How to stop living paycheck to paycheck?

SusieT

It does look as if you are leaking money somewhere, as according to the SOA you should have nearly £700 a month left over that could be saved for an emergency fund (if the 6000 cash is earmarked for other things), and then for house improvements, or to pay off the loans early. 
Other than trimming a few things, there is nothing for life insurance which with 1 person earning would be a must for me even though the house is paid for, contents insurance (unless it is included with buildings), and nothing for holidays.
You have done the right thing by starting a spending diary, as it will help you find that missing £700 

elsien

I'm also wondering about the accuracy of your budget for clothes and for presents and entertainment for four children? £20 a month doesn't seem a huge amount for clothes, for example. 
What you could do is go back and look at your bank statements and see if what you've spent previously tallies for what you've planned moving ahead and if this is where some of your surplus is going?

Kakiste

For subscriptions could you share with close friends and family? In my house we have access to Netflix, Amazon prime and Disney but we only pay for one- amazon and then share those log on details with a friend who has Disney+ who doesn't have prime but uses ours and then do the same swap of log on details with my sister who has Netflix. 

EssexHebridean

Your first mission is to find that nearly £700 a month you're meant to have...some of it will be going into the bits of the budget you have too-low figures for - some of which have already been suggested above. 

I'd suggest getting out a years worth of bank & card statements and going back through them to better inform some of the spending though. 

Think about it this way - if you DID have even £600 a month left over, that would be over £7,000 sitting in the bank at the end of the year! Your first priority for whatever surplus you find will be to start and build an emergency fund though - having that will in itself help to make you feel more financially stable - there is a huge amount to be said for knowing that if the fridge stops working tomorrow, you have the money right there for a replacement! 

RAS

Start with the last three month's statements if 12 months seems daunting? 

First thought are:

What did you spend on Christmas presents?
Clothing would barely cover knickers and socks for the family? What do you actually spend on clothing over the year?
Petrol at £20 per month hardly makes it seem worth having a car. Can you voluntary surrender at the half way mark and join a car club?
Never go on holiday, visit friends and family?
You need life insurance, certainly for the wage earner, but really bluntly, if you have a child with disabilities, how long would hubbie be able to work if you became seriously unwell?
You also need contents insurance.
Your utilities seem low; when does your fix end?
With your youngest aged 1, is hubbies work pattern stable enough that you could do one day or two evenings? What impact would that have on your benefits?

kimwp

Kakiste said:

For subscriptions could you share with close friends and family? In my house we have access to Netflix, Amazon prime and Disney but we only pay for one- amazon and then share those log on details with a friend who has Disney+ who doesn't have prime but uses ours and then do the same swap of log on details with my sister who has Netflix. 

NB this recently became a criminal offence in the UK.

Rosita8

RAS said:

Start with the last three month's statements if 12 months seems daunting? 

First thought are:

What did you spend on Christmas presents?
Clothing would barely cover knickers and socks for the family? What do you actually spend on clothing over the year?
Petrol at £20 per month hardly makes it seem worth having a car. Can you voluntary surrender at the half way mark and join a car club?
Never go on holiday, visit friends and family?
You need life insurance, certainly for the wage earner, but really bluntly, if you have a child with disabilities, how long would hubbie be able to work if you became seriously unwell?
You also need contents insurance.
Your utilities seem low; when does your fix end?
With your youngest aged 1, is hubbies work pattern stable enough that you could do one day or two evenings? What impact would that have on your benefits?

Thanks for your input: 

I don't know the answers to some of these so will need to research. Utilities might be low as we are on a fix for a few more months but also we have some green resources (solar and heat pump).

Christmas-Not enough according to one teenager! She wanted me to spend £600 on her like her friends apparently!

 I don't use my car much as we have an electric one through the business (although I think this is coming to the end of the lease). I can walk locally and one teenager gets the bus etc

We would like a holiday but don't think we will go for one this year with the uncertainty of the cost of living.. if we do we have camping equipment or access to a static caravan in the UK. 

elsien

kimwp said:

Kakiste said:

For subscriptions could you share with close friends and family? In my house we have access to Netflix, Amazon prime and Disney but we only pay for one- amazon and then share those log on details with a friend who has Disney+ who doesn't have prime but uses ours and then do the same swap of log on details with my sister who has Netflix. 

NB this recently became a criminal offence in the UK.

Not quite. There was a suggestion that in some circumstances it might be, but that guidance was then retracted. It is certainly against their terms and conditions though, which would be a civil offence and not a criminal one, although they don't seem to be enforcing that at the moment. 
Netflix password sharing ‘a criminal offence’ according to Intellectual Property Office | Thorntons Solicitors (thorntons-law.co.uk)

kimwp

elsien said:

kimwp said:

Kakiste said:

For subscriptions could you share with close friends and family? In my house we have access to Netflix, Amazon prime and Disney but we only pay for one- amazon and then share those log on details with a friend who has Disney+ who doesn't have prime but uses ours and then do the same swap of log on details with my sister who has Netflix. 

NB this recently became a criminal offence in the UK.

Not quite. There was a suggestion that in some circumstances it might be, but that guidance was then retracted. It is certainly against their terms and conditions though, which would be a civil offence and not a criminal one, although they don't seem to be enforcing that at the moment. 
Netflix password sharing ‘a criminal offence’ according to Intellectual Property Office | Thorntons Solicitors (thorntons-law.co.uk)

I was misinformed, thank you for clarifying 

Coffeekup

I cleared off a number of debts around 10-12 years ago, once they were paid off I had a good chuck of cash each month to do what I wanted with. I saved some and bought things I/we needed, but 3 years later I had very little in savings and I couldn't really account for the reason why. I realized I needed to look at how I mange my money.

So I set up a number of accounts and they all had certain outgoings, i.e. one for household bill's, another for holidays, another for car and Christmas and birthday's and one for savings they are all fed money from a "main" account which in the incoming money gets paid into.
As an example I worked out everyone I buy for Christmas then doubled it for birthday's then added 10% on to the total, divided it by 12 which gave me the monthly payment I needed to send to that account in this case Christmas and birthdays.
Did the same for the other accounts, so when ever something came up like a MOT it would come from the nominated account. It's been the same ever since, I just go over it once a year and tweak the increases/decreases, and if at the end of the year I never touched the 10% I paid in extra I'd move it over to savings.

The money I have left over in the main account each month, once all the accounts above have had their allocation is for me to spend on stuff I don't really like to account for, i.e. a treat for the little one or a drink with a friend. I realize the above may not work for everyone but put a different perspective on how to see money.