My SOA

PasturesNew

kiwichick wrote: »

SKY £37 - cancel, save £37
DH “pocket money” £100 - what is it needed for? Halve it, save £50
MPP £28.86 - eh? cancel, save £29
Times Subscription £22 - cancel, save £22
Food £400 (approx) - reduce this, save £100

Savings that could be made:
£258

Silverbird

I haven't got much to add to what has already been said, but I must say that it sounds as though your OH isn't really on the same level as you with regards to trying to get a handle on your financial situation.

It is vital that you both become frugal and educate yourselves about money and question every purchase you make.

It sounds like you've had your light-bulb moment and you're starting to think about and make changes, but I'm afraid it appears to me that your OH hasn't had his moment yet.

It may help you both to put your figures into the Snowball Calculator. This will give you a 'debt-free date' and it may give you a shock. It's also a very useful tool because you can see how much sooner you can become debt-free if you pay, say, an extra £50 off a debt each month. It's amazing the difference overpayments can make.

I have learned so much since joining this site and am in a far better situation financially than I would have been if I'd not taken the advice and support from this site.

My husband and I often 'go without' luxuries and have changed the way we live (takeaway once a month at most, cheap food only, re-using tea-bags, using hot water bottles instead of heating etc etc) and these little changes have really made a big difference over time. We have more money at the end of each month to pay more off a debt. It's so wonderful seeing the debts reducing.

It helps that he's on exactly the same level as me with regards to saving and being incredibly careful with spending.

Once we'd cut down on things as much as we could, we tried to do the same again and again until we got everything down as low as possible. For instance, our one luxury and entertainment was going to the cinema (we don't eat out or go to pubs/clubs etc) and this was costing us £11.99 each per month for a Cineworld pass. We have now cancelled this and are spending half of that to get DVDs sent to us by post (Tesco DVD Rental) and it's fantastic - we're watching much more films than we could at the cinema and we can choose what we want to watch and when and can even watch old stuff that we'd missed.

It's still early days for you, but just try to reduce anything and everything and then try to reduce that. You will be amazed at how much you can save.

Another thing to consider is part-time work for yourself. Hubby and I both work full-time, but have been doing a weekend Christmas job since November. The extra £170 last month went straight off a debt each and it felt amazing to pay off that much in one go and has meant our debt-free date has jumped forward by a good few months.

Sometimes it's horrible not being able to buy a 'luxury' or going without something at the shops because it's just too expensive, but we just plod on and we keep thinking how amazing it will be when we're debt-free and we won't have to be as stringent with our spending (although I'll never forget my MSE-learned skills, of course!) We have an added incentive, as we can start trying for a family when we're debt-free (we could not afford to do so at present due to debt payments). I'm afraid newspaper subscriptions and sports packages etc are just luxuries and really aren't going to help your situation at present.

All the best and I'm sure there will be loads more posts with advice and support. You're not alone. Good luck to you x x

natsplatnat

Hi Kiwichick!

Just to wish you well with the spending diaries - they will show everything you spend! It is amazing how the odd 20p here and the odd £2 there adds up soooo quickly!

:beer:

kiwichick

Thanks Everyone,

Pasturesnew - The MPP is mortgage payment protection, I dont know much about this as a product but would be nervous to get rid of it.

Silverbird - I have been looking around just the last week or so for work. I have kids aged 4,5&6 and the youngest is only in school 9am till 11.45am so daytime is awkward. I have a friend working in a call centre for a building society and she says they have night shifts (7pm-4am) opening up all the time. I've spoken to DH about it, as his work takes him away overnight sometimes) and he agrees I ought to apply if they have anything avalible. I am also asking at all our local supermarkets for eveing work.

Any advice on whether to go for the new 0% with balance transfer, and do that again in a few months or to apply for a life of balance transfer instead??

THanks,
Al x

PasturesNew

kiwichick wrote: »

Thanks Everyone,

Pasturesnew - The MPP is mortgage payment protection, I dont know much about this as a product but would be nervous to get rid of it.

Ah, you need to keep this up then! It will pay your mortgage in case of redundancy or severe sickness etc. You should get the policy out though and make sure you do understand what it covers and when. Just in case you do need to ever know!

Spendless

Oh gosh kiwichick- you have a very similar situation to myself. Husband who works away o/night sometimes,making looking for an evening job impossible, business expenses put on god knows what account and can be weeks before he claims back, goes to shop for loaf of bread and comes back with half a dozen items, and takes money out the cash machine cos he "needs" it, but can never account for where it's gone.

I am getting a note-book for dh that I log his expenses on and can cross reference when we claim back.
Have sorted out a seperate cc so work expenses only go on that.

When's your youngest at f-time school?

kiwichick

Shes not full time (9am-3.30) until Sept as she has a 1st Sept birthday!!!!!

boredofbeingathome

morgani wrote: »

You could possibly find home phone and broadband for around half the cost.
Could you cancel the times subscription?
Could you consider lowering your sky package?
Not great but could you put the kids savings on hold for a while until you sort yourself out? Or lower them a bit?

Doing all that could free up around £150 a month which you could use to start paying off some of the debts.

Also what about lowering DH 'pocket money' ???

I couldn't quote your reply as it was within a quote, but my OH is really into sports and he watches sky sports for free on the internet..we have lowered our sky package and i don't miss the movies at all..have seen most of them anyway, have also signed up for the free DVD trials, and have watched what i want to with those..

This is one of the channels..http://www.!!!!!!!!!!/directory/sports The deleted bit is justin. tv hope this doesn't get screened out
The other is Fox the american one!

His Times subscription.. i reckon can certainly come out of his pocket money if he won't budge, it is also free at the library..or has he tried cutting it out during the week and getting it on a Sunday? better read then!OR read it for free on the Internet:D Even cheaper..

Broadband and phone can be combined, have you looked at the sky package? Or sign up through Quidco for others..Talktalk do a good deal.

Just a couple of other things, i constantly check for better deals with car, home, insurances and get cashback for those Have saved a fortune with them this year, credit cards i also signed up through quidco for cashback..just take advantage of anything like this that you can..

I use vouchers and coupons for shopping,(go on mysupermarket for price comparison) go on oldstyle for inspiration, use stardrops and soda crystals( they work)

Also i have used vouchers from the internet/loyalty cards for all my Christmas pressies, other than an unexpected bonus we recieved, but still all neutral for Christmas..
It can be done...there are loads of folk on here who are living proof of that, and i can honestly say that our lifestyle as such has not been hampered in any way..we eat better, shop smarter and have bargained for holidays like you wouldn't believe..:rotfl:
I am just scratching the surface here as well..:o
Good luck
Bob x