Budgeting and saving tips

Cat4321

Sorry for late reply and thanks so much for all of your thoughts and advice, we’ve looked at our budget and thankfully it is betrayer than I thought! Must have been sleep deprived Snd panicky and head too much in the sand when doing the original spa as I seem to have got a lot of the figures wrong.

Need to reduce hubby’s mobile phone when contract is up and nursery now takes into account tax free element thanks. This budget is while on maternity and have done one with me working and we are £60 better off while I’m on maternity (?!?!?), however, I now plan to try and do some freelance work when I return to work (scary) to earn extra to literally pay off debt (thanks for the second job tip!)

Haven’t had chance to break down credit, some 0% are ending soon and although I don’t want to touch credit now thinking it’s better to shift to 0%?? Surprisingly or not credit xards companies are still sending us letters with 0% deals encouraging our custom!! How unethical!! Anyway . . .

So things will be very tight, may not be able to pay extra to credit card in jan as hub tax return is up End if jan and need to pay that, other than that doing everything to stay out of OD and jan pay (thanks to the advice on here)

Any further thoughts advice would be helpful, hoping to clear this in 5.5 years if possible. Then never touching credit cards again!!

monetxchange

Definitely look at 0% deals. That’s what I did. Use Martin’s eligibility checker to see what you’ll be likely to get. Crazy to pay interest when you have a 0% available.

Good news is, your budget isn’t that tight at all. You have a decent surplus. Get all of that thrown at the debt. Do it at the start of the month so it doesn’t get frittered. Put your budgets for groceries, travel etc into a different account for spending - the Monzo amount with pots for each expense has been great for me.

Make sure you actually do save and put aside the money you’ve budgeted for presents, car maintenance etc. Save for the insurance money and pay yearly - will be cheaper. That way, you’ll never have months where you struggle. Shop around for better deals on utilities and phones etc when contracts are up.

What’s the other insurance for? Is it absolutely essential? You could still shave money off the groceries too. Maybe set yourself a goal of £20 off a week? Landline and haircuts are high - Negotiate better deals and go longer between cuts/buy clippers for men.

Cat4321

Thank you for this, what is a monzo account? I’ll def try and do what you have suggested thanks, yes we def need to get the mobile phone down, my husband and I were talking and not sure whether to give ourselves pocket money of £20 each so we can buy so ethibg if we wish but then in the other hand that’s £40 we could put towards debt, might try sell stuff each month instead

monetxchange

Monzo is a bank, all online. A lot on here including me find using it (or similar ones like Starling etc) useful for budgeting.

For example I transfer in my monthly budget for groceries, petrol, shopping into there. Then I only use that account and not my main “bills” account for those things. So I can only spend that designated amount. It has built in budget tools, so will pop up whenever you spend telling you how much you’ve got left in your groceries budget etc.

Best thing is it has “pots”, which are just little separate sections to put savings in for things you’ve budgeted for like car maintenance. That way you know the money has been put aside and doesn’t get lost in a big savings pool and gets spent on other things.

As I say, there are a few out there. Have a look at the apps and see which you like.

Cat4321

Great thank you I’ll definitely have a look, thanks for your reply!!

katsu

I would stop saving for your children whilst you clear the debt as you spend on them and look after them.

What are all the insurances? Can you get cheaper?

Home phone seems expensive.

I would reduce the present spending.

Honestly you'll really find being here so helpful I promise. Good luck to you.

Cat4321

Thank you, I feel not guilty savings for the though but will
Have a think,
Insurance is my professional registration and accident insurance that is needed, pioneered includes internet and tv but will get rid of sky when it’s up next year, I’m going to add calculations to the snow ball soon to see what it says, should have £200 to add to debt each month but jan might be disheartening as will have tax to pay for annoyingly xx

lindsaygalaxy

When is your mortgage due for renewal and what is your ltv? There are much better rates than what you are paying if you have 80% or under ltv on a fixed rate.


Are you already receiving childcare vouchers to help with childcare costs? The old system you can claim up to £243 a month before tax out of your salary or its 20% top-up on the new system that will help. Do you work all year or when you return to work can you do term-time only?


Council tax seems high - have you spread it over 12 months rather than 10?


Have you included child benefit in your income?

Cat4321

Hi council tax is over 10, I did t realise you could do over 12 ( however not paying in feb/March is helping spread out maternity pay!) mortgage is up in March, ere at 81% ltv unfortunately, hope we get a better when we renew/change but not so sure with this debt!! Thanks

Yes to tax credits and I can’t do term time only

Willing2Learn

Happy Christmas Cat

Do you really spend £60/month (£720/annum) on haircuts. Is there any way to cut back on this? Some salons and colleges do discounts if you get you hair done by a hairdressing student

There are a number of monthly budget categories where your SOA indicates you are putting funds aside each month (eg Holiday fund, presents, emergency fund etc). Why is there not a corresponding amount in your cash assets?