How to improve finances

lilyloo17

Hi , was looking for help/ advice on how to improve finances ?
Me and hubby have reasonable combined income 2674, plus child benefit 137 - our total expenses per month are 1661 - so in theory we should have 1k per month left - we never do but obviously out of this there is spending for non essential but enjoyable things , we have 2 girls so spend on them.
The 1661 includes mortgage, food petrol and all household bills , 80 for sofa (we also pay 300 childcare per month but is paid via vouchers so our income is already net of this and some share savings we take part in ) also have 800 on cc paid around 40 per month / so the situation is not dire I just want to improve it ! Thanks (originally posted in debt section maybe it's better placed here )

YorkshireBoy

Is the £800 credit card debt at 0%? If it isn't, then one 'no spend' month will clear it!

The obvious thing to do is find out where, exactly, the £1K* per month - that's £12,000 per year!! - goes! And that means a spending diary. Only when you've done that, and established a balance between enjoying life and spoiling your kids, will you find a way to improve your finances.

Where are your savings (which bank/specific account) and, for best advice/suggestions to follow, how much have you?

* You actually have £1,150 left...you forgot to include the child benefit.

lilyloo17

Hi thanks for reply , yes the 800 is on 0% that's actually hubby last credit card , which he pays out his own monthly "pocket money" the only other debt we have is mortgage and sofa on 0% Hp which will be done at end of year.
Out the disposable income I break it down as follows
160 hubby own spends to do as he pleases
80 my spends (I choose to have less !)
50 Xmas savings pot
50 into childrens savings
400 family disposable income so roughly 100 per week which can go on anything , days out on weekends , meals out , kids clothes , kids activities , travel as my parents live few hours away , birthdays .takeaways , girls dance classes but is varys massively every week so I struggle to break this down even more
We generally have 150/300 left per month which I overpay on mortgage.
We have 5k in savings which is in rubbish savings account but I don't know where to put it (would want easy access in case of emergency)Also have 5k in share with work but non accessible at moment.
I feel we have a high amount we prob spend on "waste" and would like to use more effectively but at same time we do like doing nice things, and certainly don't feel we do anything extravagant ! But then we are spending almost 700 per month on living I can't decide if it's too much

YorkshireBoy

lilyloo17 wrote: »

We generally have 150/300 left per month which I overpay on mortgage.
We have 5k in savings which is in rubbish savings account but I don't know where to put it

Open a trio of TSB Plus current accounts (one sole each and a joint), and dump £1,667 in each.

Then each of you open a linked TSB monthly saver and feed them from your sole accounts (initially £150 each). Replenish the current accounts from income with the £300 you have left each month.

All your cash savings are now making 5% AER. I'm guessing this is higher than your mortgage rate?

lilyloo17

Current savings are 0.2 percent nationwide account which is terrible I know ! Mortgage rate is not great at 4.59 which we are stuck on till next year - but ideally I wanted to keep over paying so we hit a 60% (which is doable) for best rates poss next year

YorkshireBoy

lilyloo17 wrote: »

Current savings are 0.2 percent nationwide account which is terrible I know ! Mortgage rate is not great at 4.59 which we are stuck on till next year - but ideally I wanted to keep over paying so we hit a 60% (which is doable) for best rates poss next year

So don't take out the monthly savers. Just do the current accounts and enjoy the £240 extra a year you'll be making. Be sure to pay it off the mortgage!

You already have a heck of an incentive to cut back and save, namely dropping down an LTV tier so you can get a better mortgage rate than 4.59% APR, so I'm not sure anyone here can motivate you more than you should be able to motivate yourselves.

lilyloo17

Yes I'll definitely move our savings over been meaning to do for a while.
Mortgage is 133k , value 215/220k so if keeping over paying hopefully can get down to 60ltv by next May. I'd like to save more but 100 per week just goes and things aren't stretched enough to never have any enjoyment - includes clothes and things out of that though aswell.

I don't think we do bad , also 130 goes into shares every month (income already net of this) but it feels we don't have extravagant things - normal everyday living, but still spend quite a lot !
I'll definitely start a spending diary
Thanks for help