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Original poster

I have just added up all my direct debits and it comes to nearly 5k a month!

225 replies

LaurieFairyCake · 01/08/2019 10:11

I cannot believe it's so high! No wonder my disposable income is so small. £4667 a month!

I've included all fixed costs that I can't do anything about (but NOT petrol and commuting costs which I also can't do much about, or food which is about £600 a month)

It wasn't as bad as this a few months ago but that bloody HMRC thing where they now make self employed people (who earn more than £1000 a year profit) pay on account - actually in ADVANCE of earnings has totally fucked me! Why the hell am I paying tax on money I've not even earned yet!

I'm looking through them and there's not much I can do anything about unless I want to not have my house insured or dogs insured.

OP posts:

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 02/08/2019 10:11

MN at it's finest, woman earning over 5k a month is slated for having the nerve to earn more than other people.

user1483387154 · 02/08/2019 10:20

it's not how much they earn. it's the fact they could easily cut back to save money. but are moaning about how little disposable income they have.

Good on them for having a successful and lucrative job, but seriously their money stress is due to unnecessary spending and not financial troubles.

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 02/08/2019 11:16

it's not how much they earn. it's the fact they could easily cut back to save money. but are moaning about how little disposable income they have.

That's not the impression I get from the first few replies to the OP; and then scattered throughout. There is a lot of sneering based on the fact OP has a high income.

(Although of course there are several genuinely helpful replies too)

margotsdevil · 02/08/2019 11:35

If you're so tight for cash then I'd say a £1000 holiday is a luxury you can't afford anyway, sorry - so that could go plus the travel insurance. If you are having a holiday just take out a one trip policy when you book and that's you sorted if you have to cancel. £70 is still nearly £6 per month that you don't have.

I'm another one who just can't understand your shopping costs though - I do a lot of shopping in M&S and Sainsbury's and for two of us (plus a very pampered cat) I would be horrified if we spent as much as £300 in a month - I have genuinely no idea what you're spending the money on, but I can't understand how a vegan diet is so much more expensive than one that features a lot of fish, chicken and steak!

BarbaraofSeville · 02/08/2019 12:48

I wouldn't use a £1000 cottage in Cornwall as an example of a cheap/modest holiday.

Once you've accounted for travel, food, parking, activities because you're likely to be wanting to get out of the rain, it's likely to be more expensive than going abroad.

Agree that people are not being sympathetic because a lot of the expenses mentioned are discretionary or expensive for what they are - because you've got a high income you're spending it in a way that people on lower incomes wouldn't be able to - big mortgage, lots of insurance, very high grocery bill, personal trainer etc even if they did have the same issues like an illness or needing to live in an expensive area, they wouldn't be able to have these things anyway, so they'd have to do without for find a way to do things cheaper.

But things might get better when the tax issue gets sorted out, the loan finishes and Aldi opens nearby.

firstimemamma · 02/08/2019 13:00

I'm stumped as to how you manage to spend so much at Tesco. Our weekly £60 for my family of 3 is all on Sainsbury's stuff which is more expensive I believe and I buy meat and my fiancé can be a bit fussy with brands so there are a few premium brands thrown into the mix too e.g his cereal. The £60 still covers it all fine.

I think you need to review how you food shop. Do you meal plan? Maybe try watching 'eat well for less' for some tips.

adaline · 02/08/2019 13:31

Do you actually want advice or just the chance to vent?

There's plenty you could do to save money but you don't really appear to be interested in anyone's suggestions.

LoafofSellotape · 02/08/2019 13:45

I wouldn't use a £1000 cottage in Cornwall as an example of a cheap/modest holiday

I wouldn't either,that is what we spend on cottages and they are the high end ones.

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 02/08/2019 14:40

I'm the OP and I didn't say that the £1000 Holiday was modest

I just said I didn't go abroad

OP posts:

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 02/08/2019 14:42

Actually NO ONE on this thread has said my holiday in Cornwall was cheap or modest !

OP posts:

adaline · 02/08/2019 14:45

I'm the OP and I didn't say that the £1000 Holiday was modest

I think the point is that if you were truly struggling, you wouldn't even consider spending that much on a holiday....

But you seem to just want to use this thread as a place to vent rather than a place to get advice.

BelleCarig · 02/08/2019 14:50

I tho k you'll only be struggling this first year, from the next tax year you'll effectively be in credit for you self assessment right?

BelleCarig · 02/08/2019 14:51

Sorry pressed send too quickly. If you think you're going to earn less next year can you speak to HMRC to reduce your payments on account?

Original poster

LaurieFairyCake · 02/08/2019 14:56

So the holiday I had was the first week in April. I didn't know until 5th May that Id have this HMRC outgoing.

You are quite right, this is a short term problem. But it's really unnerving to find you're suddenly spending more than you earn and are going overdrawn every month.

I'm not going to move house or get rid of my adored dog for a short term problem - I am absolutely going to try to cut my food bill down.

So grateful to everyone who understands and has been supportive of the HMRC thing.

OP posts:

SouthWestmom · 03/08/2019 14:30

How on earth do people spend £300 for four people on food and cleaning stuff per month?

We are five sometimes six (dc at uni) and spend about £130 a week.

RuthW · 03/08/2019 15:01

Oh dear how do you manage? One month's direct debits for you equal more than a quarter of my annual salary.

I consider myself to be on a good wage, have no debt (apart from mortgage) and have a good standard of living with my £150 a month disposable income.

Passthecherrycoke · 03/08/2019 22:12

“How on earth do people spend £300 for four people on food and cleaning stuff per month?”

Eh? That’s not even a lot?!

Sleepyquest · 06/08/2019 10:22

I'm not sure why you are upset about the tax thing. You basically pay your estimated tax bill every 6 months for a period of 6 months. The rest of us pay monthly. If you think you will earn less, you can reduce your payment on account. The only time you would have been out of pocket for this was the first time when you paid for the whole 12 months in arrears and 6 months in advance. Now it's just half yearly.

Maybe you should pay a professional accountant to help you for a bit as it doesn't sound right. You also need to keep your personal and business separate as this will help you!

HorridHenrysNits · 06/08/2019 11:10

The obvious place to start cutting is food. If it needs to be delivered, fine. Tesco and Ocado is an expensive way to do that. Asda is generally cheaper. And eat more food that is actually vegan rather than vegan substitutes for non vegan items. That's where it starts to add up.

Have you gone through all utility suppliers for best deals?

adaline · 06/08/2019 11:31

How on earth do people spend £300 for four people on food and cleaning stuff per month?

When that's all you have to spend, you make do!

I think it's easy to say "I couldn't cope on that little" when you don't have to cope. When you have no other choice, you just manage because you have too.

HorridHenrysNits · 06/08/2019 12:52

That's like £70 a week. Its not even a particularly low amount, there's plenty have less. I spend more than that and wouldnt choose to be restricted to that level, but it's hardly non-doable. You reduce meat, eat cheap meat or both. Don't buy branded snack stuff unless from pound shops or similar, eat lots of pasta meals, something on toast meals, take packed lunches to work. Your veg is carrots and onions not salad stuff etc.

flirtygirl · 06/08/2019 13:35

£70 is not at eat lots of pasta level. You can easily a varied diet. Just be savvy in the supermarket. And you can definitely eat lots of salad etc.

HorridHenrysNits · 06/08/2019 14:32

I'll take your word for it. I'm primarily Aldi, but we do spend more than that mostly for meat, and then non foodstuffs would probably be a fiver off the £70. Either way though £300 a month isn't some minimal amount.

bigshiplittleboat · 07/08/2019 22:58

Re the tax in advance, it actually isn’t, the first year you are paying ax in earnings that you started earning up to 21 months ago, plus estimated earnings from the current tax year, nine months of which have already passed. It’s rubbish though - we are in the same boat at the moment, saving the same amount of tax as OP per month to cover it. Should even out though as DH’s income stabilises - we are both freelance but I’ve been taking a lot less work due to pregnancy/babies, so he has had to work more to compensate, his income has gone up whereas mine has gone down so we are earning the same amount as before between us but paying a lot more tax on it.

sansou · 08/08/2019 11:28

I think that it's worth reducing your mortgage overpayment for the next 6 mths in combination with other cost reductions. That's probably the easiest/most effective short term cost reduction. I know that you're reluctant to do it but it's certainly the most painless ST solution.

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