Anyone else need to get their arse in gear re financial planning?

[JamesMacGill]

Mid 30s, 2 small kids, combined income usually 80k (DH is part time on a temporary basis to support me finishing a qualification but will be FT again after Christmas). Youngest in nursery. No benefits or any other income.

Feel like we’ve been pissing money away for a while and not properly planning our finances. We are about to move house so now seems like a good time to reevaluate and start doing some proper saving, budgeting etc as I’m also getting worried by potential tax rises and cost of living etc.

Is anyone else interested in floating ideas and generally chatting, swapping tips etc?

Snoop is a great app to see everything in the same place. Free version works fine- the next level up even better.

Have you jotted down your budget/ current spends?

Following with interest. I am quite literally pissing money up the wall and need to stop.
I have ADHD and find admin almost impossible, e.g forgetting to/not wanting to ring EE and still being charged a fortune for a phone contract that actually ended in 2024.

I've been getting on top of this for a couple of years - I found Rebel Finance School really helpful! Since then have made good progress!

Our numbers are a bit different but we have also not really got our shit sorted and on paper there’s no excuse really. We don’t have any debt other than mortgage and student loan, and in the past 6 years I’ve had 3 mat leaves and we’ve bought 2 quite large cars outright so I do know where some of the money has gone. But really we could have managed to put a lot more away - our savings are pretty minimal considering we have a reasonable income. I want to get my arse in gear!

First thing I’m doing is starting to save more aggressively for DCs future instead of just putting away bits and bobs.

You need the Rebel Finance School

I have had the same epiphany and need to snap out of buying whatever we want whenever we want it. Following along to give/receive moral support!

Rebel finance recommendation from me too

Since doing Rebel Finance School I've got an emergency fund saved, have moved my pensions into a much better fund where they will grow, paid off my overdraft, stopped frittering money, made about £1k selling things online, and instead of paying off my car loan by 2028, I will have it paid off in 4 months time. Best money I never spent on the course (it's free). And I'm still going on holiday this year.

Next step will be to think about building my 3-6 month fund, increasing my pension contributions and overpaying the mortgage.

I also have ADHD so have pissed away a lot of money, but am taking advantage of my ability to hyperfocus on this, have been using a google spreadsheet (the RFS course teaches you Excel) and using a bank account with spending pots.

No benefits or any other income.

How old is your youngest? you should be getting free hours and tax free childcare top ups. This is thousands in "benefits" per year.

What are you putting in your pensions? If you do it on pretax salary you get full tax relief and it necer hits your account so ypu are used to not having it.

Start ISAs

Use the money chart made famous on reddit
Just Google reddit personal finance uk flowchart

MSE is good too.

I am similar age to you and have a slightly higher dual income. I use a lot of cashback sites when doing food shopping. Money from that goes into the kids savings. We both have private pensions (mine isn't great could do with looking at switching providers) and use ISA's. I do have a student loan but don't earn enough for the repayments at present. I aIso split our joint savings down into smaller accounts so an emergency savings (fridge breaks or car repairs), redundancy savings (minimum of 3 months so far), house savings (for paint, new carpets etc), my savings and one for the kids (school unfiroms, holiday clubs and trips). DH doesn't like it split down but then when he says he is tight for the £700 the new tyres cost or a plumber to look at something then tada I have the missing money.

My job for the rest of the year is to start mortgage overpayments. We are just about to renew and drop £300 a month. I'm thinking of also using Sorive whereby you buy shopping vouchers and the cashback can be sent to your mortgage provider. Also possibly picking up an extra day at work (part time) and using that extra income solely for pension and savings.

We are in a similar position. Slightly higher dual income, two kids, late 30s. Both DDs are now at primary school which has helped massively with finances. We've been trying to get to grips with finances for a few years and things that have helped are:

Listening to the Money to the Masses podcast

Both DH and I opening Stocks and Shares ISAs

Paying an AVC into my pension. Only 5% but the difference it's made in the 5 years I've been doing it is amazing

When nursery fees ended, putting that money elsewhere. We moved it straight into savings for DDs for the future and mortgage overpayments.

Annoyingly, despite overpaying the mortgage we have had to renew at a much higher interest rate than we were on so our payments are going up rather than down. So I'm definitely wanting to get our arses into gear to save an additional £200 a month.

What helps me is setting up
a standing order from our joint account into savings accounts as soon as we’ve both been paid
1 & 2 children’s savings, only a small amount but better than nothing
3 car service & MOT, this means we’ve got some money ready for the big expense
4 Christmas
By doing this I feel we can spend money and not feel as guilty. It does make me consider how much we spend though and consider whether I really need to pay for lunch out or save some money towards one of our accounts and eat in. Christmas in particular always ends up being much more expensive than I budget for.

The other thing I try and do is plan better and I struggle with this because by the end of the week I’m tired from work but going on a day out at the weekend I kick myself when we don’t bring drinks and snacks from home because that can be quite easily £20 gone that could have gone into £20 at Christmas. Thinking of what you could spend your money on tends to focus you a bit better.

I sometimes go to buy something and then when I manage to stop myself I immediately transfer the amount into my savings. It can be a good dopamine boost and incentive to limit short term spending!