Is this enough?

[The1990club]

Hi

I budget the family finances and I allocate x amount for the following pcm; food (including weekly food shop, school dinners, packed lunches and food for my husband who works away so eats seperate from the family),fun stuff ( days out/ eating out/ disposable income), anything we need to buy or pay for such as school uniform/dentist/christmas/ birthday gifts/ new kettle if it breaks etc.

This money does not need to cover holidays/ childcare/ fuel or car running costs.

We are family of 4, 2 children 4 and 9. I allocate £850 and on paper it seems enough but we struggle ( and I cant allocate more!)

Any advice

Not remotely “enough” for me unless I massively cut down.

And given you “struggle” it doesn’t seem “enough” for you

but there’s no such thing as a money tree I am afraid

It wouldn’t be enough for me. We allocate around that just for food and lunches. Funny money, birthdays, uniforms, dentist, haircuts etc. are all in addition to that.

Thank you for the kind response

Why don’t you break down the £850. I think once you do that at just under £200 per week you will see it’s quite tight. Not unmanageable but tight.

Do you have a further breakdown of that £850?

Given the cost of food at the moment, you could be spending 2/3 on food for a family of four without much difficulty.

Huh?

You asked a question
I gave you an answer

I did that- our weekly food shop is £100 and husband needs about £30 ( he is home some of the week and can cook so doesn't need to eat out), school dinners are £54 - it leaves about £300 for the rest. Generally I save £100 pcm for Christmas from summer. Its just we are renovating a house so have had to cut back massively. I was just curious as to other people's budgets for similar.

Yep - it's enough. Especially if you don't eat out or have a birthday every other week (!)

I feel better, I might to need to be stricter with funds. Im probably used to living with a greater disposable income.

My budget would be per month Groceries £500, Fun Money £350, Dentist £25, Gifts £100, Clothes £100, Hair etc £100, Other £50. So £1225.

I could bump the £850 (£950) as actually I forgot im taking £100 for Christmas savings at the minute so sorry my fault for doing maths so early in the morning! In 6 months we are able to finally start saving £300pcm ( i know)

I dont know whether to not save and live a better standard of life. It seems a really daft question but we have just had 9 solid years of childcare costs/ maternity leave and now with this fixer upper ( bad decsion) we are no better off. I guess im just fed up.

Its just we are renovating a house so have had to cut back massively.

so this is short term? And usually you’re not struggling?

As a family of 4 the £850 would probably just about cover food if we're including school lunches for both children (I've never really tried to bring the bill down further than that tbough)

We didn't feel any better off when the expensive childcare came to an end either. The money just got diverted to wrap-around care and holiday clubs etc

Your food budget seems fine, unlikely you can save much there.

£300 ish for the rest - go back through your statements and catagorise how that gets spent. Does each purchase feel like you got sufficient value? Set prioties. Only spend on things that add to your lives.
Maybe spending £££ on your DCs birthdays is important but you stop buying for DH, yourself, your parents etc. Maybe bake a cake or give a batch of homemade biscuits instead of a bought gift.
When you need to buy stuff, shop second hand first. Does brand new school uniform make anyone happier? Buy a bundle of second hand stuff instead

I don't think that's enough either. We are a family of 5 and we probably spend nearly that amount on food shops alone (inc nappies, cleaning stuff etc).

You need to list every single expense out like below and figure out what each costs allocate that amount and spread it as much as you can
This is ours
Me 3100
DP 4100
CB 280
Total 7480
Housing
Mortgage: 1900.
Insurances(life, house): 150
Property tax: 40
Total Housing: 2090
Utilities
Electricity 150
Waste collection: 30
Broadband & TV: 70
Mobile phones x3: 60
Total Utilities: 310
Food & Groceries
Groceries & household food: 500
Dining out / takeaways: 200
Total Food: 700
Transportation
Fuel: 250
Car insurance & tax: 150
Maintenance & NCT: 100
Public transport / Parking: 20
Total Transport: 520
Education & Kids
School books, uniforms, fees: 50
Activities, sports, clubs: 50
Pocket money/treats: 60
Total Kids & Education: 160
Entertainment & Lifestyle
Family outings, hobbies, gifts: 200
Subscriptions, books, etc.: 60
Miscellaneous expenses (haircuts,nails): 60
Personal spends: 200 x 2 = 400
Total Entertainment: 730
Savings & Miscellaneous
Emergency fund / Savings: 2,000
Holidays (monthly allocation): 500
Clothing: 200
Miscellaneous buffer: 260
Total Savings & Misc.: 2960
TOTAL MONTHLY SPENDING: 7,480

How do your finances difference when you’re not spending on a “massive renovation”?

to answer some questions;

This is semi temporary - next 4 years.

Of our total incoming money £1380 is disposable- from this I allocate the £950 (£850 if you exclude Christmas savings) The remaining £430 is £300 for savings ( but currently unable to do this due to an unexpected big bill in the renovation which we are having to pay back- also savings pot is £0. we planned to start saving once nursery finished in September but this has had to be put on hold) and £130 stays in the direct debit account and accrues but then pays for big annual direct debit expenses like car insurance, car servicing etc.

the question is , do I divert £300 back into the living from pot or save? (once I can) We both have quite good job security but I dont want to do this, but I dont want to struggle by either.

I cannot cut costs anywhere else- I cannot change my mortgage or loan repayments or put my dog up for adoption to save money. I cannot work more hours or change jobs.

I know I’m stating the obvious…but that’s really really tight. I would be focusing on reducing costs then. So only free days out and no eating out etc. what’s your plan if you have another big unexpected bill? Sorry to be a pain.

I don't know how you can consider putting £300 into savings each month when you're not able to live on what you have left. We earn a lot more than you have and we don't even put £300 away.

So yes i would say cut the savings!

I didn't actually state our earnings in the post, just disposable income after bills.

I wanted to start saving for a rainy day. I thought it would be better to be a bit hard up ( we do have enough for what we need, just not what i would like!) and have savings? Surely its better to have a safety net? Seems the majority would forgo the savings though.

Thanks everybody for responding it was good to get some other takes on it.

People spending £150- £250 on groceries is quite excessive 2bh. I meal plan and cook from scratch and I can manage very comfortably on £100 (aldi) or £120 ( Tesco ) and yes that includes cleaning and toiletries.

This is why I wanted to start saving and maybe I just have to live a bit frugally?. I could live frugally and relax when the savings hits x amount, so we have a bit of a buffer. But being able to save is at least 6 months away now anyways

Yes absolutely save every month. If you currently have no savings at all you could end up in a right mess if you hit an unexpected bill like needing a new washing machine or a car goes kaput.

How is your credit score? If you've got a decent rating you'll be able to get a 0% credit card if you really need to if the worst happens, but it would make a lot of sense just to have £1k savings. I would be frugal for just 3 or 4 months to build that up personally

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing though. Your budget is very tight. Out of the £300 I’d put £200 in savings each month and put the other £100 in your spending pot.

We could run one car if we really really needed too, but only temporarily. Also I could borrow money off 2 people if the push came to absolute shove- i have never needed to do this. Last year we had £3000 in car repairs and we managed that ( but it was tough).

Credit score is shot to hell, we have had to take on a lot of debt (because of the house, long story, yes regret here too) this is why despite earning quite well (dh) we are struggling. In April I get a payrise and next October a couple of things get paid off- this will free up about £200 per month in total ( inc payrise)

I think the best suggestion so fair is to split the savings pot. We wouldnt have enough of a buffer incase someone lost their job but should have enough to keep our heads above water if something relatively unexpected happened.

We do both pay into pensions and I think if we can just get through the next 4 years ( half of the debt clears) it will be ok

Never putting myself in this position again though! Never