Not even half way through the month and we're already broke.....Help me sort out my finances please

[Nutcracker]

Just been to the cash point to find that we have hardley any money left already. I've written down what has gone out and there is still about 150 quid that i can't account for, but i know it must just be from when we go and get the odd 10 or 20 quid out.
We really need to get this sorted out as when we move to the house our rent will be going up, as will our c/tax and everything else. I was hoping to save some money too.
When i write down our incomings and outgoings we should have enough money but we always end up runing out.
Dp has his account, which his wages are paid into, and rent, c/tax, phone, water and insurance go out of.
I have my account which the wftc is paid into and my loan and a few little bills go out of it.

Is it really cheaper to do my shopping online ?? We seem to spend an awful lot at the supermarket at the moment but never seem to have any food iykwim.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I haven't told dp that we are broke again. He won't notice cos he never really checks the balance.
I am going to spend the rest of this month sorting out what we need to pay when, and trying to do some meal planners.
I am definatly going to start shopping online too.
I don't really want to open up a seperate account for bills as it would mean changing alot of direct debits.
What i think i may do is leave any money in his account for bills and then take the rest out and put it in mine as i have access to online banking and he doesn't. That should make things easier to manage.

Am going to have a good read of that thread later WWW.

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Check out their discussion boards, particularly the Managing Your Finances one for tons of useful info.

Nutty,
Sorry I don't understand why you don't want to tell your dp. Perhaps the distribution between your accounts needs adjusting as you say, but he has got to be responsible for monitoring his own spending, especially if you are budgetting for bits for the house, and you can't reasonably expect him to do so unless he knows. It would be better for you to share the stress and responsibilty for this.

Lizs - He doesn't like to have anything to do with how we manage the money, and as he is terrible at it, i prefer it that way too.
He doesn't even keep his own cashpoint card because he'd be at the machine every day if he did.

I've just got out of the routine of doing it properly really. I used to sit down and sort everything out for the month when he got paid, but i just got out of the habit.

I want to make sure that we have enough money to slowley do the house up but still have enough for food e.t.c.
I know the money is there, it's just that at the mo it dissapears without us noticing iykwim.

Can you change so you have a joint account and then you can manage the money better if you both write down in a diary or something when you take money out or yse the debit card or alternatively added up estimates of yearky bills add 10% and put the same ammount each month aside for bills-

Its hard getting the finances right, but here are my tips. When you do your weekly shop keep the receipt, before you do you next shop tick off anything from the receipt that you have eaten or used or in fact threw away because it went bad, it may well be that you can easily save by just getting the amounts right, dont by pre-packed or cut veg as this is more pricey and if you shop at Sainsburys take the bags back, its a 1p a bag back, its only a little saving but can help. Have you changed your gas or electric to a cheaper supplier or whatabout shopping on a credit card, paying it off every month and getting the cashback deals. Look on the moneysavingexpert.com website theres loads of info on their. Buy kids birthday pressies on 3 for 2's and buy large packs of birthday cards rather that individual ones.

WWW, good thought on that old thread, recall it had some good and varied ideas. Nutcracker i don't know how many children you have or how old they are but if you find you spend a lot on clothes for them, try NCT nearly new sales where lovely stuff is available at bargain prices; also look in shops' end of summer sales for next year's summer stuff (ie buy a size bigger). I do this and it's great to come to april/may and find a bagful of new clothes which fit DS1 and DD. (As long as you remember and don't find the bag in October ho ho).

Nutcracker _ iused the motley fool at the beginning of the year to sort out our finances. I can't recommend it highly enough - there are some real money wizards on there who can help you. Give it a try.

If you are running out of money, your incomings and outgoings are not accurate. You need to write down everything you spend and work out where your purse is leaking! Then make a realistic budget and stick to it. We have become very anal and track expenditure on a spreadsheet - we may not keep this up forever but ATM it helps both of us realise where the money is going.

One thing we did is set up some extra accounts - one for all the bills/ mortgage, direct debits etc, one each for our 'pocket money' eg the money we have to spend on ourselves a month, and one for joint outgoings - petrol, food, stuff for the kids etc. It's really helped us to see what we have left. The last two months are the first in a long time where we haven't gone overdrawn without realising.

HTH

my sympathy nutcracker, you've got so much on your plate and money worries are awful. i'm diabolical with money so don't know how i have the gall to post anything but sympathy... however, one small thing that helped me when i set up a spreadsheet with all spending etc on it, was to allow 10% of spending as a cushion. i.e. I added up all my likely spending including food for the week or month, then added a further 10% before taking it away from my income, to see what I had left. Before I did this, I was always kneecapped by a cashpoint trip I forgot, or a bank charge I'd not allowed for.

Also maybe worth talking with your children? sorry, not sure how old they are. Preferably dp too, but sit down with kids and write up the budget, good learning experience for them and they may have ideas which surprise you on how to save money, also i know from experience it is less frightening for kids to be involved than to have a vague idea that the money is about to run out but not know when. Best wishes and hth.

Can anyone tell me which supermarket (if any?) is likely to give me stuff online that is not out of date the following day? I tried Sainsburys and found that everything they delivered was to be used by the next day - not much use when you have a small freezer and had planned the meals for the whole week. I was so dispirited by the experience I gave up online shopping. I am one of those dreadful people who pull the longest use by dates from the backs of the shelves. Anyone with any advice?

Hi Nutty - know what yu mean, just where does it all disaper to eh?.
I too can strongly vote for the meal plan - I plan out the week ahead and just shop for that - iy only talkes 5 mins and also I find it helps that I know what we are eating - it saves having to think every day.
Also, Make a list of whats in the freezer - and include those bits on your first few weeks eating plan.
Casseroles are cheap and easy to do - bulk out on veg - also cottage pie and lasagnes are great with mince and lots of veg...
Another quick ,easy and cheap meal is pasta with bacon in a homemade cheese sauce. Grill bacon, pcook pasta, make a sauce with butter, flour and milk, add grated cheese and grilled bacon and add to pasta.
Let us know how you get on...

Janinlondon - I am a seasoned shop on-liner and if I had experienced what you have I'd do the following:
Ad notes to your short life chilled products saying you will not accept a use by date of xxxx
Go through your chilled order on delivery and "reject" short code products - sort of defetes the object a bit though...I have reh=jected milk and ham once with a day or so on them.

Thanks Sonnet. I think you're right - it kind of defeats the purpose. Especially since my shopping is delivered while I'm at work and I can't imagine DH checking the dates! I think I have to accept that for me, online shopping is just not cost effective.

Hi Nutcracker
Haven't had time to read all the thread so apologies if I'm repeating advice, but has anyone recommended Alvin Hall's Your Money or Your Life? Lots of very good practical advice for taking control of your finances immediately, but also genuinely interesting stuff about getting to the bottom of why you can't manage finances and how to learn to stay in control of them. Hmm, maybe I need to read it again!!

Janinlondon, whenever Tescos online does that to me I ring the helpline and they give me an immediate refund. I just make sure that whatever we have for dinner that night incudes the offending item!

Here are some useful sites - here , here , here and here .