits?

I absolutely understand that your food shop is a way of feeling like you're able to have something nice but try thinking of it as it's taking away you all being able to have nice things because you're spending more than you need to on food.

We budget £400 per month for a family of 4 to include all cleaning and toiletries etc so I think you could definitely spend less. If you could budget £300 that would give you £200+ for nice things.

I like online food shopping because I'm able to stick to a budget. We have a delivery pass which costs £6 per month. I budget £100 per week but anything under that I put the excess to one side and it pays for a meal out or a cinema trip so is an incentive to be frugal with the food shop but we don't feel like we're missing out. We still buy nice food we just buy what we need. Meal planning is a must.

sorry for missing questions!

I did say earlier down the thread that I hadn't thought of DH using my car the days I'm not working but I acknowledged that it was a good idea and we will definitely start doing that as it will make some savings on fuel if hes using his car three days less a week. Mine is much better on fuel.

Un, the child care? We dont get vouchers or anything. I set up his nursery fees to come out as a direct debit and then a week later got a letter informing me about tax free childcare which I assumed was too late to do now I'd set up a direct debit with the nursery

Why does he need a car for his kids? I get that public transport is shit where you are? But, bar Netflix and making some savings on utilities, that's where your big budget problem is. Where is he taking them that they need a car for all of them to go at once? Or is it pick-up/drop-off from their other home?

@WhoKnewBeefStew I've done the various benefits calculators and all say I'm not entitled to anything

Don't you get any benefits/tax credits? Surely you must be entitled to them. Check here:

www.entitledto.co.uk

I haven't read all of the other comments so I'm not sure if it's said already but are you claiming working tax credits? You may be entitled to some help.

We also live to a right budget and have Netflix purely because we don't go out!

Sorry, cross post. How much is your income?