Spending more than we earn

I just used a budgeting spreadsheet from MoneySupermarket.com, and discovered that we're currently spending more than our household income. I had thought we were probably spending most of it, but not more than it, we have a small amount of savings but they'd not last long if we continue this way I'm not sure how to manage it, we don't have any debts, or anything I'd consider a luxury we can do without. We don't even pay for phone or broadband etc, the car is the only thing insured, and I can't remember the last time I bought myself new clothes or shoes or anything. Recent fabric purchases and other things I've bought, most of Molly's nursery uniform etc, have all been bought with paypal money, but I can't rely on that.

And this is without taking into account how our electricity usage will double over winter (and a 20% price rise soon), and £500 needs to magically appear for oil to be bought soon. Or the school meals I'll have to pay for, or Christmas and the January Birthday Season looming in the distance. Our income is roughly the same as it was last year (DH has not had a pay rise in 3 years), and we thought it was bad then, I know we're better off than others of course, I can really see it being a struggle this winter, I'm sure many of us will, I think I need a plan of action...

...or a lottery win

I think we are all noticing a big difference in where our money is being eaten up, things just get more expensive with no wage rises, we will lose over £200 in child benefit when that goes for us!
DH is just about to renew his car insurance and can get it £300 cheaper and it wasn't that dear to start with.
We are going to go through our outgoings, things like the dog we sponsor is going, sad but it all adds up.
If you know the winning lottery number let me know

Gayle have you switched from NIE to Airtricity? We are saving more than the 10% they quoted and it all adds up.

Gayle have you switched from NIE to Airtricity? We are saving more than the 10% they quoted and it all adds up.

I did hear of that, but as we rent our house I'm not sure if we can without permission from the landlady? And is it Keypad meter friendly?

Can you do a week or two of recording absolutely everything you spend? We did that when I was coming up to my first lot of mat leave as we were panicking at our income effectively halving.

It's surprising how things added up - I used to buy a little muffin at work every other day, and that when extrapolated out was about £200/yr. We both started taking our lunch to work every day without fail, that saved about £1000/yr. We got off of mobile phone contracts and went pay-as-you go, that saved heaps [note:anyone on virgin pay-as-you-go... they've put their prices up massively, it's now a complete rip-off. i'll be changing to giff-gaff this week]. Dh stopped buying weekend papers, that was £100 or more a year.

Switch your electricity, gas, phone and water providers. And when you do check if topcashback or quidco offer anything - we got about £150 for switching.

Can your daughter take packed lunch to school? I'm refusing to let ds have hot lunch mostly because of the extortionate price, but also because he has hot dinner at home so will turn into a heiffer if he eats that much.

Yep pre-pay meter friendly now, you can buy your top ups at any PP - no contract,no change of wires etc., so your landlady shouldn't have any probs with it We were spending almost £17 a week on electricity with NIE - last week we spent under £11.

Can your daughter take packed lunch to school? I'm refusing to let ds have hot lunch mostly because of the extortionate price, but also because he has hot dinner at home so will turn into a heiffer if he eats that much.

Megan wouldnt eat school dinners anyway but i couldnt believe the price of them!!

We have had to start cutting back on more and more...shopping bills going up, utility bills all going up, and hubbys pay has been frozen for the past 2 years and we have at least another 3 years of that to go so yes it sucks big time

Its really hard trying to make things balance...at the moment I know that there are things we can cut back on but we arnt having to get rid of everything just yet...

hope you can work it out so that it balances

Is there any way you can earn more? i was thinking of taking up some transcripting. Basically universitys send you lectures or interviews to type up. im not sure how it works exactly. The pay isnt great, but you can fit it in when you want. I think my sis got £10 p/h before tax.

Yep pre-pay meter friendly now, you can buy your top ups at any PP - no contract,no change of wires etc., so your landlady shouldn't have any probs with it We were spending almost £17 a week on electricity with NIE - last week we spent under £11.

Thanks! I've looked into it online now, I will defintely consider it

I don't think packed lunches can be taken to nursery (well they probably can but I wouldn't want her being the only one, and to provide a decent lunch and snacks myself would probably cost just as much)

Is there any way you can earn more? i was thinking of taking up some transcripting. Basically universitys send you lectures or interviews to type up. im not sure how it works exactly. The pay isnt great, but you can fit it in when you want. I think my sis got £10 p/h before tax.

That sounds okay, but I'm pretty terrible with deadlines right now I've been looking for a job, but there's just nothing here. I'm partly qualified for youth work and jobs occasionally come up, but I've been out of it a few years and not sure I could even do it now. I do impulse buy a lot on small things, so I am a bit scared to add up what they all cost I estimated £30 p/m for this, but it is much more as my paypal gets a fair bit of use!