Where does the money go?

[tempName101]

So I have created a budget, and should have plenty left over after all essentials.

I can't believe that I'm just frittering away £290! I'm working from home, only travelling for the school run, obviously Xmas shopping at this time of year but I never have any money left at the end of the month. No savings and things like MOT cause a right month.

I have some debt but that is being managed by a DMC at £34per month.

Maybe my food bill is higher? And daft things like comics for DC...?

Ditch the tobacco for a start?

Yes well I wish it were that simple! I assume you have no addictions/vices? 😊 I'm waiting for a stop smoking Referral from GP.

(I don't drink alcohol btw, but that's far more 'socially acceptable')

Total income is £1940.

We’ve started saving monthly for the MOT/car insurance, and it makes that time of the year so much less stressful. If you save it on payday, then you have less disposable income and you might find that you’re spending less of food/cigs as it’s not ‘there’ to spend. I also average down my current account fairly regularly (take it down to the next £5 or £10 and transfer the difference to my savings) and it adds up fairly quickly. Again, it’s a psychological thing for me, if it’s not in my current account I don’t spend it.

Are the school lunches for multiple children? Is your car a petrol guzzler? That’s a lot of money on school runs if you’re working from home.

Start a spending diary and write down absolutely everything. Unless you pay for food in cash, it should also be possible to go through bank/credit card statements and work out how much you are actually spending on food. To be honest you could use the statement method to work out where you money goes, but I think it's "easier" to just keep a diary going forward. Also, it will make you think "oh of course I spend money on this every week!".

If you're buying "daft things like comics for DC" maybe you could put aside some money for stuff like this, and once it's gone, it's gone.

Saving monthly is probably the key- I am trying to open a credit union account so I can't 'dip in' when it's linked to my current account.

I also use separate bank accounts for bills and 'spending' which maybe isn't such a good idea.

School dinners are for 1 child- that's just what they cost and she is a nightmare eater so much more likely to eat a full meal if it's the same as all the other children.

Car isn't a guzzler as such, but school is 13 miles away on bad roads- we are very rural.

You could also look at a zero based budget, so every £ is accounted for, that would help check where the money is going.

And again, Christmas/birthdays/holidays/outings need to all be accounted for, which probably explain a lot of your ‘missing’ money.

@RedskyAtnight I really need to get into and stick to the spending diary habbit! I have tried a few times inc saving all receipts but it never lasts.

Yes birthdays/Xmas/mot etc definitely having an impact on what I am seeing as 'spare' money.

*habit

Where are all your other bills?

Insurance, phones, subscriptions etc?

I don't understand the photographs you've attached

@tempName101of course I do used to smoke myself and am horrified at the sheer amount of money I wasted on fags, it’s a no brainier to give up as soon as you can. I get that it’s not always so simple though and it’s great you’ve asked for support to do it.

As for everything else can you keep a spending diary and write down everything you buy for a month or two, then go back over it and see where the you’re over spending, it might surprise you what the money actually goes on!

Also, you're spending around £6 per day on school dinners for 1 child?! That can't be right. Especially when you're estimating that ALL other meals for your entire household only cost you less than £12 per day

I also use separate bank accounts for bills and 'spending' which maybe isn't such a good idea

I disagree. If you have one account set up for all your bills on direct debit then you can just check it once per month and see that everything has gone out on time. If, each month, you are able to leave an extra 5% of the monthly bills in there it will also start saving for you.

Then the other account used day to day is the one you scrutinise.

What you could do is keep all your supermarket receipts for the month and at the end, go through and split into "food for meals", "other essentials" (cleaning products), "extras". It will surprise you how much you spend on tat at the supermarket that you don't need.

If you always spend down to zero, and there's £200 or so unaccounted for, then draw that out on payday and only spend cash day to day. Keep the receipts and at the end of the month you will see where it's gone. Also, you will be less likely to hand it over if it's sat in cash.

It's a new app and it sorted everything into categories- new screenshot incoming!

The thing is I'm happy with my listed expenditure, I don't want to cancel netflix/Spotify etc as in balance we don't have expensive days out, we go to the forest or the beach- and it's often wet and cold so we stay home and do craft things! But my problem is this 'missing money'

You need to think of a whole year’s expense (with actually a few expenses that happen every 2/3/5 years, like replacing white goods etc) instead of a weekly/monthly expense, to set your budget realistically. It’s quite an eye opener when you realise how ‘little’ disposable money you might have when you really think about all the expenses that need to be saved for. I know it was for us!

Aren't school dinners £2.50-£3 a day?

The thing is, there’s no ‘spare’ money ever - if you break it down monthly, your car costs (MOT, repairs, new tyres or wipers etc) will probably eat up £x per month, same for Christmas and birthdays and gifts, same for any other ‘irregular’ expense like Amazon Prime renewals or clothing and shoes, haircuts etc. If you put money aside monthly you have it when you need it and it stops you thinking you have ‘spare’ money.

And yes - would bet you spend more on food shopping than you realise!

I found it really helpful to look back through 3 months worth of bank statements and recording everything. It really helped me to see where my money was going.

Lots of useful advice here, thank you 😊

£120pm is paid into the school online system and this covers lunches and everything else- it's what they request, but I haven't accounted for holidays in this budget so there should actually be extra available money for a few months of the year.

@NoSquirrels I think you are spoton!

@Times10 that is really interesting- I will try and sit down and work it out yearly.

£120pm is paid into the school online system and this covers lunches and everything else- it's what they request

Are you able to log in and see what this money is being paid against? If they ask you to pay them £120 electronically every month then they need to be able detail what that money has gone towards.

My dds school meals are £2.40 per day. 5 days a week at 39 weeks per year is £468. You are paying £1440 per year!

You need to start again.

It's obvious that you are guessing which is a completely pointless exercise. Also, you are missing lots of things off.

I'd also be looking at what is in your school account tbh. £6 a day is ridiculous

@myhobbyisouting what am I missing off?
The only thing I estimated was food shopping- I have been through my bank accounts when creating the budget and all regular and essential expenses are accounted for.