HELP! Have cut back all I can but am still over-spending!

ash28 · 7 February 2013 at 11:08AM

I make your outgoings less than £2k too and if you are spending £300 a month more than you have coming in, then your monthly spend (including petrol) is around £1425 a month or £1175 a month, excluding petrol - that lower figure is equal to £14k a year.

£1425 a month is a lot of money - you do really need to find out where this £500+ a month is going. I would go through 3 months worth of bank statements and just look at what you're spending and where.

What about work - do you both take packed lunches to work?

How much do you each allow yourselves a week for coffee/sandwiches/magazines etc - there seems to be nothing in there. And most people going to work do seem to spend some money.

Ad hoc spending can add a whole lot to your monthly budget - I would allocate you and OH an amount of money each month/week for spending. How often do you "pop" into your local shop? I used to go to a local Tesco Express for a pint of milk/loaf of bread and could end up spending £20 before I had blinked. Do that a few times a month and it soon tots up.

You spend £900 a month on petrol and food shopping - I would try and draw this money out each month or move it to a separate account and not touch what is in the main account (if everything goes into one account). Use that for your month to month spends.

I won't comment on your food bill, other than to say I would try and make that amount of money (£650) your total monthly spend, including ad hoc spending but excluding petrol, you can afford it.

Personally I would do an online shop for a few weeks and try and stick to a £90 to £100 budget and then use the £50 for ad hoc spending.

I shopped at the weekend and between Aldi, Lidl and Tesco spent £120 that's 2 weeks worth for 3 of us (no potatoes or onions or eggs (£4 for 30) as I buy those from the farm). At the end of the shopping I had £70 in my purse and I still have £70 in my purse. I need milk for tomorrow - in the village milk is £1.85 for 4 pints - someone I know is going to Morrison's today and I've asked them to bring 3 x 4pint cartons as they're 3 for £3. If I went to the village shop (it's a medium sized Co-op) I would spend more than £3 - I know I would.

Our grandson who's 11 lives with us and he has school dinners - he gets the money put in his dinner money account every month. So no packed lunches. OH and I are early retired, so again no packed lunches or work related spending money. I enjoy cooking and have the time to do it now - it was different when I was working and our kids were young.

We don't live on basics stuff either - I buy basics fruit and veg if it's available and basics mince for the dog.

I'm not great with money and am in the fortunate position of not really having to be, but I did waste an awful lot of money - I posted in a thread (someone else's) on here a couple of months ago how the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. I got some good advice and one piece of advice was to use cash - as a card user it was quite strange - as I hardly ever had much in the way of cash - if I wanted something I paid by card. But I made an effort after Christmas and I am much more in control of my spending and I actually know where the money goes - before I didn't. Sometimes I would look at a bank statement and not even remember some of the purchases.

Now all I have to do is train OH.

peachyprice · 7 February 2013 at 11:11AM

ScrimpingandSaving wrote: »

The most we spend is on groceries which is around £650pm for a family of four. That includes wine, beer and sundries such as household items, children's underwear and some birthday gifts.

Stop buying beer and wine, you can't afford it.

ScrimpingandSaving · 7 February 2013 at 11:11AM

Thank you for answering.

To address a few questions, we can't go down a band on council tax. This is an ex-council house, 3 bed and we are in band B. It's right.

Yes £650pm on groceries for a family of 4 is a lot and I've signed up to a meal planner. But you have to take into account that this is not just groceries, it's things for the house, cleaning stuff, school equipment and a few essentials, toiletries, etc.

I'll break it down into more detail:

In the home:
MobilePhones: £10
TV Licence:£12.12
Internet:£17
Home phone:£9.72
HouseholdMaintenance: £15
Electricity£29.04
Gas £66.67
Water:£29.17
Council Tax:£130
HomeInsurance £6.42
Mortgage:£448.40
Food andhousehold shopping: £600
Drinks forhome £90

Motoring
Petrol: £280
Car Tax £74
CarInsurance: £44
CarMaintenance: £63
Breakdowncover: £3.33

Debts
Credit card:£50 (I use it for Paypal)

Savings
Childrens£40
Lump sumsavings: £100 (for tax and pension)
Regularsaving: £16 (spare change saver)

Family
SchoolTrips: £20
SchoolMeals: £9.97 (one meal a week)
PocketMoney: £17.33

Entertainment
Days out(incl cinema, etc): £25
Books,music, films, etc: £14
Shopping forfun: £90
Pet Costs:£2.20 (hamster)
Antivirus:£3.38
DVD Rental:£5.99
DrinkingOut: £65
Eating out:£21.67

Clothes,Health, Beauty
Haircuts:£8.67
Clothes: £25

Big One-Offs
Birthdays:£30
Holidays(incl weekends away) £83.33
Christmas:£41.67

Odds andSods
Newspapers£36.50
Tax and NI:£12.13
Regularcharity donations: £5

So areas we can cut back on are in entertainment. We tend to spend weekends with the family and will go for a long walk followed by drinks in the pub. It's a weekend habit and gives us all chance to chat and get out for a bit. Stopping that will save £65pm.

Shopping for fun I've heaped in all our miscellaneous spending like cash withdrawals. This is generally used on prescription medicine (my other half has psoriasis and I have hayfever), bits we buy whilst out and about, one-off donations to charity, etc.

I'm hoping to cut down the food bill in using a weekly menu planner but to be honest, we don't throw food away, everything is used and I make everything from fresh. I'm hoping that one vegetarian a meal a week will make the difference and instead of buying supermarket curries every week, I'll try and make a batch and freeze them, so this bill should come down by around £100pm? Drinks include wine, beer and non-alcoholic drink. I guess we could become teetotal?

We don't spend a huge amount, we don't buy clothes from new, no big days out, no costly clubs for the kids, no babysitter costs, etc. I do feel that we already live quite frugally and am so disheartened that we have to find yet more ways to cut back.

Any advice appreciated

(and yes, it does seem silly to put away £100 savings, I am self employed and this was to cover my tax but I don't earn enough to pay tax so I was still taking it out as a kind of pension fund. I will cancel that which does leave me without a pension unfortunately.)

Ilona · 7 February 2013 at 11:17AM

I suggest you stop drinking beer and wine, you don't need it. Your grocery spend is far too high, change to value or saver own labels. Reduce your meat intake, make veggie meals instead. Keep a spending dairy, write down every penny you spend, it is a good eye opener, you will see where your money is leaking away.
Ilona

Just seen your breakdown. Shopping for fun isn't much fun if you can't afford it. No need to become teatotal, just cut it right down. A bottle of wine is a once a week treat, not an everyday thing.

I am sorry but you don't live frugally. It's about changing your mindset. I live frugally on a state pension, there are things I would like, but know I can't have because I can't afford to pay for them. It does not make me feel deprived, in fact the opposite, I feel extremely fortunate that I have a lovely life while managing on so little.

ScrimpingandSaving · 7 February 2013 at 11:19AM

My husband buys a newspaper every day for the crossword and will also buy a packet a crisps and a chocolate bar.

He makes his own lunch. The kids have packed lunches except for my son who has one school dinner a week as he has anxiety problems and I wanted to give him something to look forward to at school once a week. I work from home and will often skip lunch anyway.

"Stop buying beer and wine, you can't afford it." Rather harsh? We don't go out as a couple so this is our time at the weekends to put on a DVD and have something nice to drink. But I am going to cut down in this area too.

Wine - we get through 2 bottles a week which is around a £12 a week. Husband has beer in, that's about £7 and I have juice or ginger beer which is around £3 a bottle. £22 a week there. It mounts up and I don't think we go mad in this area.

Soworried · 7 February 2013 at 11:23AM

Don't buy newspapers. Read them online for free.

To be honest I see a lot of your spending to be waste, you don't have to go to the pub to spend time as a family.

ScrimpingandSaving · 7 February 2013 at 11:23AM

We DO stick to own brand labels that's why I don't understand it. I know I can spend as much as £95 on the weekly shop but it can be more if I am buying birthday presents from the supermarket (for the childrens' friends or relatives) or school uniform/stationery/essentials for the kids.

We buy cheap meat cuts, I try to stick to chicken, I use the slow cooker a lot. We do go through a lot of fruit and veg and plenty of things for packed lunches such as bread, sandwich fillers, cold meats, salad, etc. The only branded items we get are tea and coffee. The rest is supermarket own label.

peachyprice · 7 February 2013 at 11:25AM

ScrimpingandSaving wrote: »

My husband buys a newspaper every day for the crossword and will also buy a packet a crisps and a chocolate bar.

could you buy him a crossword book once a month and multi-packs of crisps and chocolate bars?

"Stop buying beer and wine, you can't afford it." Rather harsh?

Wine - we get through 2 bottles a week which is around a £12 a week. Husband has beer in, that's about £7 and I have juice or ginger beer which is around £3 a bottle. £22 a week there. It mounts up and I don't think we go mad in this area.

It was supposed to he harsh because it's true, you can't afford it, you're over £300 short every month and a third of your shortfall is going on alcohol, more if you include the amount you spend at the pub, that brings it to over half of your shortfall. If you stop regular drinking you're half way to being back in budget. Or would you rather cut back on quality food?

ScrimpingandSaving · 7 February 2013 at 11:27AM

Yes I see what you are saying. We spend time as a family going on a long country walk and then we buy drinks for everyone in the pub afterwards. It's something we all enjoy.

If we cut back on all you are suggesting, how do we enjoy life?

My husband can't access the newspaper online, he's a truck driver. He likes to read it and do the crossword during his lunch break.

Again, this is all stuff that makes our lives a little more bearable day by day. If we cut all this out, we are merely existing surely?

I guess that's what we have to do though. Or else lose everything.
Facing up to reality sure does suck.

craigywv · 7 February 2013 at 11:29AM

great post ASH28!!!also well done scrimping and saving for taking the first step in posting ALL your outgoungs we all here for the same reason to save money otherwise we would all be on another site BUYING!!! i too have hayfever and find the poundshops anti histamenes fab try changing to them, stop putting the savings away you cant afford it,the main potion is food and you need to take the bull by the horns on this 1 , you say your your own boss so you can go to supermarket at reducing time as your not restricted to times deffo start getting the discounted food, go to the other threads there is 1 at the minute on the 3 rd page of the threads how to live for 20 quid a week try it, shuffle it about add a bit more money maybe give yourself 40 quid a week to start and see if this helps. i think sorry to say this but drinking out, eating out need to be binned if your even going to startto rectify your spendings sorry to sound like a grim reaper but you cant go on for much longer spending like that it will soon run out,your in the right place here people here will help you but you need to help yourself too xxx

HELP! Have cut back all I can but am still over-spending!

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