Budget Advice

I'm in a similar position, having just pulled my head out of the sand I realised we were not doing well financially, thankfully I'm tackling it before we get into major debt. My partner is the main earner and I'm self employed (making very little but our circumstances means it'd be difficult for me to get a job).


has your wife checked for entitlement to child tax credits and working tax credits. you probably won't get a lot but even a bit will help, particularly if your wife needs to reduce her working hours, I think there is a calculator on this site somewhere so you can check before you call.


use the site saynoto0870 to get the relevant landline number so you don't spend a fortune on the phone call.


I've just swapped my internet from sky to ee. it was £132 upfront for line rental and then £2.50 per month (+ though MSE you get £100 Amazon voucher), saving £27 per month compared to sky. and the voucher will pay for kids birthday presents. (bonus).


I always do my main shop at aldi first, then anything I can't get there I use other supermarkets, places like B+Ms can have great stuff too. When we shopped at asda a big shop could easily be £100 now I'm shocked if our aldi shopping hits £40. I also now plan out meals so I only buy what we need batch cook and freeze portions so now we always have healthy meals that can be reheated and served within 10 mins. (hoping to keep shaving the bill down)


For kids stuff I always try to get 2nd hand first and don't go overboard at birthdays and xmas. I was blessed with a lot of hand me downs, but charity shops and facebook selling pages are really handy and I've heard the jack and jill markets are really good too. when I feel guilty cos I see other parents spending tonnes on there kids I remind myself that we aren't getting into debt to buy toys and it means we can have fun family days out, which I think is much more important. On that note always check for discount codes before you head somewhere, loads of softplays will have a cheap deal at quieter times, cineworld does junior showings where you can get tickets for as little as £1.35, I take my two swimming a lot my local pool is £3.05 for me and the kids go free (under 5), check out your local community centre, ours sometimes get theatre companies in doing kids shows for a couple of quid a ticket. Just make the most of anything free in your area, your health visitor should know whats on. We spend about £50 per month on the 2 kids (excluding transport) but we do loads with it.


there are loads of stuff you can try to make a few extra pennies but it really is only a little extra and personally I find it all a bit stressful. I try to cut back so we can live within our means and spend more time together.


hope this helps a bit, you'll probably be really surprised with what you manage to take off your monthly bills. I've cut my bills down and we're actually doing more fun stuff than ever
all the best x