Budget Help

Dobbibill

Is your monthly amount to the council tax the actual monthly amount or is it the amount you are paying over 10 months of the year. If the latter, you could ask your council to amend your payments across 12 months - this can sometimes help with budgeting. 

enthusiasticsaver

If it is just you and the children are you claiming the single persons discount on council tax? A lot of the expenses are fixed so not much room for negotiating those down except for the loan to the family member.  When the HP deal on the car finishes will it then be yours or is it a PCP deal where you need to find a balloon payment or take out a new deal? If so you could ask the family member to accept maybe £100 a month until June 2023 then up it once the HP deal finishes. 

stevefrazer1969

Hi,
The only thing others haven't mentioned is food. You're not spending that much but working to menus and only buying the things you actually need can reduce food shopping massively. We thought eating no meat would be tough but it really hasn't been and the savings are enormous - 2 adults, £50/week

After you speak to your family member. When I lend money it sometimes turns into a gift and is always with a proviso that they only pay me what they can afford, when they can afford it.

RG2015

The post above mentions food, which could be reviewed and reduced (like the BBC's Eat Well for Less) but most regular expenditure is not fixed. There is always room to use less.

For example reducing consumption of petrol, gas, electricity, and water. Are you able to use less?

I also find it useful to monitor consumption on a regular (monthly) basis and see if this is consistent with the figures you have given.

When I first started budgeting, I monitored all of my expenditure, was amazed how the small items added up. As a result, I stopped or cut back much of my "unnecessary"  expenditure.