Budgeting for a normal healthy life..

RAS

coinxoperated

You are on a hiding to nothing at the moment.

1. £600 is going astray and you have no idea where.
2. Life is not as good as it could be on your current salaries.

Start with the basics.

Get the last 6 months bank statements and work through them; as one OP said "I can see what is wrong "Cash £10, Cash £10" every day."

Allocate every item to one of the things listed on your budget. How much did you spend on presents? Divide by 6 and budget for that every month.

And get two small notebooks. For the next month you both list ever last penny spent. Allocate that those as above?

How close is your original estimate to the actual spends? Where are you haemoraging money?

coinxoperated

I've spent an entire day doing all as suggested and I've figured it all out!

I need to ditch the OH and the dog. I'm much more money saving when alone!! Haha!

But on a more serious note, I've established that it's the spends at the corner shops that's eating away. In one week between me grabbing a couple of lunches and OH picking up 'treats' we spent.....

£100!!!!!!! :O

Takeaways last month - £100!!!!!

I'm in a bit of shock! I genuinely didn't click at all the little spends and how often they were taking place without my knowing... Serious words with oh will be had.

coinxoperated

And I shall be budgeting for EVERYTHING from next month, each some pocket money weekly and no touching the accounts!

krustylouise

Hi coinxoperated,

Just a little advice on cooking (with limited time) as you've mentioned slow cooker is great and will help you. I find quick meals are; stir fries, pasta bolognese, jacket potatoes with various fillings, omelettes, quiche, chips and salad. In the slow cooker I have made roast beef, full roast chicken, sausage casserole, beef stew, chicken casserole, and currently I have chicken curry in there. You can buy the cheapest cuts of meat and because they are cooked for so long they become tender and beautiful. You could also try batch cooking on a Sunday and make lasagnes, cottage pies, bolognese, soups (cheaper lunches for work). They can e taken out the night before to defrost in the fridge and just bang in the oven when you get back in from work. Simple. I struggle with time as I work full time and a single parent to a child that attends alot of extra curricular groups. But it is possible, you just have to kick yourself up the bum a little and you'll be less stressed during the week good luck x

ETA - I baked jacket potatoes in the SC and they were LUSH!

j.e.j.

Hermia wrote: »

My friend was like you as he just lived in a studio flat and didn't have any fancy stuff. Everything got destroyed in a fire and the cost of just buying basic clothes, household items, toiletries etc really added up.

Yes, not to be doom-and-gloom, OP but things like the upstairs flat having a leaky washing machine and flooding your flat, or rain coming in from a leaky roof which ruins your carpets or appliances. All these things would be covered by contents insurance. It doesn't have to cost a lot, if you shop around.

paulineb_2

I pay 6 quid a month through halifax for unlimited contents insurance

If you can spend 100 quid on eating out/takeaways a month you can insure your contents of your home.