Help with Working it all out please!

xela_17

Jessi wrote:

Any other obvious things that I may be missing?

Why don't you post a list of all your outgoings so we can see if you can save money anywhere else - more money to throw at debts. You should include everything, e.g food, rent/mortgage, water, sky, gym etc

Jessi_2

OK - here goes:

PAY DAY (me & hubby) - £1768

Paid Out:
Mortgage - £555.00
House Insurance - £19.99
Car Insurance - £23.00
RBS Personal Loan - £319.00
Council Tax - £100.00
Life Insurance - £21.90
Bank Acc Int. - £3.37
Vodafone (mobiles) - £70.00
TV Licence - £10.99
Debenhams Store Card - £26.30
Egg CC - £120.00
M&S Card - £84.00
Visa Card - £30.00
Telewest - £72.00
Egg CC - £120.00
Catalogue - £20.00 (only 2 more payments on this)
Virgin CC - £100.00
Christmas savings - £25.00

As well as hubby's money going into the above account to cover the bills etc we also use his wages (self employed so no set amount each month) food shopping, petrol, the quarterly bills (gas, elec, water, AA Breakdown cover)....and anything else that crops up (if we have the money for it)! We never have any money left over at the end of the month but we've never missed a payment either!

The above cc payments are what I was paying - however I've now done the snowball calculation and so specific cc payments will change slightly - although the overall amounts paid out each month will still be the same!

Thanks

Jo x

xela_17

The first things that strike me are the mobiles and telewest. Both seem very high. What tariff are your mobiles on? What does the telewest include?

Jessi_2

My mobile is £30 for Vodafone Anytime 200 mins per month cross-network - which I'm currently trying to reduce because I don't really need it - but having problems with finding a crossnetwork scheme for the eves and weekend - currently on their eve/wkend tarrif you can only phone to other vodafone users or landlines free (so I figure that will just bump up the home phone bill instead cos I'd be using that to make calls to other networks)! Hubby's is £40 which he needs to keep on really as he uses it during the day for work.

The Telewest includes Sky package, house phone (which we hardly use at all) and internet access - I've looked into dropping a few channels but it hardly makes any difference to the monthly bill!

Might look into moving to Sky and getting a BT line and internet - see if that's any cheaper!

skintchick

Please break down your food, utilities, etc so we can help you cut costs on those too!

Jessi_2

OK well food, pertrol and utilities come out of hubby's leftover wage (which varies quite a lot from week to week as he's self employed)!

We shop at Aldi and the food bill is generally about £45 p/w

Gas is paid quarterly and is usually about £100 - £150 p/q (depending on time of yr)
Electric is paid quartlery and is usually about £100 - £150 p/q (depending on time of yr)
Water is paid 6 monthly and has just been paid for next 6 months (usually about £150 each payment)

Petrol - I spend about £20 a week but Hubby has a 40 mile round trip every day (works 6 days a week) so his is higher.....prob about £40 ish!

I go to a 'fat club' which costs about £6.00 p/w (incl bars or a mag)

I take my lunch to work with me or go home for it (which I'm gonna stop doing as its a waste of petrol)!

Hubby buys his because he works in a garage and has no fridge/micro/storage and probably spends about £2.50 per day on his lunch! (he may have to start taking a food flask or sarnies for lunch tho - depending on how we go cutting down on the rest of stuff)!

Can't think of anything else!

Jo x

scroogey

Jessi wrote:

My mobile is £30 for Vodafone Anytime 200 mins per month cross-network - which I'm currently trying to reduce because I don't really need it - but having problems with finding a crossnetwork scheme for the eves and weekend - currently on their eve/wkend tarrif you can only phone to other vodafone users or landlines free (so I figure that will just bump up the home phone bill instead cos I'd be using that to make calls to other networks)

It works out you pay 15p a minute for your 200 cross network minutes, but if you used talk mobile on your landline you'd pay 11p or less. see http://www.telewest.co.uk/websales/product.do?id=2010 for info on it. or you could sign up to 1899 and pay 10p a min weekdays and 3p weekends for mobiles from your telewest line.
If you ask on the telephones board, the folks there are bound to be able to find the best deal for you.

Jessi_2

Brilliant - thanks very much!! :T

Will go investigate!