help with budget

black-saturn

You could cut the food bill down by doing a meal planner. Forward plan what your going to eat each day and write out a shopping list. You can also cut down on food costs by making things from scratch. I know this isnt everyones cup of tea and some people are better at cooking than others but if you think you can do it you can get some tips from the Old Style Money savers board.

Before you spend any money think to yourself "Do I really need this?" and if the answer is yes think "Have I checked everywhere to see where it is the cheapest?".

arrowsmith

bonnie wrote:

have to have sky as cant get picture without it. poor reception spend 10 a week on tobacco and 10 on going out.

You don't have to have sky, just get a free to view card and you will be able to see all the free channels for a one off payment of what the card costs about £40 last time I looked.

micheleen

If you cancel sky then your subscription card automatically reverts to being a free-to-view card so you still get C4, C5 and sky3 (BBC & ITV are free-to-air and don't need a card at all). No need to get another card at all until sky change encryption :rudolf:

jcr16

i can see where your coming from but why are you not bothered by letting the credit card compaines have their money , when it is a debt u ran up.
u have done so very very well to clear as much as u have , don't let it slip now.

bonnie_2

because most of the debt is interest and charges i dont mind paying halifax and debenhams as they stopped everything and have been really helpful but hsbc tripled the debt whilst we were waiting for the dmp to kick in and knew we couldnt afford to pay any more if i increase debenhams to 50 a month in jan it will be paid in december next year so not worried about that. halifax is ticking along nicely but the others dont seem to be coming down at all and i dont know as its my hubbies dmp if i can increase payments on one without the others getting funny.
as two are with halifax and 2 with hsbc.

jcr16

that sounds about right for hsbc. they are naughty when it comes to charges. i read a thread on mse about claiming bank charges back ( i don't fully understand how it works, but if they have charges excessivly you can claim it back. ) it might be worth finding out if this applies to credit card charges also.

hth

JCL

Well I can certainly see why you would want to keep Sky. Well worth the money. However, it is worth considering the channels you watch and whether or not a choice of the pick and mix packages would offer you what you want to watch and save you a few quid on the monthly charge.

For example if you like the entertainment on Sky One and documentaries on National Geographic then you could opt for the Variety Mix and Knowledge Mix and these would be £15 a month.

Full info on packages can be found here:
http://www.sky.com/ordersky/channelpackages

fairylights_2

I have to say I think your electric/gas is a bit high. We pay £20 a month for electric and just got the gas bill today for the last three months - £17!!! I have to admit we have the heating on a bit in the daytime, but not a vast amount (obviously!). I'd try changing suppliers if I were you.

Also the pocket money per month seems a bit much. If you're trying to save yourself money, then allowing yourself that much free money seems a bit odd. I know it sucks in the short term, but it gets worth it when you know your interest is dropping

If you're set on Sky, then keep it, but really? £240 a year for telly (on top of your tv licence)? seems crazy to me.