What do you earn? What do you spend? What do you save?

[Mimiandme]

I’ve just gone through our finances and with everything going up I want to try and act now to get my arse into gear, cut back where I can and save more. My husband thinks that with our wages that it’s just not possible. I don’t think our wages are that and I don’t think our outgoings are that high, I think we over spend and just don’t realise where we are sounding. It’s all £20.00 here, £30 there… mostly take out and eating out.

I work part time after having our little one but my husband works full time. Together after tax we have an income of around £3300. We made quite a bit of money on our last house having bought it before house prices went up. We moved to our family home which we have no plans on moving from as won’t outgrow it and have a mortgage of £120k, which I think it a small mortgage, we are both almost at mid thirties. After all our outgoings bills and food (the must haves) we are left with around £1000 a month between us but at the end of every month we are both in our overdrafts. I think £1000 left over is a lot of money but it just goes. I don’t think we live a lavish life style. We don’t have cars on finance, no credit cards, loans etc. Out of that £1000 we do buy petrol, take out, meals out, having hair done, family days out? Where are we going wrong? We don’t really set a budget and I think that’s part of the problem. I’ve recently looked at doing YNAB but I’m put off by the subscription cost? My husband thinks it’s impossible to save and ‘that’s just the way it is’ but I disagree. I want to save more, I want to be in a good position in the future and I want to be comfortable and not be in my overdraft at the end of the month! Curious to know what others do… sorry for being nosy, I just need a nudge and to know I’m not being unrealistic… I don’t think I am…?

I take home just over £1000 a month.
£600 goes straight to dh for house stuff.
£35 into an ISA.
£150 into a different savings account.
The rest is for diesel and spends.
I always have between £50 and £100 when I next get paid.

Well you've already identified where it goes - takeaways and eating out by the sound of it. Eating out and ordering food in to the point that you're frittering away 1k a month is a lavish lifestyle, so yes, there is spare money there to put away in savings.

If you honestly genuinely don't know where it's going then you need to spend a month or two with both of you logging every single penny you spend even down to the 50p spent on a packet of chewing gum.

You'll probably find you both spend a fortune on coffees, a sandwich here and there, 'pop to the shop for a loaf of bread and end up spending £25 on crap'.

Well, take aways and eating out are expensive, so if you want to save, you need to rein these in a bit.

I recommend getting a clear understanding of what you currently spend your money on by writing down everything including holidays and presents etc. This can be difficult to do, but I think Money Savings Expert has some helpful resources to help you to include all of the categories that you might otherwise forget. This will then give you a clearer idea of what you should be able to save - transfer this to a savings account when you get paid. Make sure that you allocate an amount of money to each person every month - this can be spent as the person chooses, e.g. on coffee out etc., but once it's gone, it's gone.

Good luck.

Between us we take home £4000ish after tax, pensions and share schemes.

We put £200 into DC savings accounts. We overpay on our mortgage which brings it up to £1500 per month. We save what we can after that, but it does just go on bills and food really.

In the kindest possible way it won't help you to know what others earn and spend and save. Keep a list for a month of every single penny that you spend, there are free apps to do this on. Then work out what was inessential spending and think about which of these things you are prepared to cut back on.

You are right, I’ve been looking at YNAB and going through our spending and it is shocking. It is the take out, eating out and the pop out to the little Tesco up the road for snacks! We don’t even need snacks I get that. My husband works in emergency services, is late off 9/10 times and we have got into a bad habit off shall we get a pudding from the shop or a dominos as we are knackered. I cook for my little one who eats at 5, I always do her fresh, home cooked food and freeze left over portions. I just don’t do it for us, my husband isn’t usually home at 5, he works all sorts of hours but really I need to eat with my little one… then hubby can reheat what’s left? I just like eating with him sitting down, talking etc. I think we have just really bad lifestyle habits… I’m ready to change though!

We earn about 5400 between us. We spend £1234 on mortgage. I'm not sure how knowing that helps you. We pay school fees and don't eat takeaways or eat out much at all. We do run two cars?🤷‍♀️

And just to add, save first each month rather than at the end of the month. I move money to savings accounts - different pots for different things, e.g. for children, for next (second hand) car, for holiday, for Christmas etc. - and view it as spent so that I'm not tempted to fritter it away.

I save a regular amount, and do save the change ( approx £18 a month), I don’t drive so no fuel costs, approx £25 in bus fares.
ilive alone and tend not to buy takeaways and have no spend days

@Mimiandme if you're ready to change then you'll be grand. 😊And by the end of 2023 you'll have savings. I save some of my money into premium bonds, it's safe and a bit of fun and I haven't won the big one but I love getting the odd £25 prize - which is of course reinvested 😁

Thanks everyone, that’s all helpful and good advice. I wanted to know how much is earned / left over as my husband thinks it’s because we aren’t earning enough to save but it’s not that, we do need to change our lifestyle as it’s not sustainable in order to save and have the life we want in the future. We do spend a crazy amount on eating out, we enjoy it but not for the amount we are actually spending. We do need to budget and go everything, every single purchase. Thanks again and sorry it it seemed nosy, I was just curious and even though I don’t feel like we live a lavish lifestyle… on paper what we spend on food is a lavish amount, you just don’t realise when it’s £20 here, £30 there etc, also lunches out on the go at work, coffees etc

It's really easy for spending on food/takeaway to add up, especially if you're getting it when tired. I know when I did on call work and my hours were all over the place I ended up with takeaway far too often because I was just so tired.

Can you maybe meal plan some meals that are easy to reheat on the days he has shifts? Or slow cooker meals where an extra hour won't really matter?

Money Saving Expert has some great budgeting planners. Everything needs to be accounted for - food, bills, insurances, mortgage, all the stuff that you pay monthly and regularly. Then account for all the stuff you need that you pay less than monthly eg TV licence, MOT, car service, Birthday presents, holidays, clothes etc. What you have left you can spend on other stuff or save. Learning what other people do won't help you. What you need to do is live within your means and your salary will enable that if you make different choices. ( we might not like the choices but we do have them)

We have have a "house account" for fixed monthly bills and a jont account for more flexible stuff like petrol and food. We each get £200 to spend how we like - gym, clothes, coffees, take aways etc. this means we still have the same amount of spending money despite different incomes.

The other thing to do is use cash - you can see it, feel it, count it and when it is gone it is gone - no more going out.

You get a month free trial of YNAB. I'd definitely recommend you try it!

If it doesn't suit you, another way is to use an account like Monzo or Chase which allow you to make lots of 'pots' eh un help for budgeting. So when you get your wages, put aside any that isn't instantly going out as bill payments into various pots, e.g. food, car, an emergency fund, birthday/Christmas, socialising - and, yes, takeaways. It's a total game changer!

*eh un - that can

I found tracking everything you spend and I mean everything, it gives you a real eye opener as to where your money goes! We enjoy the spare money we have and if at the end of the month there is anything left it goes into the savings account. Could be £5, could be £400 just depends on that month! If anything has taught us recently, life is too short not to enjoy the treats, perhaps do a takeaway once a month as a treat instead. Honestly though, track yours spends for a couple of months - you’ll be shocked!

I read "Your money or your life" 10+ years ago and it's changed my spending habits forever. One exercise in the book is to log everything you spend. An excel spreadsheet works for me. It's about thinking about what is important to you (hobbies, retirement etc) and channelling your money in the right direction.

Look up the FIRE ( financial independence retire early) movement for saving inspiration.

We found starling helped as we could have pots for all the yearly expenses and watch them grow on track. E.g. Christmas, birthday, insurance, council tax. I also save at the start of the month but have it in a pot so can get it out if needed.

Budget.
Write everything down and trim it to essentials plus a reasonable amount for treats each month. Don't forget boiler repairs, insurance, birthday gifts, haircuts etc.
Allocate an amount each month for savings. Transfer it to a separate account at the beginning of the month before it can be spent.
If you have about £1K spare every month before your lifestyle costs, then maybe decide to save 10% ie £100. That's do-able, surely? And this time next year you'll have £1200 in savings.
If you find saving £100 relatively easy, try £150. It soon becomes very satisfying to see your savings grow.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/legal_money_matters/4165470-FIRE-starter

We tried YNAB but found it needed more investment setting it up than either of us had the energy for. What we do have is a Monzo joint account and it is great. When one of us spends it sends a notification, we can also set up pots and categorise spending. I also like ghat it gives us little indicators of spending at various points in the month. I have very much enjoyed being told every month since a week in France that we have spent considerably less since - this includes Christmas!

I strongly recommend Monzo

You can download details of your existing spending from your bank accounts, or see pie charts in apps.

It sounds like you're like the people on Eat Well for Less, all of whom were spending £10-20k pa on food, lunches, snacks and takeaways etc then had no money for other nice things, we're in debt or had no savings despite a good income.

Vow to cut down, swap takeaways for nice ready made versions from the supermarket if you don't have the time or energy to make your own. It's utterly stupid to go into overdraft and pay 40% pa interest for takeaways.

You can afford to save,you just need to do it when you get paid and then pretend the money doesn't exist. There's lots of high interest regular savings accounts at the moment, set up one of those each. Also set up an instant access savings account to save for regular costs that crop up throughout the year, eg now is the time to start saving for next Christmas, also to cover things like car repairs, washing machine replacement, which should be a higher priority in your budget than takeaways and eating out. Have a look at

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/

I track every penny so I know where it goes. At the moment it is all going on the house renovation but in normal times we have approx monthly £1000 on fixed bills, £1000 on variable spending. This is 50% of our income, the rest goes into savings.

Hi,

Its really hard to be in a routine with shifts, especially at the moment in an emergency service. So planning food and snacks there is something you could start in new year? Its great you do this with your child so you can try for you too!

Being in your overdraft is tricky. Its a mindset and really hard to get out of. I would only
Have in your account what you need each week- transfer yourself weekly spends for food/petrol/spending money each week and stick to it. Include extras you might need but forget about like days out/haircuts etc

Make a plan to reduce your overdraft every month by X amount. Then once its gone replace that X amount to savings. You will find you have more available money that way and feel more positive as not sat in an overdraft without plans!
Its tricky though but this worked for me x

You should try a no spend January. Limit your expenditure to just the necessities such a normal food shopping (and cook your meals), fuel and anything you really do need. Then at the end of the month evaluate what you've saved! You'll be so surprised and it can give you a rush to see what you could put away instead