Why do I Always Feel Like I Have No Money!!

lynzpower

1) My son's has extra english tuition which is £24 per week - total £96/£120 pm
2) Dinner money is £17.50 pw - total £70/£87.50 pm

Do you HAVE to spend that much on dinner money per week :eek: put it this way me & OH spend 25 per week on the 2 of us for ALL our meals ( we eat darn well too!) Couldnt your son have packups instead? and maybe a cooked meal once or twice a week even?

earwig

you have kids say no more thats why you feel skint all the time i have two and i dont go mad with buying them stuff but even taking them to school cost money 20p a day on tuck 1 per week craft money and thats with out all the we have book so and so to come to our school please pay 2 pound towards the cost and the school pictures and the discos and the fate and sponserd walk bring cakes to sell they are having a toy sale this week so thats another pound or dd will be sulking that she cant by anything and that without the dreaed school trip 10 pounds plus twice a year that where a lot of my money gose i have about hundred pound a week left to spare and allways get through it so i know how you feel and that just one child ill be broke when ds starts in september

Sea78

TurnaroundSue wrote:

I used to buy presents all year around, but stopped doing that so I think I will go back again to that method and do that this year - will do that for birthdays also. Hopefully by the time xmas comes I will have all the presents, will be more focused and strict with my spending and even have some left over

I just love this site and you all - thank you, thank you, thank you :A

Hi

I used to spend a lot on Christmas - love buying people really nice presents. However, I began to realise some people weren't really that bothered so I cut them out of the list! Now I do, as you said you will now, buy throughout the year, especially during sale times etc. ihave a budget of £20 per month on cards/presents/stamps for the cards and last month got Pirates of the Carribean dressing up kit, mini-robocapter (sp?), pamper kit, manicure & pedicure kit, 4x sparkly shower gel and bobble sets and 4x novelty soaps (dinosaur, football boot) for it. Just have to keep my eyes peeled

Also if needed i'd give vouchers from the surveys I do or pigsback.

I love this site too :T

misspoppy

Hi

Do you realise how much you save each month?
£162 emergency fund - how much is in there?
£100 for christmas
£150 savings/holiday
total £412 thats a lot of money

As others have said any thing you pay out regually should be treated as a bill so all kids clubs, tutoring, activities, school trips, what about their friends birthday parties I don' have kids but from the sound of things these sound like major regular events, with the present etc. How much do you spend on half term and other holidays. family activities at the weekend?

I'm sure the spending diary will clear things up.

TurnaroundSue

lynzpower wrote:

Do you HAVE to spend that much on dinner money per week :eek: put it this way me & OH spend 25 per week on the 2 of us for ALL our meals ( we eat darn well too!) Couldnt your son have packups instead? and maybe a cooked meal once or twice a week even?

Hi Lynzpower - my 2 used to have packed lunches, but I was finding that just nipping to Mr T's to buy the stuff to put in them was costing me more than the £17.50 (£10 for DS and £7.50 for DD) as I was picking up other things besides, so put them back on school dinners. However, due to my new focus and challenges I have set myself, maybe will be putting them back on packed lunches

firesidemaid

hi there

just adding my twopennethworth! i do know where you are coming from (and i don't have the kids! do have 5 animal though).

we recently did our own soa at home - put on everything, incl. money away for car bills, car tax, rac, pocket money (adult and kids - give everyone a budget) plus all the others you and everyone has mentioned.

then you will find that it really does add up! then use this shock to make the changes.

your sky/phone/bband adds up to £83.50 a month! you can get that a lot cheaper - have a look at the stickys on this website. you should be able to get a lot of cash back from quidco (ie. in excess of £100 - maybe each) for build/cont/car insurance.

is your mortgage rate competitive?

re: christmas. save a few pounds a month added on to your shopping bill on a xmas savings card - just £3 a week from now will be approx £140!

you can still 'spend' a lot at xmas on those you love, but get it cheaper. buy the stocking fillers in advance, BOGOF, freebies etc. plan a bit nearer the time and make sure you get good deals on those must-have purchases.

use your tesco vouchers to buy magazine subscriptions. and if you can pay off you c/card every month, get a cash back one (petrol, food etc) - my goldfish one gives me £100+ a year in vouchers.

we may not all have debts, but a lot of us (me included) don't always think about what we are spending and why. this site and those who live! on it have helped me so much just in a few months.:T

TurnaroundSue

misspoppy wrote:

Hi

Do you realise how much you save each month?
£162 emergency fund - how much is in there?
£100 for christmas
£150 savings/holiday
total £412 thats a lot of money

As others have said any thing you pay out regually should be treated as a bill so all kids clubs, tutoring, activities, school trips, what about their friends birthday parties I don' have kids but from the sound of things these sound like major regular events, with the present etc. How much do you spend on half term and other holidays. family activities at the weekend?

I'm sure the spending diary will clear things up.

Thanks mispoppy - I think you're right and a spending diary will make things clearer for me. I am also going to start putting monies aside for all the above you have mentioned and hopefully this will give me a truer picture of my financial position and REAL disposable income. :T

tired_mum

Please note the post by Ikkaman Is SPAM!:spam:

TurnaroundSue

sazzacat wrote:

hi there

just adding my twopennethworth! i do know where you are coming from (and i don't have the kids! do have 5 animal though).

we recently did our own soa at home - put on everything, incl. money away for car bills, car tax, rac, pocket money (adult and kids - give everyone a budget) plus all the others you and everyone has mentioned.

then you will find that it really does add up! then use this shock to make the changes.

your sky/phone/bband adds up to £83.50 a month! you can get that a lot cheaper - have a look at the stickys on this website. you should be able to get a lot of cash back from quidco (ie. in excess of £100 - maybe each) for build/cont/car insurance.

is your mortgage rate competitive?

re: christmas. save a few pounds a month added on to your shopping bill on a xmas savings card - just £3 a week from now will be approx £140!

you can still 'spend' a lot at xmas on those you love, but get it cheaper. buy the stocking fillers in advance, BOGOF, freebies etc. plan a bit nearer the time and make sure you get good deals on those must-have purchases.

use your tesco vouchers to buy magazine subscriptions. and if you can pay off you c/card every month, get a cash back one (petrol, food etc) - my goldfish one gives me £100+ a year in vouchers.

we may not all have debts, but a lot of us (me included) don't always think about what we are spending and why. this site and those who live! on it have helped me so much just in a few months.:T

Thanks Sazzacat, your last paragraph has been put into the words I was trying to find :T

I am in the process of changing my mortgage to the Woolwich which is 5.3% fixed for 10 years.

Will look at the stickys re the phone/broadband, but won't be able to give up Sky as have Sky+ and if we reduce our package from the £43.50 pm then they will start charging us £10 pm for the privelidge :eek:

Will definitely, definitely start buying BOGOFs and the like for pressies and might even become more imaginative and start making some of my own - someone on another thread mentioned her DD painted pebbles as presents so my just rope my DD to do some

I feel more positive and I thank you all once again from the bottom of my heart :T :T

TurnaroundSue

tired_mum wrote:

Please note the post by Ikkaman Is SPAM!:spam:

Thanks Ikkaman - I thought as much, but wasn't sure.