budgeting......

moggins

And it also helps if you have a partner who is working with you and supporting you in running your budgets

kit

I too have decided not to return to work (my baby is 3 months old). After bill payments , food and petrol I have £50 left per month so its a struggle! Out of that £50 I have to save for car tax, MOT, insurance, xmas, bdays and clothes.

I would recommend having lots of bank accounts, each for a purpose, so that you know what is going on at all times. I have a speadsheet that I use to log every penny that we spend so that I can make sure we are not wasting money.

I hope you get on ok! I am thinking I may have to work after all :mad:

Magentasue

kit wrote:

I too have decided not to return to work (my baby is 3 months old). After bill payments , food and petrol I have £50 left per month so its a struggle! Out of that £50 I have to save for car tax, MOT, insurance, xmas, bdays and clothes.

I would recommend having lots of bank accounts, each for a purpose, so that you know what is going on at all times. I have a speadsheet that I use to log every penny that we spend so that I can make sure we are not wasting money.

I hope you get on ok! I am thinking I may have to work after all :mad:

Kit, when I was in your situation, I registered as a childminder. Most of the children were teachers' children and it was part time but it was enough to help out. So long as you don't take on a baby (double buggy time) it can be company for your baby (older babies love all that attention) and extra money for you.

AussieLass

I would recommend having lots of bank accounts, each for a purpose, so that you know what is going on at all times. I have a speadsheet that I use to log every penny that we spend so that I can make sure we are not wasting money.


I don't know if I would recommend lots of bank accounts. The banks are a rip off with all their fees. Especially on bank accounts with small amounts. Would rather keep my own money then give it to the banks. Just stick with the one account but if you keep a balanced spreadsheet you will know what you have exactly in each category. Good luck.

Yategirl

Thanks for all the advice - keep it coming!!

Dh isn't very supportive about this - he likes to spend spend spend... but I think I have got him to see that he can't!! I've allocated money for everything barr dentist, prescription fees and hairdresser at the moment - haven't decided how to do this as this is a one-off every so often.... but we seem to have about £100 a month over to spend/save which seems quite reasonable to me though dh is moaning that £50/mth spends isn't enough..... [angry]

As long as I keep on top of my spreadsheet and watch what is spent... then I can manage with the bank accounts (dd, saving, temp) we already have.... but I may add another one in at a later date.

Kit - it might not be the right time at the moment but think about ironing or a couple of hours cleaning a week - will bring in just a little bit extra but can be done either at home or early/late when your baby is asleep. Some people do Avon or Kleeneze type work and they seem to be able to get by with that. I am sure other people here will have some good ideas.

Yategirl

Yategirl

Julie14_2

Since having my daughter 14 months ago (I have a 5yr old as well) I have began to budget seriously, I did return to work but only work 3 evenings a week (I earn about £80 a week) My OH does not get involved as long as he has some money every week he's happy, When I started we were spending £150 a month over what we brought in so the overdraft was going up and up, things are still really tight but I'm getting there, last month we only went over our take home pay by £40.

We have two loans (car and new windows) and a maxed out credit card (we did have 3 - so the budgeting is working). I try and buy one or two xmas presents every month as I know if I put this money away something else would need replacing or buying and as always xmas would be put on a new credit card which I am determined not to do this year.

We would still have a problem is anything major goes wrong with the house or the car, I do put some money away for emergencys but as of now I only have £80 in that account but that is £80 more that this time a year ago.

Budgeting is a long term thing and as I'm only just starting the second year I have a long way to go, I did find grocery shopping hard to cut back on but with the help of the grocery challange I'm getting better. Sometimes I do get really fed up with watching every penny and would like to shop without looking a every price ticket and but something that I want rather than only things we need but I'm sure there will be light at the end of the tunnel which will be well worth it in the end (or so I keep telling myself).

Good luck in your budgeting - hope we can swap tips.

dorry_2

moggins wrote:

I don't usually advocate spending money when you're trying to save it but in this case (and for every other woman who would rather stay home with her children) I will just say the best tenner I ever spent was on a book called "The Smart Woman's Guide to Staying at Home" written by Melissa Hill, mainly because there's a lot more involved in staying at home with your children than just a loss of income. This book does help deal with the loss of income too though.

i have just reserved this book at local libary online, its a good way to see if u like the book before buying it me thinks!!

Loadsabob

I get on quite well with budgeting, and follow some of the methods already listed here.

My spreadsheet is glorious, how sad am I? I really love it!

But I have all my regular monthly outgoings in it, by month, with from/to dates for each month.

My salary is on there, and and a row for any other income (Ha!!! As IF!). The sheet is until the end of 2006, and is great for me, because I can forcast whether I can afford to take a lower paid job by popping in a different salary...or whether I could afford to run a car or take on a monthly commitment etc etc.

All my regular monthly outgoings are by Standing Order or DD:

Rent
Council Tax
BT
Union membership
small amount to cash ISA savings
small amount to Building Society for annual TV license and contents insurance
sum to other ISA (my made-up "pension")

So the annual things come out of the Building Society account. I work out how much needs to go into that based on how much needs to come out, and when (ie: my TV license is due on 1st September each year, Contents at around the same time). My spreadsheet is SO sad and detailed that I have the building society account, and the cash ISA, and my stocks and shares ISA ALL on there so I can tell how much I'm worth at any one time, and show any movement between those accounts in between having the books updated.

Then I also have a fixed £50 per week for living / food / entertainment / transport etc, so either four or five of these are built into each month depending on the month length.

The BT bill varies, but averages at around £20, so I have calculated that in for every month, and adjust it up or down accordingly when the actual bill comes through.

Likewise, electric, I have a key meter, and put about £25 per month on that at payday, and again, adjust up or down on my spreadsheet accordingly.

The £50 per week I draw out from the bank in one go, and place it in the kitchen drawer, taking out £50 for myself each Saturday. The cash I get out for electric at the same time goes straight onto the key.

This works really well for me, I am never caught out. I have a "sundries" row, so anything I buy online or write cheques for goes in there, so I can see what's left in the bank. The spreadsheet shows me how much is left each month after all outgoings, then I can transfer any remaining funds (and fortunately there are usually some!) into my cash ISA if I like, or roll it over to next month, or make any bigger one-off purchases from that account.

I go through my online bank statement every week or so, cross-checking, and when payments from the spreadsheet have physically left the bank, I place the date in a note on the spreadsheet, so I don't confuse myself by entering them twice! (I had IDENTICAL BT bills in two consecutive months...took me AGES to realise that not being able to balance my figures was down to having only put that amount on once!)

For me it's not having the money physically in lots of different places, it's just having everything on the spreadsheet so there are no nasty surprises.

In fact, this weekend I added more pages to the spreadsheet...my weekly spend (ie: a breakdown by spending type - food/entertainment/transport etc) of that £50 each week. Like the cashbook I used to keep, it will enable me to see where the money tends to go each week, and when I underspend, and an overview of each month. Also means I can keep an eye on the grocery challenge! I fear this, and the electronic menu planner I have could become TOO much of a hobby!..

Pooky

The best tip I can give you is to find your local baby and toddler drop in centre - most towns have something along the same line. We had one run by the N.C.H Action for children group, they ran at a local library and did play sessions and coffee free of charge.

I know it's daunting to walk in to somewhere for the first time but you'll be surprised how quickly you'll make friends.

I used to go 4 mornings a week to the local one, gave me a reason to get up and out of the house, someone else to talk to and stopped me mooching around shops spending money I couldn't afford. They used to arrange clothes swapping events, really usefull when little ones grow so fast, they had a notice board where you could advertise all your old baby items for sale and I managed to get car seats etc for a fraction of the cost.

I know it doesn't help with your planning and budgeting now but well worth looking into.

dorry_2

i agree with pooky. i was a stay a home mum for two years and we went to mother and toddler about 3 mornings a week.. i ended up running one when the woman left. i really enjoyed it and it lead to me changing careers when i did go back to work!!

when we first decided for me to stay of we sold my car just used hubbys and went through every single bill and dd we were paying. at first it was hard but u just cut your cloth accordingly.

i loved looking after our son, he is so worth it and it has been paid back threefold now, in how well he has done at school since... its so so rewarding, the most important job u can ever do !!!