What’s missing?

[tiredandveryhungry]

I am trying to work out a budget and wondered which categories I might be missing. These are the ones I have:
Mortgage
Water
Council tax
Gas and electric
Petrol
Union
Phone
Netflix
Amazon
Internet
Tv license
Savings for car
Savings for birthdays and Xmas
Savings for house
Childcare
Food
‘Spending money’

Pensions come out of our salary. Is there anything I am missing? Two DS and no pets.

Thank you!

Insurance policies unless that's allocated in the savings for bit

Looks pretty complete. Assuming that savings for car include tax, MOT, insurance, repairs ?

Maybe a pot for holiday savings and a savings pot for Emergencies.

What about Life Insurance / Critical Illness / Healthcare / Dental plan etc?

House/appliance repairs, or maybe general heading of 'emergencies' as Merlin suggested.

Any regular activities for you/the kids?
School expenses (e.g. Uniform, shoes, equipment)

Looks pretty complete, unless you wanted to also include some spending for your kids that you know will be needed and that can be expensive eg school uniforms/shoes.

Car and house insurance

Clothes / shoes budget
Holiday savings
An ' Oh shit ' pot ( for when something breaks )

Haircuts

@MerlinsButler

Looks pretty complete. Assuming that savings for car include tax, MOT, insurance, repairs ?

Maybe a pot for holiday savings and a savings pot for Emergencies.

What about Life Insurance / Critical Illness / Healthcare / Dental plan etc?

Got these covered within the savings except life insurance which we're sorting at the weekend. Thank you!

@ChristinaYang10 @PositiveLife don't do much ourselves having young children and lockdown but I know that might.

Need to budget for clothes and shoes though so that's a great idea. Need to remortgage the house for bloody shoes!!

@Tretchikoff

Haircuts

Yes! Of course. Thank you :)

@TabithaTeacake

Clothes / shoes budget Holiday savings An ' Oh shit ' pot ( for when something breaks )

Thank you yes. Forgot about holidays too. All these things we used to be able to do!

Dentist, specs/optician. School trips.

Children's clubs and related kit/equipment/shoes/uniforms/instruments.

School uniforms and shoes.

Glasses/contacts? Knowing our glasses cost a fortune...

Emergency fund - appliances breaking down etc

Moneysavingexpert has a comprehensive list to work through, plus pointers along the way to reduce the cost of boring essentials like broadband.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

Chimney sweep
Mole man
Tips for bin men
National lottery
Music lessons
Car parking on days out
Window cleaner

I was also going to suggest the MSE link posted above - it's really comprehensive!

My other suggestion would be to take a look through bank statements (if you can, for the whole year to capture any seasonal spending) and see where your money goes. It can be a bit daunting but very useful!

In my budget, I also have categories for:

Mobile phone upgrade savings (this may be in your 'phone' category)
Housekeeping (spends for window cleaners and gardener each month, chimney and gutter cleaning etc)
Takeaways and 'takeaway' work lunches (again, may be in Food but helps me control it better)
Special occasions (separate savings pots for monthly amounts toward Christmas, birthdays etc)

@PantherPantherus

Chimney sweep Mole man Tips for bin men National lottery Music lessons Car parking on days out Window cleaner

You never know on here whether people are being serious or taking the piss with a list like that, although I would have thought all good Mumsnetters would have NT membership to cover the car parking and not regularly spend money on doing the lottery.

On the matter of car expenses, does the car pot include savings for it's replacement as well as running your existing car?

If you're aiming to be really on top of budgeting, being in a position to be able to replace cars with savings, not borrowings or other credit is what to aim for.

Bird seed for winter
Pet food
Vets bills
Norton anti-virus annual sub
Garden plants (bedding)
Ad-hoc gifts (weddings, baptisms)
Repairs budget (annual mower service, general maintenance)
Dry cleaning
NT membership (for NT car parks but won't work in other car parks)
National lottery

Any decent broadband package includes anti virus ( at the moment, anyway)

As well as house and car insurance, you've forgotten breakdown cover. Whizzy stealable fragile chunky smart phones need insurance, as do any pets.

I budget for chimney sweep and boiler service!