Turn it up a notch

It's time to turn it up a notch!

I don't know how you've been feeling recently, I've felt like life is passing me by a little. Who's fault is that, mine of course. So time to take the reins Muchachos!

Let's get started, my budgets all in a mess.

We've recently moved from budgeting separately to budgeting as a couple due to our beautiful addition to the moneybeta family. He's brilliant and I wouldn't have it any other way. but it has meant I am now the main bread winner. this is all well and good, I am earning enough to cover all the bills with a little left over but its really affected our saving rate.

I'd been tracking it in the upper 30-40% of gross income which was the highest it had ever been at the start of the year, then bam, maternity pay. I'm not complaining that it's low in fact its probably massively too high. Considering our situation with one person earning enough to cover all the necessities, the maternity pay has become more of a "wants" money pot.

This is where the budget has fallen down, with boredom setting in after a few months of being stuck at home and a lot of stir craziness to boot (!), I completely understand why this has happened, however I like to be in control of the cash and it feels like a massive leak is forming one drip at a time.

Not to mention that in the next few months the maternity pay will end.

So what to do, what to do. Well as I said earlier, take the reins dear hart and off we go. We have to trample this budget into a small enough pile to fit our requirements. This means unfortunately putting an end to a lot of the fanciness that has crept in.

Our meal plan will have to be carefully considered after the monthly costs have risen from a budget amazing £275 per month to a belly bulging £350 per month. This is an easy win here, if we get back to the usual weekly food plan and go shopping AFTER having eaten (true fact: if you're hungry you buy more, doesn't everyone know that by now?) we can easily cut this down, possibly even further than what we had done before.

Cancelling TV services. Again an easy one, tried to cancel SKY but am tied in til December, so netflix will have to be cancelled, that's a paltry £6 a month saving, but every penny is a winner in this game.

Clothes shopping, with the change in seasons almost upon us, it's time to stop nipping to the shop and look through all those old winter clothes, get them clean get them washed, chuck out the ones with holes (armholes are ok), this will have a two fold affect. Our wardrobe will be a little emptier, our bank will be allowed a rest from all the clothes buying. This goes the same for shoes, does a man really need two pairs of flip flops? Ebay I hear you calling.

Lunches out / weekend shenanigans, this is probably where we've fallen down the wayside the worst, driving around especially on the weekend, then getting expensive lunches out whilst we're there. It's a killer, real killer. E.g. a 150 mile journey we took not too long ago to see some friends, in my (low mpg) car, almost cost £100! freaking Nora, that's a massive potential contribution to a savings pot that has been negleccted for far too long.


So with these 4 simple plans I'm hoping to slice ooh maybe, £250 into a savings pot, what's that I hear you cry, luuuuuurrrrvvvveeelllllyyy, that's what I was about to say!

Stay well.

Dom

Pic by Gnome icon