SOA help please

Toni'sfriend

I always have a few pizzas in my freezer. Have you checked Iceland or Farmfoods. They very often have deals on chilled pizza which you can stick in your freezer. Could you have a day when you make big pots of bolognese, curry etc that you can portion up and freeze so you''ve got something ready when you're too tired to cook. And don't be afraid to buy reduced items or take advantage of deals but only if it is something that you know you'll use.

I think you're right that you have to stop eating out so much as well but if you do can I suggest that you look for discount vouchers. Most of the chain restaurants have them and it's considered perfectly normal to use them.

Hope these suggestions help.

warby68

Your spending patterns involve a lot of treat type activities involving food and drink. Its easy to slip into when times are a bit tough or a bit boring and being at home for several years with a child with additional needs perhaps prompts this even more - you know, regular little rewards to keep up the day to day grind. £20 a day in M&S is quite telling - you might be making a 'treat' out of the daily food shop.

Your debts aren't huge but you have no savings or reserves of any kind so are quite vulnerable to any bumps in the road, especially with only one income.

It seems like some general reprioritising is the main need so you can pay down the debt and build some savings by putting some budget limits in place for your weak spots of food spending and treats while out and about. Holidays could also be reduced for a year to build some reserve pots up.

Most of the one-off's you mention are actually predictable and can be budgetted for. I think your husband perhaps means by one-offs that they're just not monthly bills but they do all come round with certainty every year (unfortunately )

What you do have is plenty of scope to re-set things - the food and discretionary leisure spends are very big chunks at the moment so even pruning by say 20% would be a noticable difference in cash but probably without too much impact on lifestyle.

Drawingaline

Glad to be of some help.

With all the activities maybe look at merlin passes as your child gets bigger. It covers quite a lot of london attractions as well as sealife and theme parks if you like these kinds of things. However do also think of sometimes just packing a picnic and going to a local park, or train into london and a nice afternoon at Hyde Park? I know how hard it can be with some children, my small two actually can't cope going out at all. We do still have outings, but we have to accept that a day out one weekend often means not leaving the house the next.

Entertainment for children is as expensive as you want it to be, but if there are certain attractions you use a lot definitely look at paying for membership, ask for it for Xmas gifts from relatives if possible.

Some soa need doing 2/3 times as you start to get a more accurate picture of what is happening. One offs will still happen, but car repairs should be being saved for monthly, and TV licence so you have it there for next year.

If you are good with spreadsheets maybe do one showing all monthly bills, all yearly bills and all things you have one offs, but should probably save for monthly. So may be budget £100 for day trips for the month, and see how you go.

I use ynab which is a paid for budgeting software, mainly because I am useless with spreadsheets and like the fact I have an app on my phone to log everything on. You get a month free before having to pay, lots of people on here use it, and love it, (others much prefer free spreadsheets or good old paper and pen) if interested just have a read on their website about the ideas behind it and there are loads of YouTube videos to watch to decide if it's something you might like.

Or an account with a bank like monzo which allows you to set up 'pots' for various items might be helpful.

getmore4less

I think you need to categorise everything better.

One offs will fall into a category of one sort or another.

Sometimes grouping categories can help.

Eg, home food, takeaway,eating out are all about food, your issue is all three are relatively high.

That 700 in holidays is really a mix of other categories, work out where they go, kids entertainment..
Make new categories if needed the SOA ones are not fixed.


Do a past 12month review this will give a much clearer picture than one month

Then budget for the next 12month.

A budget is a plan of where you want to allocate the income.
Use the last 12 months to guide you on how much you spent last year.
When the budget(plan) balances you can work on cut backs and getting better value.

Once you have a plan you can spend diary and check you are on plan.

Once you start understanding where all your money goes you can start making informed choices about cutting back.

Some cutbacks will come quickly like groceries, eating out/takeaways others may take time.


Remember the key is knowing where the money is going.

getmore4less

One thing to also start monitoring is what you throw out especially food.
Everything you throw out is something you did not need to buy.

As part of budgeting do a clothes audit to work out what you will need to buy in the next 12 months then stick to it

getmore4less

Our M&S goes 90% off near closing great way to get freezer stock(pizza £1) and sandwiches(30p) for the next day.

Make shopping a challenge to get stuff that you will use and is in the food plan cheaper.

getmore4less

Our M&S goes 90% off near closing great way to get freezer stock(pizza £1) and sandwiches(30p) for the next day.

Make shopping a challenge to get stuff that you will use and is in the food plan cheaper.

Karonher

I am not sure on the rules of mentioning company names on here in a way that could look like it was being promoted, but there is an insurance comparison company that gives buy one get one free or a certain percentage off meals and cinema tickets if you take out a policy.

If taking people for meals as a thank you is important you could look at them before getting the next insurance policy.

Toni'sfriend

One thing to also start monitoring is what you throw out especially food.
Everything you throw out is something you did not need to buy.

This is so true. It's amazing what you an do with "leftovers". Maybe check your portion control as well. I've just started doing this recently. It's quite an eyeopener.

JCS1

Do a stock take of what is in your cupboards, fridge and freezer - and then head over to the old style board on here. The amazing ladies and gents will come up with meals from the ingredients for you, as well as lots of ways of making food stretch.