Newbie here - help re the £££ left after bills paid so can attack mortgage

dorsetmike

Hi - As a family we have 2 adults working full time with 2 teenagers, and every month we have £2400 left after the bills are paid. In my mind we should be cash rich and able to pay more on the mortgage, but it's the age old problem that we spend to our means often spending a bit of next months.

Debt has been paid down a lot, down to £3k on a 0%, 1 car owned outright.

Do you have any tips for making a budget and actually sticking to it? Have tried moving money to savings but end up taking it out.

Started online food shopping which has reduced massively what we spend each month.

We have 7 years left on the mortgage, would like that to be sooner (very achievable) and want to have a good discipline when paid off so can help kids through university (if they choose to) and stash fund for retirement.

Any help or comments welcome to achieve this goal.

Tend to have 1 overseas holiday a year around £3k.

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2595
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1929
Benefits................................ 137.6
Other income............................ 153
Total monthly income.................... 4814.6

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1495
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 173
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 53
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35
Internet Services....................... 30
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 100
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 11
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 11.16
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 150
Haircuts................................ 60
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2988.18


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 350000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 354500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 114000...(1495).....1.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 114000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
0% credit card.................3200......65........0
Total unsecured debts..........3200......65........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,814.6
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,988.18
Available for debt repayments........... 1,826.42
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 65
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,761.42

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 354,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -114,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,200
Net Assets.............................. 237,300

saverclaire

Hi we are in a similar situation to you so look forward to seeing the tips...
Where did you find the balance sheet you've copied and pasted? I thought I saw one before on here which I was looking for when I saw your post. Is there any MSE general guidance anywhere on monitoring income / expenditure etc? Just downloaded our bank statements to do an analysis!

Thanks!

dorsetmike

Hi saverclaire - i found a link on another post which i can't post as hyperlink as i'm new in town:-

stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php]

daisy_1571

Hi there dorsetmike

I'm afraid it's a really boring answer but the trick is to move money into savings then 'forget' about it, it really doesnt work if you just take it back out again :rotfl:

Of course it could mean you haven't realistically worked out your figures so are trying to save money that you can't actually afford to save rather than just deciding on a whim to spend some money.

Lots of tricks on here: limit your spends which is only achievable to a fixed amount and increase your income which is potentially limitless. Convert your take home pay to an hourly rate so you can ask yourself do I really want to work 5 hours so I can buy x. Have a lean month where the game is to spend as little as possible, what seems unrealistic to do forever is easier to do just for one month, then do it again for another month either later in the year or the following month. Set yourself a target for no spend days in the month where you literally dont go to the shops/internet buying etc. Start a policy to not put anything more on the credit card till you have cleared it as paying that balance down reduces the money you have available in the month and if you get used to putting things on the credit card then you are not getting out of that cycle.

Anyway these are just a few ideas, try things keep what works for you and adapt if things don't quite work but it really is as mathematically simple as spending less money each month than you have coming in. However the emotional side of money, reckoning you 'deserve' something even though you cant afford it, the head in the sand 'something will turn up to solve this problem' all means its not always as easy as that. The fact that people on huge incomes ie pop stars, footballers etc can go bankrupt shows that its not just about earning more, not everyone exercises their own self control cos if you earn 1000 a month and spend 1050 its just as bad as earning 250,000 and spending 250,050 - if you do it regularly you are increasing debt rather than savings.

Good luck with your journey, you will get there if you decide what's important to you and your family

Daisy

Ps not saying any of the above attitudes are ones you or uour family display- just illustrating there is more to money than simply maths and that's where we often sabotage ourselves

Happier_Me

It's okay to have an SOA you aspire to. But for now I think you need to work out where your money is actually going. Look through your last three months bank and credit card statements and draw up another SOA. And/or start a spending diary to track your spends.

Once you know what you're spending your money on you are better placed to decide where to cut spend.

p00hsticks

dorsetmike wrote: »

Tend to have 1 overseas holiday a year around £3k.

dorsetmike wrote: »

Holiday................................. 0

So this should read £250 a month, not zero

dorsetmike wrote: »

Clothing................................ 0

Really? For four of you including two teenagers ? This is definitely one of your black holes where money is going you're not budgeting for

dorsetmike wrote: »

Entertainment........................... 0

Again - really ? Never any family trips to the cinema, sporting events, firework displays, theme parks, eating out ?

Do the kids earn their own money via Saturday jobs or do they get pocket money /things bought for them ? If the latter you need to incude this in the SOA.

Only once you really know where your money is going can you then budget (and save) properly

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary.

EagerLearner

Hi Dorsetmike welcome and congrats on taking the step to have a diary, it'll really help you.
I wrote a long post last night but MSE crashed on me. The long and the short of it was to see if you can reduce groceries. I'm sure I remember reading £70 per week was the average for a 2 adult 2 kids family. Perhaps some slow cooked meals and batch cooking could grill, saves us hundreds a year. We average £60 per week with 2 adults, a 7 year old, a cat and occasional lodger breakfasts and weekend dinners. Perhaps the old style thread can help you.

The other aspect would gift buying etc, this could you save some pennies via gifts from sites like Ali express, fleabay etc. Good quality gifts even if second hand Csn6 still be v very appreciated and people needn't know they're preloved. You might also do secret Santa for the adults, or buy gifts only for kids etc.

This forum will save you so much money and the help is great with brilliant tips.

One thing I would recommend is looking up on Google Images the Cash flow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki. That picture alone ingrained in my brain has saved me thousands in the last 3years since I first saw it. The Richest Man in Babylon and The Millionaire Next Door are excellent books too.