Getting started but feeling daunted!

Dragonrider

I've just realised that it's not as bad as that! The £700 food and household shopping includes petrol (130), pet food (26.67), pet costs (10), DVD rental (10), eating and drinking out (95), and meals at work (86.67).

So food shopping should actually be 700 - 358.34 = 341.66.

Therefore our total monthly expenses should be 4170.54 - 358.34 = 3812.20, and therefore our overspend is -39.40 rather than -397.74!!! :j

I KNEW we weren't overspending by that much!

Sorry, long day.

cha97michelle

Child benefit is 134.80 for 2 kids. So increases your income by £10.

Then the only thing i would say is the gas/elc is high for a start. We are at home all day, and ours is £60 per month for both in a 3 bed semi. We do have a year old combi boiler, and good loft and cavity wall insulation. This has been reduced from £72 earlier in the year as we were building credit, so should probably be a little higher for us really.

Food is one of those that keeps going up for us. Maybe join the grocery challege if you want to learn some ways to cut back.

Other than that, are your car costs for one car or 2? I don't think those costs sound that high. Dhs car just had a service at £150. Mine was over £200 when mine was done. A set of tyres every year to 18 months can be a few hundred. It all adds up. Your numbers look ok for one, maybe too low for 2.

Dragonrider

Thanks cha97michelle, I hadn't noticed that typo, and it makes quite a difference to my overspend total.

I'm hoping the gas/elec will come down with this new contract and once the insulation is in the loft. I'm also going to have a look at the boiler and see if I can turn the temperature down, because the hot water comes out so hot that I never turn the tap all the way. We must be wasting money heating it up to that temperature and then mixing it with cold water to cool it down!

I agree, food is the endless battle for us. Just adding a few extra things to the trolley suddenly takes me way over what I had planned to spend.

The care costs are for one car, but it is a van. With two kids already (and I want more ), and a very large dog, we decided to invest in a 2nd hand VW transporter combi and plan to keep it for the next 10 years. They're supposed to run and run, so hopefully we've made the right decision!

This diary is really motivating me - the next job is to keep a spending diary for the next three months to see if my estimated figures for some of these categories is right.

One day at a time!

Lois_E

Good luck with your spending diary, Dragonrider. I find that just knowing I'm going to have to type it in helps to restrain me.

Dragonrider

Thanks Lois_E, you're so right!

I've just managed to sign up to internet banking with Co-op, and am very happy to see that my recent £400 OP has taken us below £270k! Even though that's just a small decrease from our re-mortgage figure, it's really cheered me up.

I now want to try my best to get below £265k by the end of the year.

Dragonrider

Well, my spending diary is up to date, and I have spent some time playing around with financialbliss's magical spreadsheets. I've realised by doing this that with our usual monthly repayments we should be at £267,350 by the end of 2011. So I think with the current situation and if we manage our monthly spend better that we should be able to get down to £265k by then. It's good to have an actual number in mind. It means we need to find £400 per month, though. I have been putting away £350 extra per month for a cushion, so if I can save more and therefore keep a cushion and pay off £400 per month, we can do it.

I am going to set this as my short term goal, just to see if it's possible to sustainably change our lifestyle to this level of overpayment. As everyone keeps reminding me, life is for living too! So if at Christmas this feels too hard, then I can scale it back.

So here it is in black and white - target is to overpay £400 per month for 6 months and then reassess.

Wish me luck!

Dragonrider

P.S. And today I turned our water tank thermostat down, so I am excited to see whether we even notice the difference tomorrow and whether our gas bill comes down. We have an energy expert coming to do a full survey on Tuesday (part of the local scheme I mentioned before), so I will try and pick up some other tips and pass them on!

Dragonrider

P.P.S. For the last few months I have been budgeting on a week by week basis, but as soon as I have a large purchase it blows it all out of the water and I'm in the red on my budget very early on in the month which gets me down. So for the next 6 months I am going to do it by month:

Nectar CC - supermarket and petrol budget £350
Husband - £50 (no, I don't have to pay him to be my husband....:rotfl:)
Other expenses - £100

I will keep my spending diary up to date, and therefore I can take advantage of deals in the supermarket early in the month, like bulk buy meat to put in the freezer, and then just buy fresh stuff towards the end of the month and supplement with the frozen. It feels like it'll work better this way.

Dragonrider

Just checked my nectar account, and I now have £56 worth of points saved up! I am going to keep them all until Christmas, which means that I then don't have to scrimp on food at Christmas. It feels nice to have it building up without having to save or do anything different other than my normal shopping.

OH and I went to a ball on Tuesday night, and got to bed at 0500! Definitely feeling my age... It was very fun, if not at all MS, and it was SO lovely to be going out as a couple with no kids in tow. Although my neck feels slightly sore from the dodgems!

Just waiting for payday on the 25th, and then I am going back to work after maternity leave in three weeks time. I'm looking forward to it, if slightly nervous that I won't even remember my computer password let alone how to do any work!

Dragonrider

I have been doing surveys whenever I can, and I have just claimed my first £10 JL voucher. I've decided that all the money I earn will go towards birthdays and Christmas, and JL vouchers will be very useful. I've also decided to set myself a target of £300 by Christmas, but I really don't know how realistic that is!?

Has anybody ever taught music theory? I've been trying to think of ways to bring in a little more cash, and I know I could teach theory up to grade 5. How much do people charge for tutoring?

Thanks,

Dragonrider