Spend too much on things

wistles

bravobeastie wrote: »

Have made a few suggestions. Perhaps clothes, haircut and entertainment could be looked at and see where you could go without for a while

Thanks the electricity and gas can't really go down as there is someone at home all day along with a computer that has to be on.

The £110 is for two lots of dog insurance. It is the only plan which is truly a plan for life. 99% of the cheap plans stop paying out once the pet gets above a certain age (when you need it most) and they have limits per ailment. This is truly unlimited. Yes I am overpaying now but in the long run I think it is a good thing.

bravobeastie

How about entertainment? Is the £500 pm really necessary? Also for haircuts and clothes?

wistles

bravobeastie wrote: »

How about entertainment? Is the £500 pm really necessary? Also for haircuts and clothes?

I am always at work most of the £500 is spent on taking clients out for meals (we have a rotating scheme within my team). The wife works in fashion so needs to look the part but this has been cut down a lot.

Tixy

Your outgoings are high as you said. So whilst people could easily go through and suggest places you could halve costs I would in your situation consider how much you would like to save a month. What about £200 a month as a target? This would over a year pay for more than 1months childcare costs. Some mild suggestions below

wistles wrote: »

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage....................................... 1000
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 500
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax...................................... 110
Electricity........................................ 80
Gas................................................ 80 have you checked gas & elec are with competitive supplier and on the cheapest tariffs? (internet tariffs are generally quite a bit cheaper than standard)
Oil................................................. 0
Water rates.................................... 25
Telephone (land line)........................ 0
Mobile phone.................................. 30
TV Licence.................................... 10
Satellite/Cable TV........................... 85 does this package include free internet? if so could you cancel the internet below?
Internet Services........................... 20
Groceries etc. .............................. 600 Some will tell you you can more than halve this, but how about trying to reduce by say £86 a month (or £20 a week), this would still be generous but just with a couple of small changes you shouldn't notice the difference.
Clothing....................................... 100
Petrol/diesel................................. 140
Road tax...................................... 40
Car Insurance............................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)...... 50
Car parking.................................. 100
Other travel................................. 529.6
Childcare/nursery.......................... 1850
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills..................... 410 is this right at £410 a month? is there anyway to reduce this? what does it relate to? is it boarding kennels?
Buildings insurance......................... 30
Contents insurance........................ 55 do you shop around for B&C each year. If not you won't be on the best deals, insurances profit from customer apathy!
Life assurance .............................. 35
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc).... 50
Haircuts....................................... 100 could you go one week extra between cuts or colours, maybe would reduce this a little.
Entertainment............................... 500 this looks high without knowing how it breaks down, but could you cut back by say £50 without feeling much difference?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Cleaner........................................100 could they do 1 less hour a week perhaps?

wistles

Indecisionismymiddlename wrote: »

I don't imagine that you would be criticised for having a high income.

If you have something that you will not do without, just post an SOA without it and remove this amount off your income.

so say your children's education costs you £3k per month, just reduce your income by £3k per month on your SOA.

I do wonder whether what you're talking about here are things that you feel you 'deserve' because of your high income. By this I mean that you don't feel you should have to shop at ALDI because you earn £X.

I used to think "I work too hard to meal plan and batch cook and obsess over reducing my spending by £30 because it's a drop in the ocean."

I have changed this thinking though because it's simply wasteful and no one needs to be wasting money on that kind of scale.

If all your expenditure is truly necessary in order to do your job (i.e. you're spending it all on commuting via public transport or in a low cost / low consumption car) then perhaps that job at only 20% of your present income would increase your quality of life and not reduce your disposable income that much.

I hope this makes sense, but I'd post that SOA. I was shy but did it and have reduced my overheads massively.

The thing is it is all or nothing. I can't cut down on hours therefore I can't save on things. I have a large surplus each month which I save.

wistles

Tixy wrote: »

Your outgoings are high as you said. So whilst people could easily go through and suggest places you could halve costs I would in your situation consider how much you would like to save a month. What about £200 a month as a target? This would over a year pay for more than 1months childcare costs. Some mild suggestions below

Gas - I am not on the cheapest tariff. Two off it according to uswitch but I chose the company with the best customer satisfaction rating as I can't hack speaking to idiots on the phone - It appears to be working as they are very good (Atlantic)

Satellite - This includes internet. The other internet is for a mobile dongle which I need for work.

Groceries - I know this can be cut down but I don't have the time to shop. It is all done online.

Pets - We have a dog walker during the week and £110 is for the insurance.

Contents - I do shop around but we have high value contents and out of house coverage.

Cleaner - I have been trying to do this myself.

edinburgher

The thing is it is all or nothing. I can't cut down on hours therefore I can't save on things. I have a large surplus each month which I save.

Then with all due respect (and not trying to needle you) - why are you on this board? Because you say your debts are small, you save plenty and you can't reduce your outgoings?

Cleaner - I have been trying to do this myself.

Good stuff - I don't earn a massive wage, but would actually give serious thought to using a cleaner - hate housework!

**kym**

Say the average lifespan of a dog is 10 years. £110 per month over 10 years is £13,200 (without interest which it would accumulate if saved away). I doubt vets bills for 2 dogs are going to cost you that.

I had a dog with epilepsy who in the end died from cancer. Lots of investigations, medication for life for the epilepsy and cancer meds for approx 2 years before death. Then we had the vet and a nurse come to our home and have him put to sleep and had him cremated. Even so I dont think I spent a quarter of the above figure in the 10 years we had him. Just a thought.

wistles

Because going the way I am going I feel like I will be stepping into debt as I am going to burn out!!

wistles

**kym** wrote: »

Say the average lifespan of a dog is 10 years. £110 per month over 10 years is £13,200 (without interest which it would accumulate if saved away). I doubt vets bills for 2 dogs are going to cost you that.

I had a dog with epilepsy who in the end died from cancer. Lots of investigations, medication for life for the epilepsy and cancer meds for approx 2 years before death. Then we had the vet and a nurse come to our home and have him put to sleep and had him cremated. Even so I dont think I spent a quarter of the above figure in the 10 years we had him. Just a thought.

One of my dogs has already had an operation which cost 7k.