My SOA - struggling atm!

Jo_R_2

I sooooooo know about the money coming in at different times: OH gets paid weekly, child maintenance is monthly and child benefits are 4-weekly!

The way I do it is budget everything on a monthly basis. For the year in my diary I have circled every date a payment is due, and to which month it is attributed. This makes sense when you think about the year being 12-monthly but child benefit/tax credits being 4-weekly so 13 per year - it means that each year there is a 'spare' child benefit/tax credit payment which we like:D

Our shopping is weekly out of OH's wages and I budget DDs and SOs monthly out of my account. We have clear ideas of who pays for what.

What I did find is that once we implemented this, it took a couple of months for things to roll around to a smooth working order. You can however plan this and with foresight know where you will struggle and the options you can take to work through that short-term.

The shopping as has been said is an obvious one. We spend around £240-£260 a month for 5 of us (2 adults, kids aged 6, 3 and 11 months)which includes baby things (but no pets) and my next step is to cut down on the fruit and veg by going to Aldi. I don't buy alcohol with the shop as I don't really drink - if OH wants it he buys it out of his own money:D Do you menu plan? I account for everything down to how much cordial we'll drink over a week (two bottles not quite enough, three essential), how many packets of crisps we "need" for packed lunches, how many slices of Quorn or chicken etc go on OH and DD1's sandwiches for their pack ups and so on!

I plan home baking usually for the couple of days before shopping day when supplies start to get low, make a couple/few of whatever it is, keep some out to use and freeze the rest.

WASHER

I know Sundaygirl, my expenditure sheet is pretty detailed, but you cannot account for everything, and repairs to the house are always far more expensive than you think (I'm talking about doing it yourself too).

My son kindly informed me this morning his shoes are too tight, he has only has them since Christmas and each time I buy him shoes it costs me £45, size 9 H fitting, and he's only 10! No doubt he will need trainers too, they have to be clarks too, so another £45. I only allocated £40 per month for clothing on my SOA, its no where near enough with two children and a husband who has to be well dressed for his job.

sunday_girl

Jo_R wrote: »

I sooooooo know about the money coming in at different times: OH gets paid weekly, child maintenance is monthly and child benefits are 4-weekly!

The way I do it is budget everything on a monthly basis. For the year in my diary I have circled every date a payment is due, and to which month it is attributed. This makes sense when you think about the year being 12-monthly but child benefit/tax credits being 4-weekly so 13 per year - it means that each year there is a 'spare' child benefit/tax credit payment which we like:D

Our shopping is weekly out of OH's wages and I budget DDs and SOs monthly out of my account. We have clear ideas of who pays for what.

What I did find is that once we implemented this, it took a couple of months for things to roll around to a smooth working order. You can however plan this and with foresight know where you will struggle and the options you can take to work through that short-term.

The shopping as has been said is an obvious one. We spend around £240-£260 a month for 5 of us (2 adults, kids aged 6, 3 and 11 months)which includes baby things (but no pets) and my next step is to cut down on the fruit and veg by going to Aldi. I don't buy alcohol with the shop as I don't really drink - if OH wants it he buys it out of his own money:D Do you menu plan? I account for everything down to how much cordial we'll drink over a week (two bottles not quite enough, three essential), how many packets of crisps we "need" for packed lunches, how many slices of Quorn or chicken etc go on OH and DD1's sandwiches for their pack ups and so on!

I plan home baking usually for the couple of days before shopping day when supplies start to get low, make a couple/few of whatever it is, keep some out to use and freeze the rest.

Thanks, I definitely need to take a leaf out of your book when it comes to food planning. I thought I had been meal planning but in reality only main meals (not all of which the kids will eat so often they have something different) and it's the other things that I always seem to run out of like crisps and then end up at the local shop for more bits for packed lunches/kids snacks. Annoyed that I've now run out of bread flour and have had to pay £1.40 for a loaf from there this afternoon too (so I need to get calculating how much of that I actually need for a week rather than guessing!

Horace

sunday_girl wrote: »

Thanks, I definitely need to take a leaf out of your book when it comes to food planning. I thought I had been meal planning but in reality only main meals (not all of which the kids will eat so often they have something different) and it's the other things that I always seem to run out of like crisps and then end up at the local shop for more bits for packed lunches/kids snacks. Annoyed that I've now run out of bread flour and have had to pay £1.40 for a loaf from there this afternoon too (so I need to get calculating how much of that I actually need for a week rather than guessing!

Don't make different food for the kids - they eat what you eat. Have a look on the moneysaving oldstyle board for tips on meal planning.

JoXani

Have you thought of investing in some cloth nappies? It would save you a fortune each month in disposables and when you are done with them you can just sell them on. The resale value of nappies is really good and if you bought second hand to begin with it wouldn't cost you too much to get started with them. Also if you contact your local council you can see what incentive schemes your council does for using cloth. I've only ever used cloth and tbh when we've used disposables on holiday I've found them to be more of a faff than cloth and the smell of the chemicals in them - Yuk!

You could also invest in reusable wipes. For example Cheeky Wipes. Even if you don't go down the cloth route for nappies reusable wipes can save you a couple of hundred pounds a year!