money: Am I out of touch - a shower of reality needed

[Sonnet]

Following on from the "debt free?" thread I am inspired to ask about something I have been pondering on - I am toying with the idea of dratically reducing my current spending for the next couple of years to fund an idea that will lead to a better quality of life in the future.
I would have a total of £600 per 4 week period that would have to cover the following only:
1.Food 2 adults and 2 children
2.Any going out for us adults, as a family, for the children
3.Clothes - 2 adults
4.Hair cuts ( 2 adults and 2 children - I'm the expensive mone with a set of lowlights every 12 weeks!)
5. Birthday presents for other kids
6. Birthday pressi's for our children and b'day treats etc
7. Xmas - all pressis and all food
8. Swimming lessons for the children currently £7 per week
9. General sort of spending - ie Books,
Now, I am either being:
a)dreadfully extravagant thinking that this isn't much
b) wildley optomistic that £600 will be enough

So your thoughts will be appreciated...

We do tend to waste alot of food too. Things like yoghurts and sandwich spread and stuff like that all tend to go out of date before i've even looked at them.

Sonnet - Your progress so far is very inspiring.

The only time i know i'll trip up is when i start buying birthday and xmas pressies for the kids. Their birthdays are 11/11 6/12 and 12/12, so i am always sooo broke from about september

Any ideas ??

Have to admitt though that i spend way to much on them for birthdays and xmas.

May start a thread on that actually

Thanks Fio2 - will check that out....

Recently our budget, 2 adults 2 kids was:
£250/month for food. We don't skimp on food, though.
£300+ on everything else that isn't housey (ie., not the mortgage, cable modem, insurance, etc.).
And I found it very tight and stressful. Another £50/month might have made a difference, but really I had to scrimp all the time. And that's when DH cuts our hair and we don't do swimming lessons. The idea of buying clothes anywhere but a charity shop was almost laughable. I just wanted to cry whenever the kids needed new shoes. But I guess you can only try & see!

Usually the average household income is about the same as the median individual wage, so I'm with Fio2 & confused. The New Earnings Survey says about £476/full time worker, but it will be probably 20-30% lower (pro rata) for part-timers.

I think it might be worth a trip. How old are your children? I only ask because if they are younger then there are lots of ways to cut corners...as they get older they suss you out quicker!! And the big question is ......... What is your big dream for the future?

Nutty - Set up a spreadsheet in excel and monitor all outgoings. If you also bank on the internet you can cross check your balance and mark off when they go through - NB your spreadsheet balance is the true one not the banks - that way you'll always have a bit in hand over the bank statement IYSWIM...
After the first month, analyse where the money has gone it is a huge eyeopener. We don't go out much and I always thought that our weekly takeway was one of our more frivoulous items - but not...the biggest drainer of income after food was the cash that DH and I fritter away on lunches when we are working..
TBH I have let it slip a bit recently and sometimes making a packed lunch after a hectic day at work, hectic evening with the kids is just TOOOOO much
I have gone back to my spreadsheet and analysed where the money went last month and I am ashamed to admit the following:
Cash 21%
Food 49%
general living 14%
Frivolous 16%

Cash includes dreaded lunches, general living I defined as those items that were needed that month eg swimming lesson cheque, school trip and friviouls items were thos items that I can do without....Books, a scented candle etc..
The "challenge" for me now is to survive on a lot less.....
Let me know how you go on - if you have any questions etc just ask or feel free to email me.
Sonnet xx

Thanks Zebra - I have read a lot of your posts and you do seem very financially switched on - I do not know how you managed on food for £250 - it makes me even more ashamed that I should be able to cut back..
collision - they are 3 and 7 therefore the age I am buying presents for is about the same....TBH they are not very brand concious - well compared to some kids I've seen..
I like the idea of making presents for freiends and relatives for xmas, easter, B'day as we do a llot of crafty things anyway...
My dream? - well I want to pay off our mortgage - not very big anyway BUT I want to overpay by a significant amount every month. I want to then buy a house in France. I will probably carry on working for the foreseeable future but with the idea of giving up compleetly in a few years to spend more time in france - this has been both mine and DH's dream for a long time and TBH we have a small mortgage and a lot of equity in the hosue and could afford to buy in france now if we released some equity - BUT we are very "safe" people and don't like the idea of extending ourselves. We had a serious chat a week or so ago and TBH IF we can overpay a significant amount for the next 2 years we can go for it....hence the question am I mad or frivoules (SP).....

Yeah, financially switched on but too bad the rest of my life feels like a mess!

Oh what a good idea Sonnet. My aunt and uncle moved to France last Feb and they love it. Somewhere near to Charentes (??) i think. That could be wrong my geography is crap

Thanks for the encouragment, i will do a spread sheet, and i actually asked for a password to set up an internet banking acount earlier today, so it should be up and running soon.

Sorry to hear Zebra - your posts are full of such good commensense ideas and you come across as knowing exactly what you want and being in full control of your life...cyberworld hey...or maybe I've missed some of your posts?..

zebra you ok?