advice needed!!!

asquiths_2

hi i'm new to all this so please go easy on me!!
ok where do i start? right im am married with three children aged 4, 3 and 5 months my husband works full time and brings home on average £1000 per month, i stay home and look after the children but with the child benefit etc we end up with approx £1400 per month.

we are in quite a tight situation before we had children we did things like driving lessons, bought car, decorated the house and so on. by the time we realised we had a bank loan of £12,000 then the kids came along and now we have a loan of £23,000 we pay £472 per month for this and still have 6 years left to pay we pay £230 rent, £72 council tax plus other thing like the phone, water rates and now credit cards which we have just worked out as having £7000 on them!!

we are in abit of a state but when our youngest was born with a profound hearing loss we sort of put the money situation to the back of our mind we've had a great xmas but now i've worked things out im in a panic.

can anyone tell me what i should do first?
thanks in advance xxx

in*the*red_6

Hi and welcome
Lots of us here will know the financial pressure of having small children, me included! Don't panic there'll be lots of help for you here.
It will be useful for everyone if you can list your monthly outgoings a little more precisely, who you owe what amounts to, and the APRs on each debt so that people can give you accurate advice.
Best wishes

Peppa_Pig_5

Hi asquiths, I would just like to say welcome on board and I hope you find this site as useful as I have. I agree with in*the*red, if you can list all your outgoings and the apr that your loan and credit cards are on at the moment. Then you should get many replies advising on how you can reduce these payments. I have two young children and have reduced many of my outgoings, so you should also be able to.

Good luck.

asquiths_2

hi there sorry it took so long but here goes:
husband earns approx £1000 per month.
i get £160 child benefit & £489 tax credits

per month
food - £400
health insurance - £10.45
rent - £230.00
C tax - £72.00
water rates - £18.00
House ins - £22.00
gas/elec - £50.00
phone/bb - £50.00
petrol - £50.00
loan - £472.00
School - £30.00
odds + sods - £50.00

ok credit cards
morgan stanley - limit £2700 - balance £350.00 at 15.9%
virgin (mine) - limit £1500 - balance £1401 at 0% till march
virgin (hubby) - limit £5000 - balance £3265 at 0% till june
mbna - limit £3000 - balance £1733 at 0% till june
egg - limit £2000 - balance £600 at 15.9%
yorkshire bank - limit £6100 - balance £3221 at 13.9%

ok so i think thats about it. thanks for any advice in advance i'm off to get a strong drink of tea.

Bargain_Rzl

Don't really know how this works, but have you investigated whether you're entitled to any additional benefits as a result of your baby's disability?

Also, your food bill is huge. Have a look at the Money Saving Old Style forum (go to the bottom of this page and select it from the drop down list of forums) as I reckon you'll get enough good advice to bring food bill for 2 adults and 3 small children down to less than half of what you're currently spending. You might not believe it's possible but it's amazing what you'll save.

asquiths_2

yeah we are currently appealing for disability living allowance after being turned down due to her being a baby??? daft i know but thats the government for ya!!

Little_Miss_Winner

Gotta go and get daught from nursery now.....but have a look at https://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

But all your credit cards into there, and shuffle about with the payments, it will show you which ones to pay 1st, adn how much a month.

I have quickly totted up you have just short of £200.00 per month to throw at your debts...so it's not all bad!

Be back soon.

Pot
x

Avogirly

Can you move your credit card money around, taking it away from those with high APR and onto those with the 0%?

Little_Miss_Winner

ps - foods seems a little high?

I have 3 children (similar ages to yours), and we spend £60 a week, that includes household, and toiletries. Loads of fresh fruit, veg, meat etc....so it can be done. x

If you cut yours down to about £60 too, you would have another £140 per month spare.

just a thought?

asquiths_2

oops sorry forgot to say we have a savings account with £550 in it.

we put 50 a month into it direct debit

magentadreamer

I'd suggest you have a play with all your balances on the credit cards -get as much as you can onto the cheapest APR's.

Regarding your phone and broadband, not too sure who your provider is but there are loads of offers out there eg Tiscali £19 a month for broadband plus phone with a package on free calls. OR you could be cheeky ring the phone/broadband people up and say you want to move ( if your out of the 12 month contract) NTL this morning gave me a free phone calls package - normally costs £6 a month so I get unlimited UK landlines not special rate numbers. I also got half price broadband. I've saved myself at least £78 for 6 months all by saying I'm thinking of moving. Worth a try -check out the utilities board on here. Plus check to see if your getting the cheapest gas/elec prices.

Your food bill can be another place to economise, have you tried shopping for basics at Aldi/lidl/netto etc? I used to blow circa £75 a week in Sainsburys and theres only two of us - one being an 8 year old! Now I do my basic tins/cheese cereal type shop in Aldi then a very small shop in Tesco for a few nice bits plus a look round at the BOGOF's. Take a look at the saving money old fashioned style board.

Have you also claimed all your WFTC's? Also you might be entitled to some financial help due to your babies deafness eg carers allowance DVLA etc -not too sure you might want to rimg your local benefits advice centre -my local council has one.

Good luck