Anyone bored and care to critique my budget?

[Deckthis]

Like many people I’m noticing my money is being increasingly squeezed each month and I’d like to see if I should be organising my spending differently. I’m 52, a lone parent with one teen, and I earn £50k pa which equals £2970 a month.

I’m currently paying 5% into a work pension scheme, and £100 a month into a small separate pension.

My ex-h pays sporadic maintenance of £500pm - with it, things are pretty comfortable. Without it, it’s very tight.

Car loan £144 (4 yrs to go)
Critical illness, income protection and LI £159
Mortgage £1038
Mortgage overpayment £100
Council tax £125
Gas/electricity £90
Pension payment £100
dental insurance £19
national trust £6
Netflix £6
TV and Broadband £30
Spotify family £14
Savings for son £40
Mobile sim only £10
car insurance £31
Son mobile sim £10
MBNA £25
iPhone payment £15 bought 2ndhand

Then:

£600 spend @ £150 pw. This goes on extra grocery top ups, extra petrol when needed, weekend days out, the odd meal out etc.
£260 food @ £65 pw
After school care £140
Petrol @ £150
School lunches £20
Plus Various savings pots for car service, Xmas, son clubs etc @ £100

I have an MBNA credit card debt which I need to tackle. And I have about £4.5k in savings.
pensions are virtually non-existent as I’ve only just started earning reasonable money ☹️
The big issue seems to be my big mortgage, and big outgoings.

I agree that £150 a week seems a lot for top up shops and treats. Meal plan or budget so your main shop does you for the week, and maybe look at cheaper days out!

1. Was there no pension sharing order in divorce?
2. Your car loan - if money can be tight you would have been better of buying a cheap car you can afford outright instead of taking on a loan with interest
3. Not sure why your teen needs childcare but unless SN that could be a big saving
4. Mortgage seems high but it's hard to say without knowing where you live, if not south then I'd say it is a big mortgage to take on alone - how big is the house?
5. Dental insurance - does this cover you only or you and your son? If it's only for one person it will probably be cheaper to just pay for the work you might need rather than spend 240/year on insurance
6. Your insurances are quite expensive, are you sure you need all 3? Your son would get equity you have in your home as well as pension if something happened to you I assume? And does your work cover you in ways that make income protection insurance redundant potentially?

What are the terms of your mortgage? Is it 15/20 or 30 year and what is the rate? Sometimes people go for the longer time and lower payments for cash flow purposes. However you end up paying almost the cost of the house again in interest payments over the life of the loan. A shorter loan period can often be very manageable but the savings in interest over the life of the loan are considerable.

Aggressively clear to cc debt, and then keep that card for emergencies.

Send all spare cash to that including the saving for ds.

If you can pay off the car early early without penalty I would also go for that.

in an ideal world you will bulk up savings and get rid of debt. That way your money will start to work hard for you and not be a profit center other companies.

You can save aggressively once you shift debt, and when ds needs some money you take from the savings pot.

It looks like there is room for a change of habits re discretionary spending. There is a lot going out there that should stay with you in order to create wealth.

Arrange to have maintenance to be paid through CMS and don’t overpay your mortgage until childcare isn’t needed.

Always get rid of the expensive debt ahead of savings. If the MBNA debt isn’t at 0% then aim to pay that off as quick as possible. I would move it to a 0% credit card on the longest term I could get, and aim to pay as much as I could off. There is probably at least £200 a month you could divert to the debt, e.g. stop the mortgage overpayment, reduce the discretionary spend items, and critically review the £600 spend, should get you to £200.