OMG, please help - life is crumbling away!

Smudge32

For a couple of days, I thought life was looking up - I got a promotion at work to take my wage from £15.5k to £22k a year. Then life started battering me...

Firstly, the job is horrendous. From pretty much the day I started my figures went into a downward spiral (nothing to do with me!!) and all my staff are leaving. Secondly, my car failed its MOT bigtime and was deemed uneconomical to repair. I have another car (skoda) which is okay but fails to start in the morning regularly. I live 8 miles from work in a rural village with no public transport. My mum in law has offered her car for free, but we've just found out the roof leaks and there's giant mould plants growing on all the seats.

Thirdly, my debt doesn't seem to be going down and of course we can't afford a new car (or even an old one).

Here's my expenditure thingy anyway:

My net incoming: £1600 p/m
Wife's net incoming: £800 p/m
Lloyds Credit Card 0% until Jan 06: £1950 £20 p/m (BT) x 2
Sainsburys C/card 0% until Jan 06: £1950 £45 p/m (purchases) x 2
Internet dial up - Fastnet £6.99 p/m (first thing to go!)
Debt to mother: £237, paying £23 p/m (0% of course!)
Phone: BT line rental/1899/Just Dial: £15 p/m
Mortgage: £749.56 p/m - can't move at moment, tied in until Nov 06 - checked with Martins recommended people
Council Tax: £112
Home Ins: £23 p/m (buildings and contents - just about to lower this to £17 p/m)
Electricity: £56 p/m, just about to be put up to £70 p/m
Mortgage life assurance thing with Scottish Equitable: £69.52
TV: £10.99
Water: £42.85
Car fund (savings for tax disc): £15 p/m
Overdraft currently £350.
Petrol £120 p/m
Stakeholder pension: £45
Babysitting (mother in law) £80 p/m
Air Ambulance lottery: £4.33 p/m
We don't go out, smoke, drink or watch satellite. We spend an average of £70 per week on food utilising as many coupons as possible.

Now I've just added this up and it looks as though we have loads to spare but it's just not there. Credit cards are maxed (although we've paid off about £1400 over the last year) and everything is on a budget. Life is crap. Please please can anyone help???

rchddap1

If you think there should be loads to spare and there isn't you need to start by doing a spending diary. Write down everything you spend down to the very last penny. Once you and your wife know exactly where the cash is going you can start to sort out how to cut things down.

illmonkey

dont ,ean to be picky, but i earn 22k a year and i take home 1383, over £200 less that you. Are you positive thats correct, or do you have an other source of income?

Your utility bills look high also, and way you can change companys?

Food wise, £280 a month! how many of you are there?! if its just you 2 and a baby it shouldnt be that high surly!

southernscouser

I make that nearly £800 p/m left over!

Definately start the spending diary and include EVERY SINLGE PENNY! It's amazing where it goes.

OK, the job will get better. The car that failed the MOT, what has happened to this?

If you took your MIL's car how much would it cost to get fixed? Could you then sell the Skoda or do you need 2 cars?

Now I'm not a home owner but your electricity and water looks quite high. Get yourself over to the utilities board for more expert advice!

Lloyds Credit Card 0% until Jan 06: £1950 £20 p/m (BT) x 2
Sainsburys C/card 0% until Jan 06: £1950 £45 p/m (purchases) x 2

Bit confused here. Are you saying that you have to accounts the same for each of these?

You are clearly living beyond your means if you have nearly £800 surplus a month AND your using credit cards! Do you have many takeaways? Regularly buy CDs, DVD's? Trying to think what you may spend that money on. Spending diary will tell you though!

Smudge32

I live in Devon, so the water bills are all that high! Also, the village doesn't have gas, so I'm on electricity for everything including night storage heating.

Need 2 cars as if one dies, the other is my only means of transport. The car that has failed the MOT is being given away for scrap.

Credit cards x 2 - one for me and one for my wife. Approx the same on both strangely.

Food: that's £70 per week, even if it's a 5 week month! Our biggest cost is organic fruit for my 2 year old but I don't want to scrimp on that. He eats his 5 portions of fruit and veg a day without fail and is extremely healthy. We always go for the cheapest option though, reduced stuff etc. Haven't had a takeaway for 18 months and only get free Cd's through piggypoints!

skintchick

I think you should go over to OldStyle and find out how to reduce that food bill.

Either that, or Saturn will be along shortly to amaze you with how she feeds ten people on 2p a fortnight!!!

rchddap1

If you don't have any cash spare then you must be spending it somewhere....or you didn't get it in the first place. Do the spending diary (your wife as well), then you can work out where you cash is going. Its very hard to help you when you appear to have plenty of spare cash, but in reality you don't.

All that spare cash (£800 pm) should be thrown straight at your debts, as it would clear it all in no time at all.

black-saturn

skintchick wrote:

I think you should go over to OldStyle and find out how to reduce that food bill.

Either that, or Saturn will be along shortly to amaze you with how she feeds ten people on 2p a fortnight!!!

lol, its not quite that little. I feed 3 people on £40 per month!!! One day I will get round to doing a meal planner.

skintchick

I feed one person on £60 and think I'm doing well! You MUST do a meal planner!

tomstickland

Just a practical thing, if a car doesn't start reliably then 9 times out of ten you need to fit new HT leads and spark plugs. I've had loads of old cars (100-200K) and all of them have started reliablyl after some minor servicing.
Pity you don't live closer because I'd sort if for free.

seanparkin

Crikey, Theres only two of us and we go through £60 a week (we always eat the best we can though as we consider this the most important thing we can do).

I'm in all honestly, not sure where your figures are adding up smudge. My income is 19.5k and I only take £1240 home a month. Anyway, to try offer some advice from what I know (I'm not in too different a position than you in all honesty):

Is your missus spending too much on girly things? Mine does. She doesnt realise as she doesnt add it up, but it works out as a fairly large fortune - make her record it all!

Pension: while important, if you cannot afford to pay into this now then there is no point. Temporarily freeze it, and you can continue where you left off when you are more financially stable.

Electricity: this is high. I understand the not having gas thing, but my mum has no gas in her house and keeps her bills to around £40 a month. You need to find ways to become more efficient

Lottery: scrap this. Its gambling, and you can't afford to gamble it away so don't.

Debt to mother: if you tell her you're struggling I'm sure she'll accomodate something for you here.

Not 100% sure what your 'mortgage life assurance' exactly is, but seems expensive, does this need shopping around?

Babysitting: Is this while you're both working I assume, £80 a month is cheap for this so can't really complain!

Petrol: for 8 miles to work this is very expensive. I have 64 miles a day 6 days a week to drive for work and I only spend £160 per month - for doing 4 times as much milage. If you look for a new car make sure you get an economical one (I love my fast cars as much as anyone else, but bit my lip when buying a nice turbodiesel ) and drive it sensibly!

There is quite a bit you can shave off your outgoings, that adds up nicely. Once you get your situation stabilised and have paid of some of your immediate debts, then you can loosen up a little bit, and be happier! This is what I've done, and in March when I've finished paying off my immediate debts (all but my £10k personal loan) I'll get back to enjoying myself a bit more!

Hope this helps.