Please can you help me with a financial makeover (warning- we are rich)

[ohIdoliketobebesidethe]

After all the threads on money recently I have finally pulled my head out the sand and gone through our finances. I have looked at everything we have spent in the last 12 months. The money has all gone. All £106,000.

When I return to work in Feb, our childcare costs will be increasing and also in Feb our mortgage discount period will be ending and we will have to pay an extra £4000 a year in interest.

I know this is a undignified thing to do in our culture- but as you don't know me-I'm going to tell you where all the money went.

Any advice about cutting down any of it will be gratefully received. (eg. our landline/broadband costs seem high seeing as we barely use the phone, has anyone got a cheaper deal?)

3000 living where we live
400 having a car
2750 childcare
520 supermarkets
66 house/baby stuff
250 holidays
310 work related expenses
175 cleaner
180 charity
120 computer stuff
50 books
160 council tax
40 water
75 electricity
35 phone/ broadband
162 life insurance
140 healthcare/dentist/opticians
45 mobiles
120 presents
100 eating out
100 clothes
120 travel
15 newpapers
20 kids outings.

Please don't be too offended at what we spend. And I genuinely would like advice about cutting down.

£710 not necessarily expensive if you need strange glasses.

Dp's last lot cost nearly £600. specsavers couldn't do them any cheaper befcause of his bizarre prescription and stuff.

plus her DH's lenses. it adds up

thankfully that isn't a monthly expenditure though

Dh had a detached retina- has v expensive lenses - we have stopped using contacts as well though!

We do use the childcare vouchers but I didn't discount it from the total.
It is a flat not a house but I love it.

Thinking about it - if we did get a nanny I could save on the parking at the hospital too and a lot of the petrol etc. Would still want to keep the old banger though.

well there you go. i think that's def something to look into.
and you know, if you can make decent savings in one big area like that then you won't feel so bad about eating out and that kind of stuff, which is smaller but all adds up

You are so right. Would help me enjoy treats like eating out / hols if I wasn't worried about money too!

And would dc1 qualify for some preschool time now they are 3.5 which a nanny could take them to?

Why yes she would. I did try and get her a place at local preschool (just in case) but failed to. But there must be others around which I should try and find.

yes dd1 can def get free childcare vouchers. thus freeing up a little bit of nannies time that she can use to make you some food :D

I have no idea what kind of things nannies are expected to do tbh, but I wouldn't imagine that it would be unreasonable to ask her to do some tidying and cooking. if she is cooking for the kids she just needs to make more so that you and DH can have it when you get in. thus saving even more money.

and, if she does tidying/cleaning (not ALL of it obviously) but means your cleaner can do less, thus pay her less too

I was just suggesting that it's worth (in future) checking whether Specsavers and their ilk can provide what you need, more cheaply. I know that complicated lenses can be costly, but my own (astigmatic) eyes pop out of my head when I see more upmarket opticians selling frames which seem very like Specsavers' for three or four times the price!

you can get 5 2.5 hr sessions a week. so she could go every day.
or, what I do with ds1 is have him there for 3 5 hour sessions a week.
the vouchers can run back to back so I just pay for one half session a week. but the 5 hours is more useful to me for getting stuff done (and so would be for a nanny too I think)
I have to pay for his lunch, and also for when he is there during school hols because the vouchers are only for 38 weeks of the year

OP- Just wanted to say that it is not that difficult to spend that much on three kids without being extravagant. Especially if you are both working and both too busy to open the mail, pay the parking fine, sort out the cheapest utility suppliers etc. But atleast you have a decent figure to play with. Good luck

absolutely Bocca.
always worth shopping around

Or you could get your wonder nanny/ housekeeper/ cleaner/ cook and get her to present you with all the options for you and your DH to sit at leisure and review.

Got to say it you're doing amazingly well at letting us all pick over your finances without it getting or taking it personally.

Roomba

www.iroboteurope.co.uk/section?secid=39815&camp=ppc:google:products:roomba:roomba

MrsGokWn- do you recommend this vaccuum cleaner for carpets?

cheaper here although haven't matched the spec

work-related expenses...get on the phone to BMA, college, MDU etc and ask how much is reclaimable from tax man...you can't reclaim it all, but you can reclaim some of it. You will need to do a tax return to reclaim it though, and this is a nuisance!

Books...you can reclaim replacements, but not new ones, so updating is reclaimable, but not a book you just happened to like the look of.

You may be able to claim for a proportion of subscription to journals.

Take sandwiches to work, it's must cheaper than the canteen.

Get an energy monitor...watch where the electricity goes, honestly, I drive dh mad, going round and turning off lights, but you can cut the electricity bill by 20%.

thnks Heated

TD - don't tell me this is dw's Xmas present? How comfy is that sofa?

Heated. No, wedding Anniversary present. Does it come with attachments for doing the other jobs?

There is not a lot I can add to the very good advice you have already received but it occured to me that it is so difficult to find cheap fun things to do with the kids and it is an expense on your list so here is my contribution...
www.letsgowiththechildren.co.uk/

You can search activities in your area to suit the age of your children, to suit a budget and even to suit the weather so it is one of my top tools.

I hope you find it useful and that you manage to reduce your outgoings.

get a medical rep to pay for your conferences and trips abroad!

You can always be bribed persuaded into using their products

ABPI allowing of course

TD, we don't have one(yet), I've been researching Roombas for my father but I think the 500 series comes with everything it needs, like the docking station. If you search, there are appreciation threads on MN for the Roomba where you can read about 'Philip' & 'Felicity'.

Actually, sod this. Your mortgage will get £4k more expensive pa, your childcare will go up but, presumably, you will be earning more by returning to work. As long as your current expenditure is not putting you into debt, as long as you love living in your home and can see the value of it and as long as your outgoings are giving you a quality of life you are happy with, what is the problem? Have you spent more than you (and dh) earned or is it just the scale of the outflow that is worrying you?