In a massive mess

plum44_2

Well anything is a start Roxie. For every kids party I give a £5 note in the card. No one has ever complained. Haircuts - I have a good pair of scissors and I cut my children's hair myself. You can find out how to cut hair on the net. Really can't afford to get my highlights done very often so that is a sacrifice-yes.

RoxieW

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 850
Benefits................................ 500
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3350

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 360
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 115
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 25
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 200
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 8
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 7
Other insurance......................... 16
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200
Haircuts................................ 50
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 300
Emergency fund.......................... 20
D work lunches.......................... 100
work exp................................ 50
school dinners.......................... 100
pocket money ........................... 100
charity................................. 15
Total monthly expenses.................. 2920


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 135000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 5000
Total Assets............................ 145000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(360)......0.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
overdraft......................3000......0.........25
Total unsecured debts..........3000......0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,350
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,920
Available for debt repayments........... 430
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 430

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 145,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,000
Net Assets.............................. 142,000

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Verbatim

That looks much better and realistic. But unless your OH has another source of income the car expenses, maintenance/services, MOT, tax and insurance, still need to be found. Or perhaps his work pays for these?

RAS

That's a good starting point.

Now you need OH to think about what that really means in terms of going out etc.

paulwf

Generally people adapt to spend the amount of money that they have. Your problem is that budgeting is hard because you have a big pool of money sitting in an account, perhaps backed up by an overdraft facility, and you don't even really know how much you are taking out of that pool as you are using cards.

You don't have to do intricate day by day budgeting throughout the month. At the beginning of the month get your new SOA and then divide your money up into a number of envelopes. What is left over then put into a separate account and that is your money to have fun with.

For example if you have a budget of £200 for groceries then if that is in an envelope at the start of the month you can easily see how much you have left and can cut back if needs be towards the end of the month. That must be much easier than logging every supermarket receipt and trying to track it from a big lump of money sitting in one current account. Similarly in your "fun" account give your hubby his allocation and let him buy as many takeaways as he wants for himself...when it runs out half way though the month he'll soon learn to spend at a slower rate.

Most current accounts can have 1 or 2 savings accounts added on and you can easily transfer money between them online.

Personally as you've been living it up I'd also have a frugal stay at home month to kickstart the process, if you've had so many meals out recently you should be able to go without them this month. A really cheap month will wipe out a fair chunk of your debt and hopefully reset your spending levels. Try and overpay your mortgage now whilst rates are cheap, it will really help you out when they rise.

iamana1ias

RoxieW wrote: »

school dinners.......................... 100
pocket money ........................... 100

£200 a month on activities and you dole out £100 on top?! :eek: For a 7 year old, a 5 year old and a 1 year old? :eek:

£800 a month on food and that doesn't even cover their lunches?! :eek:

OP, I see from other posts that you don't work because you have a recurring illness and are on IB. Is that part of the reason your spending is out of control? Because you're bored/unable to work?

ciderwithrosie_2

You and your husband definitely need to be working together on this, there's no point one trying to curb spending and the other railing against it, it only breeds resentment. Maybe you should look at it as an exercise in teaching your children to be moneywise for their future? Invaluable life skills and all that.

Your children aren't very old. They really don't need all these things each and every week/month - toys, clothes, pocket money, activities, meals out, cos they have no idea what all this costs, they wouldn't know if you spent £5 or £500. Occasional treats are much more fun and have more value tbh. What happens when they get bored of pizza hut, will you then take them fine dining? When they get to be teenagers, they will cost a lot more believe me, I've just been there.

Maybe you should sit down as a family and decide what your priorities are/what's important to you, truthfully, and actively work to reduce what's not necessary/not important. Just something I picked up on, maybe I'll get shot down in flames but you say you like to buy organic produce, but then have lots of takeaways/fast food, isn't that kind of opposite standards health wise?

regards CWR

RenovationMan

Wow, some of these comments have been really over the top. Lots of !!!! and :eek: :eek: :eek:, but the truth is that the OP has a really good income and that reflects on how much she is going to spend on the kids. I dread to think of the number of !! and :eek: I'd get with my SOA. :eek: :rotfl:

OP, you havent committed murder, you've just not been budgetting very well. Sort out a few things, pay off your debt and then start to pay into a savings account and carry on living what sounds like a very comfortable life.

iamana1ias

RenovationMan wrote: »

Wow, some of these comments have been really over the top. Lots of !!!! and :eek: :eek: :eek:, but the truth is that the OP has a really good income and that reflects on how much she is going to spend on the kids. I dread to think of the number of !! and :eek: I'd get with my SOA. :eek: :rotfl:

I can't work out the income. Her hubby must be on about £30k, she's on IB, but where's the extra £800 a month coming from?

I can't quite believe the level of spend on fripperies (basically p1ssing money up the wall) when at one point they were looking to be mortgage free. The mortgage is pennies compared to the other spend. I wonder what all the 'stuff' means to the OP really - it has to be compensating for something.

Not only that, those kids will be horribly spoiled and have no concept of the value of money.

The money that gets p1ssed up the wall every month could pay for private schooling/a better house closer to their school/a pot of money for rainy days!

RAS

iamanalias

yet again you take over a poster's thread and repeatedly make nasty judgemental comments. No - they are not constructive criticism, they are nasty and judgemental.

This forum is for help not judgement and if you cannot comply with that, please go elsewhere.

It is none of your business or mine what the priorities are of the OP and her OH. It may well be that if she tried to live like you suggest, she would be heading for divorce.

You are entitled to live by your priorities, let Roxie and her OH sort out a budget they can live with, and leave her alone.