One income family of four - can we get ahead even after pay cuts?

Bluegreen143

Been doing some tweaking of YNAB & changed some categories about in a way that just makes a bit more sense in my head. One change I’ve made is I rarely take much cash for myself & it’s usually mixed in with general spending. I’m going to budget a bit more to myself each month though. I’d love to have enough to put aside my own savings and maybe surprise Red with a weekend away or even if I want to get myself something bigger like a laptop in the future. 

New categories & proposed budget for Sept (subject to tweaking!) 

Projected income
Salary £1,360 sent over once Red has taken off his spending (maybe more as Red is waiting to go back having had all his training - he may even be back tomorrow) 

UC £400 (will be less if salary is higher)
Child benefit £140
Total £1,900 (not counting Red’s spending that he keeps)

Monthly bills £850 (rounded up)
Mortgage £421
Council tax £153
Gas & elec £105
Life & illness ins £50
TV license £14
Internet £23
My phone (inc Spotify) £43
Nursery snack fund £30

Annual bills £100 (money put aside for car tax/insurance, breakdown cover, home insurance, MOT, boiler service, Amazon Prime, YNAB, Disney+ which are all paid annually)

Household £600

Food £325 (with £25 kept aside in 4 week months to smooth the 5 week months)
Household, garden & pets £100
Petrol & parking £75
Clothes £50
Fun £50

My plan is to challenge myself and underspend as much as possible in these categories each month and move the excess to savings either towards hopefully booking in a holiday (likely just a long weekend in Scotland if we do go this year at all) or towards home projects. 

My spending £75

Savings & debt £275
MIL debt £100
Christmas & birthdays £140 (going to put the whole child benefit towards this each month now til Christmas then reassess for next year)

Leftover money in this category + any saved from other categories I plan to split between emergency savings, home projects & holiday fund. My bank account also rounds up debit card & online spends to put the extra pennies in the emergency fund which is helping to build it up.

Once I’ve got the MIL debt paid off hopefully around springtime and my emergency fund is a bit bigger at say £750 I’ll probably aim to redistribute the savings a bit and start to put money into a pension for me every month.

Baileys_Babe

Bluegreen143 said:

Monthly bills £950 (rounded up)
Mortgage £421
Council tax £153
Gas & elec £105
Life & illness ins £50
TV license £14
Internet £23
My phone (inc Spotify) £43
Nursery snack fund £30

@Bluegreen143 
I made this category roughly £850 😉 the overall total is still £1900, so I guess it is a typo

Bluegreen143

@Baileys_Babe I went back and corrected it! I had counted the annual bills in there but then made them their own category too 😅

Baileys_Babe

We used to have a bills category and now have monthly and yearly separate, partly if OH sees a high balance he thinks he needs to spend it 😠

Bluegreen143

@Baileys_Babe I feel your pain. Red can’t actually access our bills account as it’s my bank account - we haven’t got a joint account. He just transfers me most of his pay at payday then I sort everything else out. Though I do have a meeting with him to inform him of how his money is being spent 😆

Baileys_Babe

 Likewise OH earns the money and I am responsible for spending and more importantly saving it. We have separate bank accounts, OH transfers most of his pay and I allocate it. I am happy to show him any account whenever he asks (I can't remember the last time) but it is easier to show him the spreadsheet with everything allocated. On payday, he emails the figures (his pay fluctuates dramatically) and anything he needs to pay, I reply with the mortgage total and the figures on a couple of key accounts. 
Our arrangements are probably confusing to most people but they work for us.
The bills are mostly in my name and all come out of my account nowadays. He is not totally stupid with money, but before we met he was in a very well paid job and the next pay packet was never far away and he was used to frequently treating himself. He never felt the need to budget as he would just pay out of that month's pay.

OH was the one to suggest I took control of the finances as I have skills and interest in this area.

OH currently only has his current account and his name on the mortgage KISS 😂

Bluegreen143

Sounds a not dissimilar set up to us @Baileys_Babe.

Nice day today and Red yet again didn’t have to go to work in the end! However he DEFINITELY has two jobs booked in the PM tomorrow. Alas it’s my birthday! Was kind of hoping his work’s uselessness would carry on to one more day but at least he’s off in the morning. He has a video call with work at 8.30am which is a shame as otherwise he would have taken Monkey to nursery and let me lie in but never mind.

Looks like my stepdad may need surgery for his back but he’s in the right place and I’m glad he’s being looked after.

Had two friends over for a playdate with their one year olds this morning which was very nice. They have older ones the same age as Monkey too but we all only had our toddlers today due to school/nursery. 

Dinner was halloumi & veg kebabs, a grated carrot/beetroot salad, lemon & coriander rice and yoghurt dip. Followed by apple & blackberry crumble. Of course those ungrateful children of mine turned their noses up at the halloumi kebabs but never mind.

Baileys_Babe

Silver lining, more kebabs for you and Red. When the children start eating halloumi you then have the problem that there is never enough.
It is so dispiriting when the children turn their noses up at the food that has been prepared. For years it was a big problem as they have gotten older much less so, in fact now some of dd favourite meals are ones she despised 2 years ago. I found the worst thing was they would at least try anything my Mum cooked without fuss and often eat it all. They can easily wrap my Mum around their finger so if they hadn't eaten it she would of made them something else.

Bluegreen143

@Baileys_Babe true, the halloumi pack is rather tiny! Red and I can eat it all ourselves, we love halloumi though. 

Happy birthday to me today 🙂

Red’s work video call has been cancelled so he’s about to take Monkey to nursery. I’ve already had my cake presentation because he thought I might want some mid morning instead of waiting til after dinner (sensible man). He’s made me a chocolate blackout cake which is both pretty and promises to be tasty! He rarely bakes (though he is a good cook) but once a year he makes the effort for my birthday 🙂

Have received some lovely presents. Red got me a wee cheap Amazon kindle fire tablet which he actually gave me two weeks ago when he was away for training. Our laptop doesn’t really work so we were using our phones for everything, it’s nice to have a bigger screen for reading & videos. He’s going to return the pasta machine and I’ll probably get kitchen scales with the refund as mine are rubbish. He also got me a sharp little paring knife, 1000 piece puzzle and made a wooden carved wall decoration which the kids lovingly and enthusiastically decorated in paint and glitter. I love it!

From my mum I got my sourdough banneton and bread scorer which again I got early, and the famous duplicate pasta machine. My sister got me a 1000 piece puzzle, dough hook for my kitchen aid (mine is broken as the enamel is falling off), English-Gaelic dictionary, chocolate and moisturiser. I got the Half Hour Allotment book from my BIL too. I have a card coming from MIL which usually contains a voucher either for amazon or clothes, and my papa (who is hoping to come visit after the Aberdeen lockdown ends) usually puts £50 in his card (I will buy a Gaelic learning course with this if he does). So all in all I’m very lucky 🙂

Red has just said as he’s off for the morning I can go on a child free walk so I think I will - it’s going to heavily rain this afternoon so good to get the steps in (I finally charged my Fitbit!). He needs to work this afternoon but is going to clean the kitchen etc first and dinner is prepped so I should be able to have a relaxed afternoon actually playing with the kids and focused on them not trying to do 100 other things at once! 

joedenise

Happy birthday!  Enjoy the cake that Red's baked for you.  My DH wouldn't know where to start.  The only things he cooks are fry ups, which I'm glad about as I'm useless.  I'm fine with cooking all the other meals just not anything fried.

Sounds like you've got some lovely presents.  Enjoy your child free walk.