Please help me stop money slipping through my fingers

bluephoenix

This is my first post here and I am rather nervous about it, so please be kind.

I know my family is very well off but I am really struggling to understand how to manage our money. Anyway, I feel rather ashamed because we have signed up to the rat race and have made some bad decisions. We are asset rich (if you count our house) but cash poor (in terms of disposable income) so I am trying to take control of our finances.

I am sure many of you will be horrified by the amount of cash we burn but that is why I am here. Yes, I am spoilt but I am trying to change and I am so stressed I cannot even sleep at night.

We are a family of five and live in the country with two cars. We only moved out of London 18 months ago and I seriously thought it would be cheaper. How wrong could I be.

Anyway, I have just redone my budget and here it is:

TOTAL INCOME £4,323.40

Mortgage £1,149.15
Food & Drink £500.00
Household Maintenance £257.30
Council Tax £253.00
Petrol £250.51
Car Loan £245.00
Gas £224.00 (! We have an aga and no other cooker)
Car Maintenance £200.00
Life Insurance £128.55
Home Insurance £110.00
Pension £100.00
Emergency Fund Savings £100.00
Holidays £100.00
Car Insurance £87.00
Hair x 4 £60.00*
Water £53.00
Sky TV £51.00*
Electricity £43.00
Presents £40.00
Phone & Internet £39.00
Tennis £36.00*
Car Tax £30.00
Savings for Kids £30.00
Babysitting £30.00
Kids Clothes £28.13
Xmas £21.00
School Trips/Clubs £20.00
Me Clothes £20.00
Mobile Phone £17.00
Optician £16.00
TV Licence £12.00
Dropbox (Computer backup) £9.00*
Nursery £7.08

TOTAL OUTGOINGS: £4,266.72

Car Loan : 1 year remaining at £245 per month (incl above)

Credit Card: £783 0% for first three months (no interest yet incurred)

Savings: £9000

We have a very old cottage and it just seems to eat money. I just found out that our septic tank is not working and we are going to have to take drastic action in the next week or so. I have had estimates of between £4000 and £8000 for the work. :eek:

The house also needs:
- a new boiler which will cost approx £2500,
- replacement window sills as many have rotted which will cost approx £2000,
- the stonework repointed which is approx £1200.
We do not have curtains in any of the downstairs rooms and it looks like it will have to stay that way for a while.

I have suggested to my husband that we sell the house and downsize to reduce our mortgage but he is very reluctant due to the high moving costs and general attachment to the property.

Please tell me where I am going wrong / what you would suggest I do differently.

RAS

bluephoenix wrote: »

TOTAL INCOME £4,323.40

Mortgage £1,149.15
Food & Drink £500.00 - Ok for 5 but try and get down to £400. Go voer to the money saving old style forum for help.
Household Maintenance £257.30 - what is this?
Council Tax £253.00
Petrol £250.51 - do you really need to make all these journeys?
Car Loan £245.00
Gas £224.00 (! We have an aga and no other cooker) - is this a gas AGA? Try freegle, freecycle or the local ads for a cheap cooker for the summer months. How is your hot water heated?
Car Maintenance £200.00 - this is huge. Why?
Life Insurance £128.55 this is huge. Why?
Home Insurance £110.00 this is huge. Why?
Pension £100.00
Emergency Fund Savings £100.00
Holidays £100.00 - can you consider something cheaper this year, now you live in the country?
Car Insurance £87.00 - this is high. Why? Check the comparison sites and use quidco.
Hair x 4 £60.00*
Water £53.00 - are you still paying for sewage? Would a meter be cheaper?
Sky TV £51.00* - reduce the package and then get shot
Electricity £43.00
Presents £40.00
Phone & Internet £39.00 - this is high
Tennis £36.00* - could go?
Car Tax £30.00
Savings for Kids £30.00 - maybe needs to stop for a while?
Babysitting £30.00
Kids Clothes £28.13 - use freecycle and e-bay for a bit
Xmas £21.00
School Trips/Clubs £20.00
Me Clothes £20.00 -wear what you own for a bit?
Mobile Phone £17.00
Optician £16.00
TV Licence £12.00
Dropbox (Computer backup) £9.00*
Nursery £7.08

TOTAL OUTGOINGS: £4,266.72

Car Loan : 1 year remaining at £245 per month (incl above)

Credit Card: £783 0% for first three months (no interest yet incurred)

Savings: £9000 - at least this will cover the septic tank?

Some ideas above.

Culex

RAS wrote: »

Savings: £9000 - at least this will cover the septic tank?

I'm not convinced that banknotes or coins should be used - isn't it more usual to bury it in the earth?

ghostmadlittlemiss

Culex wrote: »

I'm not convinced that banknotes or coins should be used - isn't it more usual to bury it in the earth?

You'll have to excuse this one, their sense of humour is an acquired taste. (Thankfully for me, I share it.)
Kayleigh

bluephoenix

Thanks for the tips
... and I appreciate the humour ...

Mikazaru

bluephoenix wrote: »

:

TOTAL INCOME £4,323.40

Mortgage £1,149.15
Food & Drink £500.00
Household Maintenance £257.30 Is this monthly?
Council Tax £253.00
Petrol £250.51
Car Loan £245.00
Gas £224.00 (! We have an aga and no other cooker)
Car Maintenance £200.00 Is this monthly?
Life Insurance £128.55
Home Insurance £110.00 Is this monthly?
Pension £100.00
Emergency Fund Savings £100.00
Holidays £100.00
Car Insurance £87.00
Hair x 4 £60.00*
Water £53.00
Sky TV £51.00* Reduce or cancel?
Electricity £43.00
Presents £40.00
Phone & Internet £39.00
Tennis £36.00*
Car Tax £30.00
Savings for Kids £30.00 Stop for now, you can always pay back later.
Babysitting £30.00
Kids Clothes £28.13
Xmas £21.00
School Trips/Clubs £20.00
Me Clothes £20.00 Only buy essentials for now.
Mobile Phone £17.00
Optician £16.00
TV Licence £12.00
Dropbox (Computer backup) £9.00*
Nursery £7.08



Car Loan : 1 year remaining at £245 per month (incl above)

Credit Card: £783 0% for first three months (no interest yet incurred)

TOTAL INCOME £4,323.40
TOTAL OUTGOINGS: £4,266.72
This suggests you have surplus, do you at the end of the month?

bluephoenix

Food & Drink - I will aim to reduce to £400
Household Maintenance - money set aside for bills eg wasp nest removal (we had 8 last year!)
Petrol - I have to do 4 school runs per day and am unable to share due to number of kids and logistics so unavoidable.
Gas - I am looking into buying a cheap cooker so I can turn aga off over summer
Car Maintenance - may have overbudgeted as just had a £2000 car bill due to all four wheel bearings going and wheels about to fall off!
Life Insurance - that is for my husband and myself - is it really that big?
Home Insurance - will see if I can get it lower, but seems to be based on value of property
Holidays - these need to go. Currently borrow family house in Devon for 2 weeks per year and have friends coming so have committed.
Car Insurance - this is insurance for 2 different cars. Didn't realise it was that high. Will reassess.
Water - I need to check if we are paying for sewage but I doubt it.
Sky TV - Going to replace with freesat
Phone & Internet - I just halved this so thought it was ok - obviously not!
Tennis - gone
Savings for kids - will reconsider
Kids clothes - will use ebay etc
Me clothes - will not buy anything

I have plenty to think about, but still wondering about selling the house.

bluephoenix

Mikazaru wrote: »

TOTAL INCOME £4,323.40
TOTAL OUTGOINGS: £4,266.72
This suggests you have surplus, do you at the end of the month?

That is the theory because I have already made drastic cutbacks (well, to me anyway!) Obviously I could do much better.

Mikazaru

bluephoenix wrote: »

I have plenty to think about, but still wondering about selling the house.

Unless I'm missing something you shouldn't need to sell it, your mortgage is just under a quater of your income. The big expenses e.g boiler and septic tank are rare; you have the savings to cover the septic tank at least.

With a few cutbacks you should be able to get rid of the credit card fairly soon and the car loan will be gone soon freeing up £245 a month.

When you check your insurances go through Quidco to earn cashback once you've found the best deal.

Horace

Keeping a spending diary will also help so you know where you are frittering money away..eg. magazines, coffees with friends etc.

Shop the old fashioned way with a shopping list - check your cupboards etc to see what you have run out of, put those items on the list and stick to it when you go shopping, don't shop when you are hungry either because that encourages you to buy things that are not on the list. The moneysaving old style board on this forum is great because they help you meal plan too.

Sell stuff you no longer use or wear.

Use a cashback site like Quidco or even TopCashBack (I have found TopCashBack to be more beneficial to be honest).

I don't think you need to sell your home just learn to live within your means and learn from the guys and gals on here because they give great advice.

bluephoenix

Thanks for the support and advice - it is really helpful.

Maybe I don't need to sell the house. It just seems to be falling apart and it is going to eat up the small amount of savings we do have.

I do need to learn to live within my means and I have had a real wake-up call. Although I have been keeping track of my expenditure for ages, I have always found ways of justifying small amounts here and there and they all add up. Now I am slowly managing to cut my expenditure.

I have started doing the shopping list thing and buying online with mysupermarket once per week.

I now need to see if I can sell anything and try the cashback websites which have been mentioned - they are completely new to me.

The hardest part is saying "No" to friends and family when they want to go out and do things but I am getting there.