My new SOA - Need help

thecornflake

For various reasons we've had to move house. The new place is more expensive however and the budget works out at having something like £17 left over each month, this doesn't cover things like new clothes, school trips etc etc. With non-monthly costs like car tax etc it's a minus figure. We're thinking about reducing or getting rid of Sky, and quitting smoking, also selling the car and downgrading to one that will hopefully be more efficient and cheaper to insure and tax. Any other suggestions would be welcome as we really need to improve the situation. I do generally keep on top of things like utilities to make sure we're always with the cheapest suppliers.

I'm looking at getting a Saturday job while the wife is on maternity leave from her Saturday job as she is only now getting £40/week maternity payment instead of £50/week earnings and has lost other benefits as well due to being on maternity leave. Figures below are monthly -

In -
Salary - £2000

Out -
Electric - 30
Gas - 20
Water - 13.16
Council Tax - 122
Broadband - 12.99
BT Line Rental - 10.50
Tel calls - 15
TV Licence - 11.37
Car Insurance - 45
Sky - 21
Rent - 750
Petrol - 200
Food - 200
Tobacco - 50

Debt payments -
Egg Card - 20
GE Money loan 1 - 73
GE Money loan 2 - 52
Car payments - 50 (loan from parents)
Barclaycard - 165 (most of it a 0% transfer)
Northern Rock loan - 123

Total left over - 17

tyllwyd

Have you taken into account child benefit and tax credits?

thecornflake

tyllwyd wrote: »

Have you taken into account child benefit and tax credits?

No, mainly because it goes into my wife's account and then she uses that to pay for extra food, and it will be used for milk, nappies etc for the new baby. Also it's handy to keep it separate from my account where all the bills come from so that it can't end up being swallowed in the overdraft. Therefore it's simpler to leave that part out because it basically ends up canceling out every month.

tyllwyd

I can see why you keep it in a separate account, but to be honest if I was doing a budget I'd put all the figures in, otherwise you aren't looking at the whole picture, especially when money is so tight. With your wife's maternity leave, child benefit & tax credits, you must have a few hundred more coming in - that's not all going to go on food & nappies, and between the two of you, you need to know exactly what that money is being spent on because, like you say, there are car costs and other things that come up.

What you've put down in your budget looks fair enough - as you said, obviously Sky and smoking are two luxuries you could cut out (especially the smoking with a new born baby in the house - a good excuse to give you a bit of extra willpower?).

tealady

Hi. I would ditch Sky and give up smoking (yes I know its hard to stop - I'm an ex smoker myself), but your budget wont take it. If you cannot stop have you tried rolling your own?
If you really want tot stop try Boots to see if they are doing clinics, you often will get up to 8 weeks worth of replacement nicotine (patches, gum etc) for 1 prescription charge.

Staciep88

thecornflake wrote: »

For various reasons we've had to move house. The new place is more expensive however and the budget works out at having something like £17 left over each month, this doesn't cover things like new clothes, school trips etc etc. With non-monthly costs like car tax etc it's a minus figure. We're thinking about reducing or getting rid of Sky, and quitting smoking, also selling the car and downgrading to one that will hopefully be more efficient and cheaper to insure and tax. Any other suggestions would be welcome as we really need to improve the situation. I do generally keep on top of things like utilities to make sure we're always with the cheapest suppliers.

I'm looking at getting a Saturday job while the wife is on maternity leave from her Saturday job as she is only now getting £40/week maternity payment instead of £50/week earnings and has lost other benefits as well due to being on maternity leave. Figures below are monthly -

In -
Salary - £2000

Out -
Electric - 30 can you switch?
Gas - 20 doesnt seem bad but can you look for a cheaper deal?
Water - 13.16
Council Tax - 122 is this over 10months or 12?
Broadband - 12.99
BT Line Rental - 10.50 can you get some package to include this and above?
Tel calls - 15
TV Licence - 11.37
Car Insurance - 45 can you switch?
Sky - 21 you dont need this - freeview is great
Rent - 750 are there any cheaper properties in the area?
Petrol - 200
Food - 200 how many of you?
Tobacco - 50 naughty habbit - my mother always says 'if you want to smell its cheaper not to wash' heehee always made me laugh

Debt payments -
Egg Card - 20 is this at 0%? How many months left?
GE Money loan 1 - 73 how long and amount left?
GE Money loan 2 - 52 how long and amount left?
Car payments - 50 (loan from parents) could they wait until you clear other debts first?
Barclaycard - 165 (most of it a 0% transfer) good
Northern Rock loan - 123

Total left over - 17

Just a few ideas

thecornflake

tealady wrote: »

Hi. I would ditch Sky and give up smoking (yes I know its hard to stop - I'm an ex smoker myself), but your budget wont take it. If you cannot stop have you tried rolling your own?
If you really want tot stop try Boots to see if they are doing clinics, you often will get up to 8 weeks worth of replacement nicotine (patches, gum etc) for 1 prescription charge.

I'd like to point out we don't smoke in the house anyway, only outside. And already roll our own otherwise the cost would be much higher.

I plan to finish reading the Alan Carr book - I never finished it the first time but I didn't feel like smoking at all while I was reading it.

Thanks for the tip about Boots clinics - that's where my wife works so we get a discount there (although not for prescriptions )

thecornflake

Staciep88 wrote: »

Just a few ideas

In answer to some of your points -

3 of us in the house, two adults and a five year old (and a new baby very soon!)

We have checked electricity, gas etc to make sure we are with the cheapest. Currently waiting as now is not a good time to compare and switch until they've all finished raising their prices.

Rent is very cheap for our area, the rent is for the new house we are moving to.

The two GE Loans - one is around 4,000 and the other 3,000 both ten year loans. They have about 7 years left. The Northern Rock one is for 10,000 and has about 5 years left.Interest rates for all three are around 6.5 - 7.5% (GE keep changing theirs).

The Egg card is at around 16.9%, with about 600 to pay off I think. Set payment rather than minimum though.

Staciep88

you seem to have got your head screw on the only other thing i would say is you could take a look at the money saving oldstyle forum for some tips on saving on food. Good luck oh and congrats on the baby