income and outgoings

[Goldie232]

Please indulge me!

I am trying to get my head around our household budget.

How much do you take in each month and how much is spent on mortgage/rent and household bills?

I’d be happy to indulge you but I don’t think it would help - then you’d know my income and outgoings but they wouldn’t have any bearing on your income and outgoings!

What’s the issue you’re trying to solve? Checking you haven’t forgotten to budget for things? If you list your income & outgoings here people can give suggestions on how to manage.

What matters is your income and outgoings?

No one else's budget means anything.

Do you want to discuss yours? People will help.

does it change your income/outgoings? At the end of the day your books need to balance. Doing a proper look at your outgoings is extremely worthwhile though. What you need is a spreadsheet 😁

I agree, there are "rules" out there about spend on different parts of budget like mortgage/rent, childcare but they are all totally subjective.
Probably easier to list your budget against your incomings and people may be able to spot what 'may' look expensive

Hi,

Fair points. Ok, so I have been putting together a written budget for our house as things just feel 'different' financially this year.

I have looked through our accounts and have listed all of the fixed costs that we incurr each month. We are also paying off some debts but this will end within 2 years so just got to suck that up for a while longer

My salary - £1982 per month ( increasing to around £2100 soon :))
DH - £3911
DH extra income - £400 per month on a 'bad month'
Total income - £6293

Mortgage fixed until 2027 - £1042
Secured loan - £590
dh Car loan ( 22 payments left) £304
gas/elec/water - £314 - includes an overpayment as we were in deficit for gas and elec
insurances - house/car/life - £146
TV licence - £13
Council tax - £144
Food - £500 - I think I can reduce this by meal planning and shopping at LIDL
sky/internet/phone - £72 - About to lower this as this is too much
Car fuel - £200
School lunches/kids snacks - £120
Kids clubs/activities - £80
Credit card - £300 - this includes an overpayment as it just has to go
0% credit card - "9
Kitchen finance - £134 - 19 months left
pet costs - 50
50th birthday savings - £200

It's pretty awful seeing it all written down in black and white.

So, it looks as though we are currently spending £4218 at the moment so the question is... where is the other £2075 going? I have checked the direct debits and I haven't missed anything. The reality is that we are massively overspending. We are both as bad as each other. I spend lots on little shops, bits here and there, whereas dh buys less things, but things that cost more, if that makes sense. We also spend too much on eating out, takeaways, coffees etc.

it all has to change

I would not even bother trying to reduce the £500 nominal food spend until you’ve spent a month writing down all your expenditure.

I bet you will find a lot going on food & drink in various ways.

Better to budget £1000 and stick to it than £500 on paper and keep spending here and there.

You need an account/pot for all the intermittent and large annual expenses such as car tax, MOT, various insurances, dentist, haircuts, holidays, birthday presents, boiler service etc etc. All the things that are predictable! If you pay a bit generously into this it can double as an emergency fund once you get going. Remember also that 0% credit cards are excellent for emergencies provided your broader budget is under control (especially now that savings rates are higher again).

have a look at Money Saving Expert for a template budget, and use a spreadsheet to track your expenses, debt repayments and savings.

Dont waste time feeling guilty, look on it all as an information-gathering exercise and take it from there.

I use YNAB and I think it’s amazing for showing you the full picture of what you spend your money on, and getting you to think about your priorities. But it’s not for everyone - people who love it really live it, but others find it annoying or confusing.

You should definitely start by tracking EVERYTHING you spend in September. Every day, log every time you or your DH spends money.

I will bet you spend at least 20% more on groceries than you think you do! £500 a month is about £115 a week - that might be your main weekly shop but all the top-ups and ‘bits’ will add up.

The great news is you have a big monthly income so you can really make progress on clearing your debts and putting by some savings if you’re focused.

Also, if you’ve looked back at a month, you haven’t looked at enough. Go through at least 3-4 months worth of credit card statements and bank statements - you’ll be spending on clothes, eating out, holidays, entertaining the kids (and yourselves), stuff for the house that’s not food - any pets? they get costly! - and so on. Look back and then average out those types of spending.

Have you heard of the Dave Ramsey method? Apart from getting hold of your budget I find (the slightly modified UK version) really helpful for setting direction.

Another thread from loaded people saying woe is me…

That £2k you can’t find where it’s gone is more than many families have each month to live on.

Do you really need someone to teach you how to be an adult?

Do what I do. I have an account for everything.

bills. Everything comes out of this account. I know how much is needed each month. Every few weeks I tick it off on a spreadsheet.

spending. I move money into a spending account just for that week. I found having it all in one place lead to us having nothing on the last few weeks. I move over a certain amount and that’s what we have.

food. I move over my food money into an account each month. That’s what I have for food.

petrol. At the beginning of the month I move over enough to cover us for petrol a month.

car fund. Same as above. An amount goes in every month to cover mot and service or repairs.

the rest of any goes into savings. if I can manage to get to £1000 and I’m not saving for anything in particular it goes into long term savings and doesn’t get touched.

this way of doing things changed the way my dh and I spent. And have not had to use the credit card or loans or run out of money. I wouldn’t do it any other way now.

@LucifersPain Your post is really unhelpful, anyone can get get into financial problems and posts like yours could stop posters talking to others on how to better their individual situation . Stop it you're being unkind .

Are you sure you spend so little on insurances?

I do similar, I have a bills account and leave just enough in to cover bills and transfer the rest into another current account.

I have a spreadsheet with all the bills listed and totalled and also a list of any expenses for the month, so food, haircuts, nights out, things I plan to buy like a present for someone etc.

This way I know exactly what's left for walking around money and savings.

We're doing ok financially but I still keep track.