How to manage this budget and spending

[Indie1234]

Hiya
This is my first post, I am 29 and on a new salary of 60k and living in a houseshare so rent and household bills come in at 450 a month

I also pay 3 percent into a pension and also have student loan contributions im paying back

My salary comes to 3255 a month take home but i am somehow spending all of it and more, has anyone got advice on how i can save / budget please

Although you say you spend all your income - do you ever go overdrawn, or are you carrying credit card debt?
If not, and I hope not, then you know you are capable of 'cutting your coat according to your cloth' or living on what you have.
So Pay Your Future Self First. On payday when the money goes in, get the bills paid and then move money to savings, get it gone. Move it first to an easy online account, worry about investing/opening an ISA in a couple of months. Just get it gone so that on the 2nd of the month you're saying 'ok, got £1500 to last the month'. Pretend you never took home £3255.
The Meaningful Money FB group is a font of information, and the Money Matters and Investments topics on here are useful resources.

Thanks so much everyone.

To anwser some questions, last month i ended up a grand in my overdraft, with nothing really to show for it.

The only other bills i have on top of the 450 is
Spotify 7
Amazon prime 6
Netflix 10
Gym 20
Mobile 23

I also havw about 900 on a credit card

I know i spend way toouch on eating out. Id really like to buy a hoise but just feels impossible

Will have another look at what everyone has suggested and draw up a plan! I honestly dont know how people cope on minimum wage even though that was me only a few years ago

Look at the interest charged on your overdraft and credit card. Money down the drain for no reason at all. If you can't pay it off straight away, look for a 0% or low interest balance transfer and do it that way.

No transport? Do you walk/cycle everywhere?

On the food, that's good that you've identified the problem. Do you ever do 'grocery shopping' or do you get all/most of your meals out?

You could save a huge amount by buying similar food from supermarkets, even the ready made stuff that looks very expensive if you normally cook from scratch.

Or you could also look at the To Good to Go app. It's pot luck, but could be a good source of food from takeaways, restaurants, cafes etc including some well known chains like Pret, Leon, Yo Sushi, at around a quarter/third of the normal price.

On the matter of a house, above I suggested saving half your income. £1600 pm is nearly £20k pa. After 3 years that's over £60k with interest and LISA bonuses. That's 20% on a £300k property, more than enough. All by being a bit more careful with your spending. Not impossible at all.

What was the grand in your overdraft about? I’m struggling to understand where your money is going - so perhaps giving a bit of a view into it (within reason) will allow posters to give more tailored and specific advice.

OK so 3325 minus 1k overdraft is 2225.
450 + 76 bills so 526 leaves 1699.

I'd you slave yourself £300 a month for clothes, £400 for socialising (not Inc food generally), £200 for misc travel costs (no taxis, buses etc in your budget?), £100 for presents / parties (with surplus laid aside for Xmas presents), £400 for eating out and £300 for food and drink at home (all of which are very generous!) you'd be within budget. And would mean next month you could put that 1k that went on your overdraft onto your credit card (which then gets locked away) and hence forth into savings.

If you can't live on that budget I'd wonder what you're spending to keep in with a group, or what is being spent when you're drunk (oh ill get dinner for everyone (£400 gone!), oh ill get us a nice bottle (£300 gone etc).

Honestly it's about willpower. Just stop flashing your card liberally

Go over your statement every month and think do I remember spending that then, am I happy that I did? Split your spend into categories so you can truly see when it's going.

I'd also clear your OD and ask the bank to remove the capability to use it.

As someone who was also on minimum wage and now I'm not - stop wasting money on crap if you want to buy a house. Simple as that, you are capable enough to get a well paying job so use some of those skills and some self control and you'll be set.

As soon as you get paid reduce the overdraft to £100 for your credit rating.

Next month pay off the credit card and put it somewhere you'll forget about it.

Then rein in your spending and start saving.

I realise I didn't account for eating out at restaurants/socialising with friends in bars, which may feel important if you're in a shared house, especially if it's not nice/spacious/well maintained or you don't get on with your housemates.

However, unless your social circle is better off than average, they'll probably all be in a position where they'd like to spend less to be able to afford to buy a house or live by themselves.

Therefore they'd probably be open to going to cheaper places or socialising at home if anyone lives anywhere suitable. Either because they'd also like to save, or because they earn less or have debts they'd also like to pay off.

I'd suggest using an app like Emma which will help you break down where you are spending and then you can set budgets. You shouldn't be touching your overdraft with a wage and set outgoings like you have

Well you're obviously just living the life of Riley and sabotaging your own future goals. I think it's pretty shocking to fritter so much money. I'd suggest having a month of living as if you were on NMW. No takeaways, eating out, non-essential clothes purchases or expensive entertainment. Then when the month is over you can assess what is actually important for you. You should be able to save well over 1k and if you're not doing so, the reality is that you are choosing food out over a house. Is that what you want to be doing?

Hmm.

so, OP. You joined Mumsnet for the first time ever, to seek financial advice during a cost of living crisis on how to manage to not fritter away 3k + on just yourself and your fancies…..

I do hope this is a genuine post and not a wind up to display an apparently inordinate amount being spent at restaurants and fancy nights out

Pay off that credit card asap. My rule now (having been in serious credit card debt in the past which is just an awful place to be) is that it only goes on credit if I know it will be paid off in full at the end of the month.

i was in the position of feeling I could afford debt and going into overdraft but it slowly built up until it was a significant expense and took years to pay back, cost me thousands in the end. Sort it out now.

I agree, I'm just trying to work out if you're really that thick tbh.
Look at your bank statements for crying out loud, it's not difficult - it's all there itemised, magic eh? How on earth you're in a job that pays 60k is a mystery if you can't look at a piece of paper and work out how you managed to spaff 3-4K on fuck all.

I now have very significant doubts about the authenticity of this poster/their intentions.

Perisnally I think that OP is having a laugh, im sorry but you dont get into a position where you earn £60k a year and not work out how to do a simple budget.
Basic common sense tells you to list what your spending money on a cut it down

My bills were higher than that when I was earning £16k! Try the app You Need A Budget (YNAB). It has a yearly subscription of around £75 but despite thinking I was good at budgeting, I saved more than that in the first couple of months. Hunt around for a free trial and watch Nick True's videos on YouTube because it's hard to get your head around it by yourself.

Hi again

Thanks for all of the helpful suggestions.

I can confirm I am not thick, nor a troll more just a bit overwhelmed. I grew up on a council estate with parents whodidnt teach money management and i think as some helpful replies have pointed out i have been keeping up with friends who earn more and have realised I also subsidise quite heavily my friends who either dont work or earn less.. Im not really sure how to get out of that cycle but its clear i need to.

Im going to sit down this weekend and go through my statements and make a plan

Thanks again for the mostly helpful suggestions, and reality check that i needed

@DingDongBellPussysInTheWell Harsh.

Not going to reply to all the harah comments, I can sit down and do this but the issue i have is sticking to it.. Clearly I am in a good position in work as i am capable, and have worked really hard to get there, that doesnt mean I cant bury my head in the sand in my personal life.

Ops that was meant to be in reply to the above

Is there a name change fail here? It appears @userxx is @Indie1234 — as it appears the reply “harsh” was from @userxx but later OP posts with an oops. Anyway….

No, i was trying to reoly to the person calling me thick with my comment above but it didnt tag. Im surprised at how untrusting this platform is happy for this to be deleted

I would love to know what your job is OP- 60k salary at 29 is very impressive

You're wrong, I'm no one else. I thought the comment was harsh, I have loads of friends who are absolutely rubbish at managing money but it doesn't make them thick.

What about trying a budgeting app like YNAB.

You can try it free for a month. It's made a huge difference to our spending! You can link it to your bank account so all spending it exported over. We've been using it now for about 5 years.

I don't see the need for YNAB.

All the OP needs to do is pay her rent on payday, set up a SO to a savings account that she pretends doesn't exist and doesn't touch, leave enough in her main bank account to pay for the small number of subscriptions she has and the rest of her money is her spending money for the month.

For that she can transfer it to a Starling/Monzo account, either monthly or weekly and this is the only account that she uses for her day to day spending. The debit card for her main account, and her credit card is locked away.

With Starling at least, if she doesn't have an overdraft facility, when the money runs out, it won't let you spend any more. Plus it tells you what you've spent where and when if you really need an app to tell you that if you spend a fiver a day on coffee it adds up to a lot each month. All for free and without having to fiddle around deciding which pot a certain spend comes out of.