Advice on SOA

FBaby

The problem is that the template you have used is a good start but not comprehensive. It will leave things out that are highly likely to be above £16 a month.

Do you never buy a book, a magazine?
Are your children invited to birthday parties and you need to buy a present?
Any school activities, discos, day trip, swimming lessons?
Does your eldest child have a bike, does he need a cycling helmet, a new swimming costume?
How about replacing underwear and socks?
What about over the counter medicine?
A new car seat?

Those are only the things that are coming to my mind, but I know from experience that there are so many more ad hoc things that you need to buy there and then that are not usually included in any budget. You have nothing for car maintenance yet you are bound to be paying at least for new tires. Nothing for house maintenance, surely you have costs associated to this. No emergency funds, so what happens if you car break down and you need to replace a part that cost £300 (quite common nowadays!), or your washing machine packs up?

I think that having only £16 left when none of the above have been accounted for in your budget is bound to become a problem, if not in the next couple of months, in the next couple of years. Unfortunately, the one thing you could save on are your animals that cost you a lot of money but I understand that it is now too late to do something about this.