Budgeting without losing your mates...?

Teacheronabudget

Although I guess my husband only started earning a few months ago so in reality we haven't actually had that much disposable income until very recently, so our spending is not quite as out-of-control as it appears. But still not good!

FatVonD

The picnic idea sounds great once the weather improves and you could all arrange to bring something different, so say, one does savoury, one does sweet, one brings soft drinks, another brings a bottle of wine etc.

Until the weather improves though could you still meet half way for a meal but take advantage of vouchers for BOGOFs or Clubcard points or the like? We save all our clubcard points for big family meals out. They paid for 10 of us to go to Cafe Rouge for my step son's 18th, we've had a few meals out at Pizza Express and currently we're saving them to take 12 of us to our local Chef and Brewer pub for my son's 18th and all we'll need to pay for is the drinks.

Failing all that, there's always a Wetherspoons pub and if you choose wisely they won't have the usual crowd of alcoholics sat outside with their roll ups! Not sure where you are but, for instance, the one at Brighton Marina is lovely, the one on High Holborn is okay, I'm sure there must be others

BTW, I agree with what someone else has already said, ie that your friends are probably in the same boat and will be relieved that someone else is the first to say 'sorry, but we're a bit skint so can we rein it in a little' so you'll actually be doing them a favour

Dobbibill

Just a few things that jump out to me, this is only suggestions that may help

• Telephone (landline) quite high – I pay £21.49 for both landline & broadband (worth speaking to your provider or shopping around)

• Mobile phone – is this for one or two phones?

• Groceries – a lot of people on here with the same amount of adults in the household get this lower by meal planning etc (take a look at the old style board)

• Car insurance – this is quite high! Is there anyway you could reduce this by shopping around when it’s due for renewal and maybe paying annually if you don’t already

• Contents insurance – quite expensive, shop around, go via TCB or Quidco to get further discount and again pay annually if you don’t already (I currently pay £75.99 a year, works out about £6.33pcm for both buildings and contents and I know others have got it much lower than me again)

• Presents – How many presents do you buy? Are you part of a large family? That works out at £1200 a year, which is a lot of presents

Are you paying anything towards either of the overdrafts – many posters seem to find it easier to treat them as a debt and pay towards them each month. Something I found easier to do was to use my account that had an overdraft on it as a bills account and pay in additional money to the bills budget and this reduced it gradually. For me this account was never used for spending. As I say this worked for me but you may find something else is better/easier for your lifestyle.

DB

Teacheronabudget

Thanks so much for all this advice, I am going to work on the points you've raised and see what I can do. Our goal is to pay off an amount of the overdrafts each month as you suggest, but we just never have any left to do that! Which is why we need to sort it out.

Teacheronabudget

PS yes I am one of nine siblings and have 4 nieces/nephews already... But I agree it's a lot and something I need to work on.

Dobbibill

As I said all the above are only suggestions, some may work for you, some may not - you will find out what works best by trying different methods. Alot of people recommend YNAB whereas I love a spreadsheet - no right or wrong just different

If you don't have much left to throw at the OD's then start with little steps (eg if you bills come to £496.36 start by rounding it up to £500 therefore putting £3.64 towards OD - obviously the figures are for example only but you get the idea)

Genuinely wish you all the best to find a route for your journey without loosing the time spent with mates

DB