setting budgets for family's how much do you spend

pinkparrott

I'm doing the grocery challenge on ms old style this month and have decided to try to set budgets for other things , I want to set budgets for birthdays , Christmas , holidays , kids clothes, school uniform , my clothes etc,

In ou fsmily there is me - 36 works4 long days a week
My oh - works full time
D's - age 8
Dd- age 5
2 d step d s grown up now but need to include for birthdays and christmas
3 cats

Ant ideas / tips/happy to share what you spend so I can get ideas of a starting point
Many thanks

double_mummy

pinkparrott wrote: »

I'm doing the grocery challenge on ms old style this month and have decided to try to set budgets for other things , I want to set budgets for birthdays , Christmas , holidays , kids clothes, school uniform , my clothes etc,

In ou fsmily there is me - 36 works4 long days a week
My oh - works full time
D's - age 8
Dd- age 5
2 d step d s grown up now but need to include for birthdays and christmas
3 cats

Ant ideas / tips/happy to share what you spend so I can get ideas of a starting point
Many thanks

kids clothes depend on your kids my son is needing new clothes every month at the moment so i am spending about £30 a month on clothes my daughter hasnt had new clothes since xmas as she got loads as pressies and hasnt grown

uniform depends on what school the kids attend as to price mine have to have school bought ties and blazers etc so could be £20 per set or it could be closer to £100

6 birthdays and xmas depends on how much to to spend i would do about 50 each per event then add a bit extra for xmas - i find shopping throughout the year and buying things when i see them on grabbits etc


do you and OH wear uniforms for work or your own clothes?

holiday means very different things for different people so one may be a weekend at the seaside another maybe 2 weeks in australia

a good start maybe to work out how much you spent on each last year and how much you want to reduce it by shopping smarter

krustylouise

Perhaps you could think about how much you normally spend for Christmas, birthdays, clothes and uniform etc in a year, take a little bit off it, then divide that figure by 52 or 12 dependant on whether you're going to be saving weekly or monthly and that's your amount to aim for. If you're struggling to save that much reduce it down a little. I have 5 or 6 savings accounts.
£42.50pw Treats (I can spend this money guilt free but is for holidays hair cuts clothes days out)
£9.50pw Car (this is for anything car related)
£11.50pw emergencies
£13pw School (this covers uniform, trips and occasionally school dinners)
£12pw Xmas/bdays (this covers the obvious)

All these figures are off the top of my head so could be wrong slightly but you get the picture.

Hope this helps you

pinkparrott

Thanks
I've made a guess on clothes and school uniforms and done monthly budget a for the rest based on what I think we spent last year for things like the car and house insurance etc.
Struggling with budgets for clothes , and beauty /hair for me And the treats and entertainment.
Don't need to worry re oh DH as he never spends any thing really ,wouldn't have clothes unless I buy them or make him choose something.
I work 4 days and need to look smart so have started off setting a budget of £100 a month for anything i need - clothes, anything beyond basic toiletries / make up hardest thing will be my hair as I get it coloured and cut every 6 weeks which costs about £80 :eek: so will try to find somewhere cheaper or go longer in between ,might even have a goat colouring it myself as just dark brown ,just have roots done to hide grey

GobbledyGook

It depends on your income as well. What is a good budget for holidays and birthdays/Christmases for someone with a household income of 80k would be absurd for someone with a household income of 25k.

WantToBeSE

I don't really have budgets in advance for these kinds of things.
Whatever is left over after paying bills/food, goes straight into savings. Then nearer to the time I decide how much I want left in my savings account, and spend as little as possible of the rest.

pinkparrott

Thanks ,I know the amounts are income dependent and what people can afford, its was just more seeing how people budget differently,
I didn't budget at all and just bought stuff /paid for stuff as needed / happen but its hard to do that for Christmas and a holiday and ended up putting it on a credit card. I don't want to live beyond my means anymore so want to plan this year as much in advance as possible

Ella_Wood

Do you have pet insurance for your cats that would help budget for unexpected vet bills

JodyBPM

Do you have a set amount of individual spending money each month? Because I would say having your hair coloured/styled/make up/fancy toiletries should come out of that. But I'd see a trim and basic toiletries as part of the household spends. As an aside, it might be worth checking out your local college for hairdressing, I get a cut and highlights done at the college for under £30.

It really does depend on your budget, and how much you want to spend. I put around £500 a month away into savings account that is specifically designed for "budgeting"-ie its not "savings" as its designed to be spent, but on more occasional things. This covers holidays/car repairs/christmas/birthdays/birthday parties/replacing appliances etc. Stuff like clothes or haircuts for the children would come out of the monthly spends account, in which we put around £1000 a month (this also covers food etc).

YORKSHIRELASS

We are a family of four with 2 teenagers. We both work but have got debts that we are slowly trying to clear. For me its important to actually keep a close eye on where my money is going so that I know the budgets are realistic. I have a detailed spreadsheet recording income and outgoings that I update 2 or 3 times a week.

Each month I put aside £200 which covers the following:
Xmas/birthdays £40
Car Tax and repairs £50
Clothes £20
Haircuts and toiletries £40
Holiday/days out £50

I am also saving £500 towards an emergency fund. Once I have £500 I will leave it at that until I have to use some of it and it needs replenishing. It doesnt seem to ever get to £500 though and we have just had some storm damage so it might get emptied again soon!

I allow £30 a week for any small incidental spending which is not covered anywhere else in the budget.

I do spend more than I probably should on my hair but for me this is necessary. I tend to look out for branded work clothes in good condition on ebay or from charity shops and I have really cut down on the amount of clothes my kids have. They are in school uniform a lot of the time and tend to wear favourite things over and over when they are out of school anyway.

I have a budget of £300 a month for food (including cleaning stuff and feeding the dog) which I have no problem keeping to.

Hope this helps.

Georgiegirl256

pinkparrott wrote: »

hardest thing will be my hair as I get it coloured and cut every 6 weeks which costs about £80 :eek: so will try to find somewhere cheaper or go longer in between ,might even have a goat colouring it myself as just dark brown ,just have roots done to hide grey

John Frieda precision foam is really good. Until I started using that, I never had the confidence to dye my own hair, but this dye is so easy, and it saves me a fortune! Before that, I was spending about £50-£60 a time to get my hair done, now all it costs is the price of a haircut, and a box of dye when it's on offer (usually about £6ish). Mine is dark brown too.