What I Wish I had More Budget For…

Since becoming a parent the way you spend and allocate your money changes drastically, from spending pretty much all the money on yourself, new shoes, new clothes, holidays even…as soon as you have another person in your life that you’re responsible for all that changes.  But it’s ok, in fact you’re more than happy to spend your money on cute new baby clothes and ingredients for that puree in Annabel Karmels recipe book.

I do however wish I had more room in my budget to be able to splurge occasionally….who wouldn’t?!

I would love to be able to say YES we can go on holiday next year abroad and not have to think “Can I really afford to be spending all that money on just a 2 week holiday?” or going to stay at the uber-expensive Legoland hotel that my youngest is so desperate to visit, but looking at the prices I can’t justify spending that on just a nights stay.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just go and do these things?

Don’t get me wrong we’ve had some nice holidays since the boys have been born, treating them to a trip to Disneyworld Florida for instance, even though it did break the bank and the credit card suffered immensely, but I would love to be able to do more of those things in the future too.

Legal & General have put together this post on Budgeting Techniques for Parents and looking through it all makes perfect sense and already I can see that there are things I can do to help save to be able to afford more things.

One thing I do on a regular basis is re-evaluate where I’m spending my money, what direct debits I have going out and where I can cut back… For example, just recently I have switched broadband providers and changed my Sky TV to the most basic package, I’ve also changed my gas and electric supplier too as I was able to get a better deal elsewhere.  I used to get my nails done every 3 weeks, but I stopped doing that as it was a luxury indulgence that in reality I can live without.

I work part-time at my local Vet, but also do quite a bit of freelance work too so to monitor my incoming monies I started to use an online accounting system to make it easier to budget my monthly spending and of course to help me submit my tax returns in April!

Having children has made me more aware of my spending habits and ultimately makes you more sensible on where you’re spending your money, how has having children affected your spending?

*Written in collaboration with Legal & General