How much in each pot?

[Hoolajerry]

We have been in debt for a few years and have finally managed to pay it off. One of our problems has been that I haven't budgeted effectively for big things that occur ie cars, holidays etc and I end up in cycle of never being able to get on top of it.

I am trying to come up with a realistic budget plan. I have budgeted £120 per week food (supermarket) and £45 per week fuel. We are a family of 6. So far I have made pots on Monzo for:
Holidays
Car
Birthdays
Christmas
Miscellaneous
Clothes
Savings

Bills and Kids activities have been accounted for already. Have I missed anything? What pots do you have and how do you spread your disposable income (as a percentage).
I'm really hoping to get on top of this and want to get it right.
Thank you

Birthdays £40 per child
Christmas Max £100 per child
Holidays - didn’t have them when in debt
Clothes - managed £10 a month per child saved for winter/summer clothes/sales
Have you accounted for car tax, MOT, insurance, repairs?
Have you accounted for other one off payments?

My only extra to your pots is my Summer holiday pot. I don't mean going away, I mean day trips and activities throughout the holidays as they add up massively!

Swimming, ice skating, beach days, zoo, cinema, soft play, water / splash parks, trips to other town to see places of interest etc

Every year I look back over the past year and write down all the one offs that went out of the account.

I don't have different pots as I add them all up and then divide by 12. I then include a bit more for unexpected ones and transfer that amount to a savings account every month just for those bills.

I then add everything up that is on a monthly direct debit. I look back and get an average cost for food including all those one off top up visits to the supermarket. I do the same for fuel. That amount is transferred to the 'bills' current account including a buffer every month.

The money that is left over is then split up into 'fun money' and the rest into a different savings accounts which is for holidays and long term savings.

I have a House pot OP - things like new washing machine or shower head or new hoover. There is usually at least one of these things a year (plus I like buying curtains etc)

Good idea with the house pot thanks. My miscellaneous is for things like haircuts, dog treatments etc so should cover extra bits. I'm allocating £200 per week so that should give a bit of a buffer after food and fuel. It also assumes a 5 week month so hopefully I'll have a bit more to play with on some months.
I'm going to be really tight with our first month to start each pot off. We don't need to spend anything anyway due to lockdown so that will make it much easier.

Are you building an emergency fund at all? Usually recommended is between 3-6 months of essential bills.

Deffo a school holidays pot.

My Christmas pot includes money for theatre tickets, ice skating etc things we like to do over the hols.

Summer pot includes money for extra childcare/holiday camps etc, and for days out.

Isleepinahedgefund I know it's all relative but how much do you put into each of those funds? Do you do it on a per person basis or just what you can afford to put in. Thanks

I have a Christmas holiday pot, but good idea to make a Summer Holidays pot.

We do roughly the same things every Christmas/summer hols so I base it on last year's costs. I have a decent disposable income so I will save in chunks until I've got enough - aiming to have the total saved by June for the summer because that's when activities start being advertised, and by August for Christmas as that's when the theatre tickets usually go on sale/toy deals start appearing.

I love Monzo pots - when I see the pot names it makes me leave the money in there because I know why it's there!

How much other people put in doesn't mean much as people have different budgets and priorities. Some people want lots of holidays, others want to spend a lot on making their home nice, etc. Some people don't have enough spare money for a big holiday, so wouldn't have that pot, not everyone runs a car, etc etc.

It's more important that you're putting a decent amount of money away rather than how much is in each pot. After all, you can always shift money between the pots if you find that your 'appliance replacement' pot fills up with more than enough money to replace every appliance in the house, for example.

For a comprehensive 'include everything you could ever think of, and more' list, have a look at the MSE budget planner, to see if there is anything you haven't thought of.

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

I think you have too many if I'm honest. If I were you, I'd feel my money was here there and everywhere.
Dh and I have £600 to last the month at roughly 150 a week for food, fuel, entertainment for that week. Then we have an 'extras' pot which is for clothes, car bits and bobs, new stuff for dc (this month is was a cot bed after DS broke his cot) then our roundups go into an Xmas pot and we have a savings account that we pay into every payday. Car repairs etc come out of savings. However, we are on low incomes. If we earnt more, I would probably have a long term and short terms savings seperatly

We have a uni savings pot on top of what you have there, however I realise that’s a tricky one with four kids, I only have two.

Kids going to uni now don’t get nearly enough to cover their living expenses and parents are expected To contribute in many cases. Depends on earnings. I started saving when my elder child was 12.

I have similar pots as you. But I also have a "tight month" pot.
Which is the only pot I dip in and out of. (I am evangelical about never "borrowing" from xmas or holidays)

Tight month pot acts a bit like an overdraft with out the fees.
I try and keep about £1000 in this pot

I have the following monthly:
Home
Car
Holidays and days out
Skincare
Reno

I had never thought to do clothes until this thread, doh. Though to be fair I mainly use my ebay money for clothes as buy/sell a lot.

I may start a clothes pot next year as this year I'm trying to sell loads.

I've had some emergency savings for several years and never touched them. Any emergencies like fixing washing machine have so far come out of home pot.

I used a spreadsheet to literally work out how much I need in a year using old bank statements for EVERYTHING.
£120.for food seems excessive to me. But that's for you to decide.
Anyone giving you their amounts will have different circumstances. I include days out in my holidays pot. Clothing, hair cuts etc I included together as well. I then have a luxury and leisure pot that's only equivalent of £10 per person a month but most months we don't use it, but means we can opt to us sit without guilt!
We have a large family so buy lots of presents, I literally added the amount I would spend max per person for the various events (birthday, religious festivals, mothers days, anniversary etc).ans divided by 12.
This is the first year that I went over the budget for Christmas and accept that this is one that probably needs tweaking annually.

Great replies everyone thank you. Lots to think about but reassuring that I seem on the right track.

We have Christmas, birthdays, car, house, holidays, miscellaneous. I also have 3 month emergency fund.
Agree that your food bill is quite high.