HELP! Have cut back all I can but am still over-spending!

ScrimpingandSaving

lauroar, thank you for spending the time to do that.

You've all made some excellent suggestions and I feel a bit more confident that I can make some huge savings with the supermarket shop.

Thanks again

Lavender_Rose

ScrimpingandSaving wrote: »

Erm, I have AVG and it ain't free. It costs over £40 a year.

I need to be careful with my pc as this is my business. I can't scrimp on important things like anti-virus.

.

You are obviously paying for the version with added bits. AVG basic anti-virus software is free. I run my own company and we use this along with the Windows firewall...it's all you need.

ScrimpingandSaving

ButterflyBrain, thank you so much.
You are right, it's not just us in this mess but everyone and it's unfair to say that we are all spending it on luxuries, most of us aren't. We are just getting by as best we can.

We've never bought anything we couldn't afford. All our stuff is second hand, nothing is new. Holidays are taken during the Oct half term. We don't have any subscriptions, hardly any gadgets, no iPhones but I could go on and on about how unfair it all is etc. At the end of the day it doesn't get you anywhere does it? You have to deal with the present and it's been really hard doing that budget, making it public on here and listening to what everyone has had to say.

I keep hoping and hoping that our circumstances will change, that one day we can walk into a shop and buy new clothes, or go to a restaurant without counting the pennies and getting the kids to hide their pre-bought drinks under the table. We still get them to share a dish if we do happen to eat out as it's better than buying them a meal each.

I can't see it getting better anytime soon though. If anything it's due to get worse. The management are slowly disappearing from where my husband works. They have already closed down 3 depots and he's faced redundancy twice. This is why he travels so far to work each day, because they shut the local depot down. Now it looks like they might do the same with this one and then he'd be faced with a 100 mile round journey.

And yet we are the lucky ones in a lot of ways. People are surviving on a lot less.

peachyprice

Oh, and when you go to the supermarket, don't go over to the 'dark side' where the clothes, stationery, kitchen stuff, books, mags etc are unless there's something specific on your list. it's so easy to wander through that bit seeing nice little bits a pieces and before you know it, boom there's another £20 on your shopping.

room512

Just had to post to say that I don't know where you shop but tesco's do a lovely fiery ginger beer (inc a diet version) and at the moment it's 65p a bottle for 2 litres and it tastes as nice as the more expensive versions or Waitrose do a similar version for 85p (sure it's cheaper to make your own but wouldn't know how to make a low sugar version and as OH is diabetic it's quite important). Also instead of Schloer how about flavoured fizzy water? Own brands are always on offer in the supermarkets. Then at least you still have something nice to drink but it's a cheaper version.
Also, I'm sure it's already been mentioned but for your prescriptions would it not be cheaper to buy a prepayment certificate?
HTH x

ScrimpingandSaving

Asda is our nearest. What I would save in Tesco I would spend on petrol in getting there.

Yes I do fully intend to get the prepayment certificate now.

3v3

ScrimpingandSaving wrote: »

....
We buy cheap meat cuts, I try to stick to chicken, I use the slow cooker a lot. We do go through a lot of fruit and veg and plenty of things for packed lunches such as bread, sandwich fillers, cold meats, salad, etc. The only branded items we get are tea and coffee. The rest is supermarket own label.

Just a thought on the cold meats for sandwiches.

Take any pre-packed cold meat and look at how much it costs you for 100g covert that into price per kilo and then see if you can buy a joint for less per kilo.

As an example ham: 100g Asda smartprice ham = 48.8p
This means you are paying £4.88p per kilo.

Now, compare that to a 1kg Gammon joint at Asda = £4.00

Cook that in your slow cooker. Chill, then slice thinly for sandwiches. You can bulk make your sandwiches with that joint (butter your bread, add thinly sliced gammon; wrap and freeze in single portions. NB do not add any salad ingredients, these could be added when you defrost your sandwich).

May not appear a great example to begin with, but, it is an example of how to look at things through a new pair of eyes.

Now, this is a "food" investment approach that I use. You have to squirrel money away to achieve it, but it is worth it in the longer run. I buy all our joints of meat at Christmas to last us throughout the year. Why? Because the price per kilo is so ridiculously cheap! Last week I went to Sainsbury's and bought 7 legs of lamb because the price per kilo was half the price (we love lamb but can't afford it at full price). They have all gone in the freezer. When one is roasted, it won't be sliced until it is on the cooler side of warm because that makes it easier to carve thinly. The rest will be used to make a shepards pie or something for another meal. (I'm talking 4 adults).

ScrimpingandSaving wrote: »

.... I'm now faced with cutting back on all the little things we enjoy. I just wish things didn't have to be this way. .

I think many people feel just the same way.

Cutting back is not the same as giving up completely.

In hard times, yes, things we take for granted in better times have to be relegated back into the "treats" category and they happen less often.

But, surprisingly, that is when you enjoy them more ... simply because you appreciate them more because they are no longer taken for granted.

Moving on ...

... to keep track of spending, I use a free version of Microsoft Money, called Money Plus Sunset Deluxe because it is free, easy to use and quick to set up. Microsoft no longer updates their Money software but it is still useable to keep track of your accounts, spending and you can set "budgets" with it so it will flag up if you are over budget.

For keeping a record of recipes I use another free programme called Big Oven (this is also free). Yes, it takes a little time to input your own recipes (although it downloads with a huge amount of them already - but US based), but it is very easy to copy and paste recipes into it from other websites when you spot a good one It has the facility to plan your menus using the recipes and it even has a facility to print a shopping list based on the recipes you have in your menu plan.

Both Money and Big Oven are good little programmes to help you keep on top of things, but, unless you enjoy doing it, they won't be for you.

Good luck! It's tough times for many and only you can decide which areas you are prepared to compromise on and how much, or little, organisation you want to invest in tracking things. I hope it works out for you

Spendless

Your children are exactly the same age as mine Scrimpingsaving and with a boy and girl too but I think yours are the opposite way round with your girl being the eldest?

Re- school trips of the eldest, just let her do the one that appeals the most during her time there. I pushed my son into going on his France residential at a cost of £270:eek: as at the time it was mentioned he was having social problems and felt he was not 'good enough' to get a space. Now the trip is less than a fortnight away, his social issues have been resolved and I know he will drop French as a subject at its earliest opportunity and to add to matters he's dorm sharing with the child that i specifically asked for him to be kept away from when they moved to secondary and so far that had worked. really wish I'd kept my mouth shut...ho..hum.

I understand your pain with the PE kit too and the socks! Is there anywhere that does red socks (my son's school does this too, gives you a colour that's a pig to find, so you are obliged to spend a fortune!) that you could keep a pair back for when they go missing?

ash28

Forget my earlier post - you can't afford it...

To be able to keep a roof over your head, pay your bills and keep your cars on the road you need £1237 a month, roughly. If we assume those costs are fixed (for the time being) then out of an income of £2250 you have roughly £1000 left for everything else.

You give the kids pocket money - what is it for? I would up that and give them £10 or £12 month each and let them buy their own school stuff - pens/pencisl/separators and hair bobbles etc. Just keep the printer supplied with paper and ink - it'll give them a taste of budgeting too. They'll soon decide if they need it or not. It's amazing how much stuff they just have to have when you're buying, suddenly becomes unnecessary if they have to buy it themselves.

As for the rest you have a £1000 a month left and are spending £1400 a month. That's a 40% overspend every month. To cut your spending by that amount is a huge task.

The big areas you can save are -
food and drink - £690 a month - would need to be £450
entertainment - £227 a month - would need to be £145
savings - £156 a month - would need to be £102
spending for fun - £90 month - would need to be £60

They come to £1165 a month on their own. You need to cut those by at least 35% (I've put the current and reduced by 35% figures so you can see what you're up against) to keep within you monthly budget of around £1000 Cutting those by 35% would give you a total of £757 - you would be in budget - just. Or you can try and shave 30% off everything bar fixed bills and car costs, Xmas/birthdays, odds and sods etc.

Saving £100 a month off your shopping bill and your family walk money (£65) isn't anywhere near halfway to the figure you need to be saving.

It is a big task and only you can decide where you want to cut your spending, or even if you are prepared to cut your spending.

ScrimpingandSaving wrote: »

Thank you for answering.

To address a few questions, we can't go down a band on council tax. This is an ex-council house, 3 bed and we are in band B. It's right.

Yes £650pm on groceries for a family of 4 is a lot and I've signed up to a meal planner. But you have to take into account that this is not just groceries, it's things for the house, cleaning stuff, school equipment and a few essentials, toiletries, etc.

I'll break it down into more detail:

In the home:
MobilePhones: £10
TV Licence:£12.12
Internet:£17
Home phone:£9.72
HouseholdMaintenance: £15
Electricity£29.04
Gas £66.67
Water:£29.17
Council Tax:£130
HomeInsurance £6.42
Mortgage:£448.40
Food andhousehold shopping: £600
Drinks forhome £90
Total £1463.24

Motoring
Petrol: £280
Car Tax £74 - £888 a year for 2 cars seems a lot -
CarInsurance: £44
CarMaintenance: £63
Breakdowncover: £3.33
Total £464.33

Debts
Credit card:£50 (I use it for Paypal)

Savings
Childrens£40
Lump sumsavings: £100 (for tax and pension)
Regularsaving: £16 (spare change saver)
Total £156 -

Family
SchoolTrips: £20
SchoolMeals: £9.97 (one meal a week)
PocketMoney: £17.33
Total £47.30

Entertainment
Days out(incl cinema, etc): £25
Books,music, films, etc: £14
Shopping forfun: £90
Pet Costs:£2.20 (hamster)
Antivirus:£3.38
DVD Rental:£5.99
DrinkingOut: £65
Eating out:£21.67
Total £227.24

Clothes,Health, Beauty
Haircuts:£8.67
Clothes: £25

Big One-Offs
Birthdays:£30
Holidays(incl weekends away) £83.33
Christmas:£41.67
Total £155

Odds andSods
Newspapers£36.50
Tax and NI:£12.13
Regularcharity donations: £5
Total £53.63

So areas we can cut back on are in entertainment. We tend to spend weekends with the family and will go for a long walk followed by drinks in the pub. It's a weekend habit and gives us all chance to chat and get out for a bit. Stopping that will save £65pm.

Shopping for fun I've heaped in all our miscellaneous spending like cash withdrawals. This is generally used on prescription medicine (my other half has psoriasis and I have hayfever), bits we buy whilst out and about, one-off donations to charity, etc.

I'm hoping to cut down the food bill in using a weekly menu planner but to be honest, we don't throw food away, everything is used and I make everything from fresh. I'm hoping that one vegetarian a meal a week will make the difference and instead of buying supermarket curries every week, I'll try and make a batch and freeze them, so this bill should come down by around £100pm? Drinks include wine, beer and non-alcoholic drink. I guess we could become teetotal?

We don't spend a huge amount, we don't buy clothes from new, no big days out, no costly clubs for the kids, no babysitter costs, etc. I do feel that we already live quite frugally and am so disheartened that we have to find yet more ways to cut back.

Any advice appreciated

(and yes, it does seem silly to put away £100 savings, I am self employed and this was to cover my tax but I don't earn enough to pay tax so I was still taking it out as a kind of pension fund. I will cancel that which does leave me without a pension unfortunately.)

ScrimpingandSaving

Yup, car tax is a lot. 2 cars, both old, one petrol and one diesel. My husband is very handy with them but they do seem to suffer a lot of problems. That's just the thing with old cars.

Thank you Ash for the breakdown. I will start to make some severe cutbacks.

The kids get money in return for chores, like cooking a meal, hoovering rooms, hanging up washing, putting washing away, etc. I wanted to teach them about earning money rather than just being given money. On average they 'earn' around £2 a week each.

My d makes a little more selling a few things on ebay.

School trips - she really loves them and she benefits from them enormously. I feel bad that they don't do any clubs so this is one benefit for them both. All her friends go and if she can't go, she ends up in a different form class for those days without any of her friends.