Can someone please help

krisskross

How old are the children? What do they spend their £10 a week on?

jayuk_2

sidnee wrote: »

OK... take a trawl through some of the SOA's on some of the threads on this messageboard - you'll be surprised. Single adults manage on £100 a month for food, and some would even say this is too much!

Look at your SOA. You have a deficit of £87 - you must look through closely at what you are spending in each week to figure out how to achieve your ultimate goal - being able to afford to live! We are here to help find a way to do this!

I would suggest doing a spending diary - I really believe you can save lots of money! Write down everything you spend in a week, and I mean everything! At work, down the shops, etc. This will give you a true picture on where you money is really going, and this will give you the opportunity to figure out how to cut down accordingly.

Also...
Electricity - £85 - this is high, are you on a meter, or on a higher repayment schedule?
Telephone - £48 - This is also quite high, are you on the best deal with your phone comapny?

electric i was paying £90 a month because i owed them money,i am straight with them now but they only put it down to £85,i ended up selling my dryer as this was eating electric as for phone thats everything add in tv phone and broadband.

jayuk_2

krisskross wrote: »

How old are the children? What do they spend their £10 a week on?

They do chores and get rewarded with there spends they save them and buy a game at the end of the month or use it for pictures

ajaney

Ok, I'm going to be harsh now......

You are smoking £35 a week?....£140 a month up in smoke... £1680 a year puffed away.....Thats your deficit right there.

If you only do 1 thing, for the sake of your health, your family & your finances, please think about cutting down or giving up. Your GP will be able to help you & there are lots of free services available on the NHS.

I know its a hard habit to break but that could be your turning point & your road out of your financial difficulties.

jayuk_2

ajaney wrote: »

Ok, I'm going to be harsh now......

You are smoking £35 a week?....£140 a month up in smoke... £1680 a year puffed away.....Thats your deficit right there.

If you only do 1 thing, for the sake of your health, your family & your finances, please think about cutting down or giving up. Your GP will be able to help you & there are lots of free services available on the NHS.

I know its a hard habit to break but that could be your turning point & your road out of your financial difficulties.

I know what your saying but it is hard to give up,ive tryed so many times to give up and i cant.Its the only habit ive got,i dont drink and dont go out at weekends all i do is work and come home

Sharon87

You don't have to give up, just cut back if you can. Set yourself a limit for each day and try not to go over it.

I also would recommend changing electicity providers if they wont lower payments each month. Also do you buy lunch for work or make it? You can save loads by making it yourself.

jayuk_2

Sharon87 wrote: »

You don't have to give up, just cut back if you can. Set yourself a limit for each day and try not to go over it.

I also would recommend changing electicity providers if they wont lower payments each month. Also do you buy lunch for work or make it? You can save loads by making it yourself.

I make my lunch for work ,im waiting to see if my electric goes down,i did have a dishwasher but it broke .so now i do it manualy so that might save me some money

tallyhoh

With all due respect (used to smoke, see signature) if you dont cut out the fags what else can you get some cash from? Apart from that, do you want your kids to copy you? because they will.

£35 a week is the difference between you being able to pay your bills or not being able to pay your bills.

And that is in addition to the other benefits that you get as a non-smoker. Give it a go.

Good Luck!

Edit: Actually my signature needs updating, I have saved more than that.

savingholmes

jayuk wrote: »

Total monthly income.................... 1350
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 312
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 53
Electricity............................. 85 Try and change this through a cashback site like quidco - which pays you to switch and see if you can get a better deal. Turn off the lights more, wash at 30, take things off standby
Gas..................................... 48 have your heating on less, hot water on less and encourage people to wear thick socks and jumpers - for the sake of the environment and your purse!
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36
Telephone (land line)................... 46 You must be able to get a better deal than this - what about free evening and weekend calls even with BT. Quidco would pay you to switch to something like Talk Talk and potentially give you £50... You could then combine this with your internet. I've saved £29 per month just following this advice alone!
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 11.61
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 550 I agree this is too much. I started by going down a brand on things like sweetcorn, now I even use smart price meat and sieve off the fat. My bills are coming right down. I think I am bad in this area, and I spend up to £200 less than you here...
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 60 If you really are spending so little on petrol, could you do without a car as this is costing you a £110 a month just here?
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 29.96
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50 What are these?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1311.57

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Abbey..........................4000......125.......0
Total unsecured debts..........4000......125.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,350
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,311.57
Available for debt repayments........... 38.43
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 125
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -86.57

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,000
Net Assets.............................. -4,000

Family of 3. 2 dependents

Try to cut down on your cigarettes if you are not ready to give up, perhaps try reducing by 1 or 2 a day, it will soon add up in terms of savings.

Personally, I would sit down with the children and tell them that you've been spending more than you had coming in and that for a while you are going to have to stop or reduce their pocket money. If they are old enough perhaps they can get some sort of part time job like a newspaper round to earn some extra money or a shop job. If they are not old enough for that, in my opinion they do not need so much money per week anyway.

My DS is 10 he gets £2.50 per week for that he unpacks the dishwasher, makes his sister breakfast, makes packed lunches, tidies his room and makes occasional coffees for us. He sometimes also runs to the shop. My DD is only 5 - she gets 50p plus loose coppers - for keeping her bedroom tidy. I have explained to my son that we have been spending too much, and that if we cut back for a couple of years then we will have loads more money left a month once we've finished paying everything back. We went camping on holiday this summer and he was as grateful and pleased with that as a trip away abroad in a hotel.

My other main suggestion, particularly if you are not ready to take the steps outlined above, is to look at the up your income board and the £10 a day challenge on this board as a way of boosting your income. That way you can have a similar standard of living while still paying off debt.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Horace

Can you give the kids less pocket money each week? £10 is still a lot of money for doing chores. If you pay them less you can free up some extra money in the short term towards your debts.

Get yourself a washing line, tumble driers eat money and so do dishwashers - it is far easier to fill a bowl with water and some washing up liquid and slap on a pair of rubber gloves.

Do as others have suggested, keep a spending diary, certainly cut down on the fags and the food shop. Cook more - make a list before you go shopping of what you need and stick to it, don't wander around the shop grabbing stuff that you might not need.