how much do you save/pay off debt/live on per month

JAMIEDODGER

OMG!!!!! i have just noticed me thread has had a mention on martins email woohoooooo, (can you tell im thrilled lol) thank you sooooooo much martin!!!!!!

FrankieM

well done Jamiedodger!!!

loubie_lou

I saw that too!! Good thread tho!!! :j

Thefunkygibbons

Income
Mine £4,150
Hers £1,100
Child allowance £220
Total £5,470

Outgoings
Mortgage £560
House insurance £50
Life insurance £32
Mobile £18
House phone including broadband £35
TV licence £11
Oil £80 (Prices are very high at the moment)
Electric £33
Council tax £190
Car £160 (fuel £100, insurance £30, maintenance £30)
Food for seven £550 (approx £100 pw plus trips to cash and carry)
Charity £100 (Fixed donations to 5 charities)
School trips etc £50
Children's clubs £120 (Riding, ice hockey, music, netball, guides etc)
Entertainment £50 (mostly cinema and DVD purchases)
Bits and pieces every month £100
Annual holiday £150 (for seven)
Christmas and birthdays £200 (total cost including presents for everyone)
Clothes £100

Total £2,589

Regular saving
Pension £236
SAYE £250
ISA £100
Mortgage overpayment £2,090
Total £2,676

Net left £205

Lump sum bonues tend to go into lump sum savings

Interesting exercise that I have never really looked at before

Looks like I can increase the mortgage over payment again

JAMIEDODGER

thefunkygibbons - wow, thats amazing, i must say you obviously have your head totally screwed on when it comes to money. did it take you a long time to reach this point? was it hard? any expert tips for us guys just starting out on the road to debtfreeness with a view to saving once we have? im totally inspired by your post!

Thefunkygibbons

Thank you for the thread, we all have something to learn

I guess i have covered the ground in here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=87149

James240

JAMIEDODGER wrote:

thefunkygibbons - wow, thats amazing, i must say you obviously have your head totally screwed on when it comes to money. did it take you a long time to reach this point? was it hard? any expert tips for us guys just starting out on the road to debtfreeness with a view to saving once we have? im totally inspired by your post!

so am i as the amount that u save funky gibbons is quite amazing!! well done for having ur head screwed on! :T

Thefunkygibbons

ozzyfan wrote:

thefunkygibbons - please could I ask how you get a holiday for 7 for £150?

your budget is so impressive have you always been so good with money?

One word

Camping

Me and the beloved have always camped, in fact our honeymoon was 2 weeks camping

in Ireland :rolleyes:

in September

:rotfl:

So the children are used to camping.

So holiday wise, we spend 2 weeks on a main camping trip each year and perhaps another week somewhere cheap like a holiday cottage through welcome cottages.

We always do self catering so the food we are spending money on is the same that we would be spending at home.

Although, we have had some foreign trips, we only had to pay for easyjet flights as the sister in law has a place in Spain.

To answer the second question: I have always been careful with money, (I was the eldest of six in a single parent family so I leant about the importance of security at a young age). I do avoid most of the obvious money pits (flash car, gadgets, drinking, gambling etc)

However, I do admit to some wasteful spending. I have a large music collection, but I now try to limit my monthly spending to the net monthly interest from the stooz pot

Thefunkygibbons

JAMIEDODGER wrote:

thefunkygibbons - wow, thats amazing, i must say you obviously have your head totally screwed on when it comes to money. did it take you a long time to reach this point? was it hard? any expert tips for us guys just starting out on the road to debtfreeness with a view to saving once we have? im totally inspired by your post!

I don't see myself as an expert, for a start, if money saving was my only goal, I would not have 5 children :rotfl:


Thinking about it for a couple of hours, summing up my approach really simply

Stick to the basic principles of money saving most days
Do not allow your expenses to expand to keep up with your income (or even exceed it) (The keeping up with the Jones problem)
So as income increases, save the increases by standing order

I know I caught a lot of flak in the past for being well paid, but money saving is a state of mind and it would not be hard to spend the amount I save each month.

Alfietinker

Just for the record - here's mine!

My income: £1215 salary + £116 extra cleaning jobs.
My outgoings: £700 into joint account, £500 credit card payments, £13 contact lenses. £116 is my 'spending' money - for anything personal.

Hubby's income: £1350 + approx £70 extra teaching jobs.
His outgoings: £840 into joint account, £100 'spending' and rest into savings (various accounts/Isas etc).

From our joint account we pay
£463 mortgage,
£80 further mortgage advance
£102 Council tax
£160 a month food
£160 petrol
£10 ish TV licence
£57 car insurance
£169 car loan
£30 life insurance.
£12 water rates.
£40 garage rental

We build up a surplus fund in the joint account to cover car servicing/tax/vet bills/utility bills etc. We worked out paying £1540 per month into this account covers each eventuality - never much surplus for long though!

When i've paid off my credit cards - July time, I'll continue to put the £500 away somewhere. Our short term plans are to pay off our further mortgage advance (£11,500 in approx 18 months). In 18 months our car will be paid off, hopefully I'll have a more local job (we currently spend 4 hours a day in the car), and we can generally reduce our outgoings. To either: (a) allow us to start a family, (b) re-locate to a different area with minimum mortgage payments - then start a family.

It'll be a tough couple of years, but should be worth it