HELP - Shit with money - what's your tips?

[Ohwonderful]

For context, family of 4 left with around £1500 disposable per month after essentials are paid for. At the moment we save nothing.
Not so long ago out disposable was about £500 per month and honestly I don't know that our life is any different but we seem to piss away 1k and I don't know where!
I want to sort that this year. We worked hard to get to this and I want us to enjoy it by spending what we have on meaningful things and investing in the future for us all.
I'm hoping you money savvy will share some tips to get me going!

Get a Monzo card. You can get a joint account. Put £1000 on it after pay day and only use that for paying for things. It will give you an easy breakdown on where you’re spending your money without having to tot things up. Don’t use cash, it’s easy to fritter it away without knowing what you spend it on.

This!
You can do all the other stuff as well but given that you obviously can and have lived off £500 previously its the easiest way - although because basics have increased so much so fast recently I'd up the amount you keep to £600/£700 and divert the other £800 straight to savings every month.

Can you be my life coach?! This all sounds good, and so organised!
A few people have said about auditing the spends. I think that will be my first task and I love the idea of savings pots!
That might help me be more focused.
I dont really factor in birthdays etc and this is probably another hidden spend of mine some months

As others have said, spreadsheet everything you spend, work out a budget for essentials. Depending on whether saving is a priority for you take out what you want to save next and then you have your fun money. Or - if saving isnt a priority, work out what you need for fun money next then save the rest. Monzo has literally been life changing for me - as a PP said I save for Christmas with it, put £25 a month into a ‘gifts’ pot so when random collections at work come up or friends birthdays I use that. Have different pots for professional subscriptions etc that I put £20 a month into so it’s not a big lot all at once when it comes around. Finally ruthless meal planning and no food waste!!

I'm not saying don't save more but, if your pensions are sorted, you have got the most important type of saving, so give yourself credit (no pun intended...) for that.

This is key. Even if you end up transferring some of it out again, it forces you to think 'do I really need to buy this particular thing, right now?' Mostly, you don't need to.

I must say the advice on here is always moving to cash, but i find that harder to then track we’re it goes.

more, go through your account for last month, how much food budget do you really need compared to what you think? are you one of those people who blithely say their weekly shop is around £80, yet ignore that top up shops add another £40 and they are catering 4-5 meals a week outside the home (be it a take away, shop bought sandwiches etc).

meal planning and online food shops might be good for you- and fully plan. Not just 7 dinners, but also lunch, breakfast, snacks, drinks. How much bread /milk /apples do you really need for a full week? (Eg, if all 4 of you are going to have sandwiches twice in a week, then do you need more than a 6 pack of bread rolls?)

when you say essentials are paid for, have you also factored extra things you need through the month, like gifts for dcs to take to parties, haircuts, dentist or opticians etc. it took me stupidly long to realise that while the cost of my dc’s swimming lesson was £30 a month, each time I had to pay to park in the car park next door which cost £2, so it was actually £38-40 a month. (Depending on how many weeks in a month.)

it could well be you don’t have £1,500 left over once all essentials are paid for, but considerably less.

stage one is to work out the real cost of your basics, then look at what’s really left over, then work out where savings could be made.

Go through your bank statements.

Highlight everything that isn’t a bill or mortgage/rent.

Also move money into a savings account on payday. Treat this as a bill, set up a DD so that you don’t forget it.

No I definitely hadn't been accounting for hair, dentist, birthdays etc

These responses have been great. It's given me a lot to think over.
I'm definitely overspending on food ( dread to see the real damage here ) and don't have a good grasp on where the money goes.

I moved to where there's a pitiful choice of takeaways so I'm not tempted

^^

We did this. It enabled us to save for our House

There is an app my hubby uses to manage our spendings called "money hhub, he pays for the app, probably £1 per month but really useful as you can see very clearly where all your money has gone and compare with previous months, it also shows you all you savings/ investments etc. It is much easier than making a spreadsheet. He said there are other free apps but none of them is as good.

If you mostly pay for things on cards, you already have the data, you just need to download and analyse the last few months from your accounts.

It sounds like a combination of not accounting for annual and irregular spends like insurance, Christmas, clothes, haircuts, dentist, car MOT/servicing etc etc. This could mean you have quite a lot less spare than the amount after your DDs have gone out.

It's also good that you have some idea where you might be overspending because then you can start to identify ways to cut back, eg

If you're paying entry to attractions, can you get season tickets, eg National Trust membership? Then you have access to cheap days out. BUT ALWAYS TAKE A PICNIC. Apologies for shouting, but coffee and food while out adds up hugely. If you spend £20 a week on this, that's £1000 per year which goes a long way towards the cost of a holiday.

If you're at risk of ordering too many takeaways, switch to supermarket meal deals, much cheaper even if you get the nicer ones from Waitrose/M&S.

Have a look at Moneysaving Expert for budgeting advice:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

What's your partner's spending like? You both need to be on the same page, otherwise he'll just be undoing any good work you manage to put in.

I'd suggest don't take cash out then at least you c an look at your bank account and see where you are spending it. I rarely take cash out these days but a few years ago I'd take an amount out and it would disappear and I would have no idea where it's gone.

We use ynab a budgeting app I think there is a free version but the paid one is worth it imo
You basically budget for every category and you can make your own categories then link your bank account and you can see where your spending is going and where you can tighten and reign it in. Using ynab was how we realized we were just frittering cash away we had a category for 'spending money' and some months in the past it could have the best part of £500 spent under that category and we'd have no idea what on!

"Pay yourself first" - have a different account you put a set amount in on payday (have a direct debit)
Try and treat it like another bill!

Season passes is a good idea, Especially coming into summer.

DH spending isn't great - lots of bought lunches, cofees etc he works on the road.

In years past - we wouldn't have spent money at work - food from home etc.
I think we need to go back to this, I've probably been blissfully ignoring the expense of food when I look at this honestly.

Thankfully he feels the same about the wasted extra income so I'm hopeful this will be a team effort.

If your DH works 'on the road' can he claim any expenses from his employer?

This can be a huge money pit. Breakfast, another coffee, lunch even from somewhere cheaper like Greggs could add up to a tenner or more a day. That's £50 a week or over 2 grand a year. Probably really unhealthy too, unless you're really careful what you buy and where from. But the healthier stuff tends to be even more expensive.

Have a look at the Moneysaving Expert demotivator. Shows you how much the odd fiver/tenner here and there can add up to over time.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/demotivator/

We started a spreadsheet where we recorded every penny for a month.
Then we worked out a budget and we take cash out for anything that's not a direct debit.
Using cash makes me question everything a little bit more, I've noticed we definitely don't have as many takeaways or coffees as before!

On average, every time you get a coffee out you're probably spending at least £3 even if it's just a single coffee. More probably it's closer to £6 or £8 if you add a biscuit or a sticky bun.

Takeaways probably anywhere from £8 to £13 for the cheapest fish and chips, £20 to £50 for a Chinese or Indian.

Trip to the corner shop for bread, milk, and maybe a few snacks? That'll be anywhere from £11 to £20.

Do each of those once a week, you're looking at £40 to £50 - or £160 to £200 in a four week period. And that's just for you. If you'd like some real tough but effective advice the Debt Free Wannabee board on Money saving expert will give you some great tips.

This is why I recommend the joint Monzo account for everyday spending (also great for holidays as the rate is the best for purchases). You can see exactly where the money is going, and can even get an alert (very helpful for when we were accidentally charged twice at a shop abroad and could prove it and they refunded straight away). All spends are automatically categorised and you see in a simple pie chart where the biggest proportion of spending is.

If you both are committed to saving money (and you have a similar attitude to money and can laugh things off), then the app works brilliantly. He can see see when I’ve had a bit of a blow out on a lunch, I can see when he’s done the same and we often send a jokey text - ‘ooh fancy lunch today!!’ We can see that he spends more or lunches and I spend way more on haircuts. It then makes you realise what you don’t want to give up, and what you can save on. We also round up the pennies on a card spend and it goes automatically in a separate savings account we use for a family fun day.

I use Money Helper Budget Planner.. its free, and includes absolutely everything, and allows you to put in weekly, monthly & annual amounts. You can save it, and update it when bills or wages change.
All my DDs are in the same bank account, and I have a Monzo account for petrol/food/treats..

Spend less than you earn - in essence it's really that simple.
Until you prioritise doing that, there will be no progress.

I keep a list on my phone of every expenditure and when it gets near payday I tell the OH what we spent on what.

We've started hold each other accountable for spends over £15 ish. So, for example, if I want a new chopping board set, I will discuss it with him. We've spent ridiculous amounts on Amazon in the past, now we discuss whether we actually need it or are ordering it cos the money's in the bank and it's easy to order with them.

Whenever he spends money (not often - maybe £15 on an online game, national lottery) he emails me so I can track it.

I also put notes of large one-off spends on my calendar 2-3 months in advance, so if the car insurance needs renewing in Jan, on Sept I have a note '400 car insurance, Jan' so we don't get to the end of each month and say 'where has it all gone?' - In fact, these days, I start bunging money into savings each month for things like car insurance, large spends on home heating oil, that sort of thing. Then it doesn't feel like such a massive shock. I set up an instant access savings account specifically for this purpose.

Wow what a lovely amount to have as disposable income. We are a family of 6 and 3 are under 2 plus 2 cats and a dog disposable income of 126.72p after all nappies etc etc...we manage takeaways,going out,holidays etc so clearly your wasting loads somewhere

Pay yourself first. Meaning you take savings out first, before you spend. Not save what's left. It has to be a conscious effort and everyone has to be on board & not overspending their share for it to work effectively.

Add up your expenses against income (we work bills out annually then divide per pay cycle, including car services, gifts, etc.), then work out what you can save while leaving some money for spending. I include savings for holidays as well. All transferred to other accounts automatically day after pay day. I keep an eye on the cost of expenses & adjust accordingly.

We don't have a credit card either. Our financial lives improved vastly once we ditched it.

It's quite simple once set up. I spend very little time managing money. I keep a close eye on it & calculating increased bill costs etc. but it doesn't require much maintenance.

Yes I clearly am. I'm grateful for all the budgeting tips and tricks shared on this thread though and feeling motivated going into April with a fresh budget and plan. Sounds like you have mastered the art of budgeting with a big family, hats off to you. What are your top tips?