Money saving advice

theghooooost

Hi.
We have a household income of £4200 per month after tax.
Mortgage and all bills amount to £2600 that includes childminder,Food shopping ,Petrol etc.
We have £1600 surplus every month yet never save a penny,It's only now we are on lockdown we are seeing how much we waste.
We seem to spend so badly,Meals out,Clothes shopping,impulse buys.
Does anyone have any advice how we can get out of these bad habits and actually save money,Has anyone been in a similar situation? 
Advice appreciated please.

DCFC79

theghooooost said:

Hi.
We have a household income of £4200 per month after tax.
Mortgage and all bills amount to £2600 that includes childminder,Food shopping ,Petrol etc.
We have £1600 surplus every month yet never save a penny,It's only now we are on lockdown we are seeing how much we waste.
We seem to spend so badly,Meals out,Clothes shopping,impulse buys.
Does anyone have any advice how we can get out of these bad habits and actually save money,Has anyone been in a similar situation? 
Advice appreciated please.

Why do you have meals out ? Is it just being lazy, convenient ?
Why the clothes shopping ? What starts it ?
Before you buy clothing, go out for a meal think to yourself do you really need to buy the clothing or go for the meal out.

There's loads of programmes out there on saving money on your shopping, the Gregg Wallace is 1.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6126160/debt-dont-know-what-to-do#latest

Use the link in there to complete an soa. 
Maybe you should post the soa over on the debt free wannabe board. 

mark55man

i know where you are coming from,  its a game of two halves - both difficult, but very doable
- firstly, its just a matter (easier said then done) of doing less - if lockdown teaches us anything its that it is possible to do stuff for free or to do stuff less often.  its much a matter of gradually but relentlessly squeezing cost out of your lifestyle  by making small changes wherever you can (saving little and often is much more important than saving a lot on a few small things)
- secondly realise that when you get to that point - that is your affordable lifestyle, and not a deprived diet - this is especially important if you have been paying of credit card debt and you finally get debt free

Other tips are pay yourself first - especially if you balance between pensions, ISA and cash savings (pensions for matching company contribution and the tax relief on the way in, ISA's for the tax relief on the way out, and savings for whatever but an emergency fund is a good idea) 

Finally its about being aware of how much you are spending and track balances and accounts more frequently than you are and say something if one or other of you are being a bit wild

Roger.Wilco

This is an old thread - but here goes - someone may find it useful.

I've always saved (kinda) and have always thought I was aware of what I spent (kinda)...

What I found very useful - and improved the situation greatly is have three separate accounts (without overdraft): an incoming account for salaries, a monthly spend account (standing-orders & direct-debits) - and a weekly spend account (everyday expenses).  Large scale savings like ISA/Investments come directly out of the salary account.  The exact monthly calculated standing-order and direct-debit amount is transferred to the Monthly account once a month.  While every Sunday a fixed weekly amount is transferred to the weekly spend (daily expense) account.  The weekly amount is fixed and once spent it is gone and not topped-up.  Any weekly unspent money can either be transferred to ISA/investments or left as a bonus for future weeks.  By having a set fixed weekly spend - it focuses the mind on what is important and what is not.  It also stops the bigger patterns from getting lost in the daily noise.

Fireflyaway

We found the more income we had, the less money we seemed to have! We started by setting up a standing order into a savings account when the bills went out. The other thing is to identify what you are wasting money on. If it's takeaways then limit yourself. If you have 3 a week cut back to one of set a price limit. No more than £50 a week or whatever you decide. Do the same for any other little bits we bobs. Basically it's telling your money where to go. 

PiersHudson

mark88man said:

i know where you are coming from,  its a game of two halves - both difficult, but very doable
- firstly, its just a matter (easier said then done) of doing less - if lockdown teaches us anything its that it is possible to do stuff for free or to do stuff less often.  its much a matter of gradually but relentlessly squeezing cost out of your lifestyle  by making small changes wherever you can (saving little and often is much more important than saving a lot on a few small things)
- secondly realise that when you get to that point - that is your affordable lifestyle, and not a deprived diet - this is especially important if you have been paying of credit card debt and you finally get debt free

Other tips are pay yourself first - especially if you balance between pensions, ISA and cash savings (pensions for matching company contribution and the tax relief on the way in, ISA's for the tax relief on the way out, and savings for whatever but an emergency fund is a good idea) 

Finally its about being aware of how much you are spending and track balances and accounts more frequently than you are and say something if one or other of you are being a bit wild

Thanks for the tips