Need to tighten our belts!!!

moongarden

hi daddyto3
your house insurance looks a little high. you could surf for some new quotes and swap to a different company maybe. also check how much it covers you for. i walked round my house with a notepad and pen and costed up how much it would cost to replace the stuff.

also i pay 24.90 for TV channels, phone and 1meg broadband with telewest (not including calls - but with 1000 mins on O2 you don't need to make any calls on the home phone)

Daddyto3

Many thanks for all your expertise. The suggestions you have all made are all very very welcome!

I will try to answer a few;-

Why do you have a milkman? Surely it's cheaper to go to the supermarket? And if you're financially struggling, then charity begins at home, not oxfam.

I know, I know, but I strongly believe in jobs in the community, and our milkman has been doing this round for years (soft touch i know) we will reconsider.
Regards to the charities, my wife is a very strong believer in donating to both Oxfam, and Cancer relief. It's £4 a month for both, which equates to 6p a day each. - Don't know whether she would be prepared to cancel - will ask her?

Check at both your work HR debts if they run the childcare voucher schemes as they can save a fair bit of money!

My work don't but wonder if wifes would - she works in NHS, she will have a look on the intranet tomorrow. - Thanks.

i think your food bills are quite high also at £220 per month plus milkman , thats £245 have you tried meal planning doing a menu so you know exactly what you need to buy, also maybe you need to cut down or out the eating out, what is the £80.00 spends for??????????

Yes we are going to start meal planning, and also get the breadmaker out of the loft! The £220 does also include Nappies, toiletries, and any cleaning products, but hopefully wife will look on the food boards for some inspiration!
The spends is just £40 each for the month, in case we need to buy anything during our days, mine is used for work the odd paper, lottery, and football pools. I take a packed lunch.
Unsure what wife uses hers for, mainly for school I think, 50p here and there for kids. Collections for this and that at work , birthday cards, general stuff, it equates to £10 a week each. I thought that was pretty minimal??

Also, have a look at uswitch.co.uk to see if you can find a cheaper energy supplier.

Had a quick look earlier, wicked site cheers mate! Will be trawling through with a fine tootch comb, when I get a minute.

With regards to insurance I thought £28.01 for both Home(Buildings) & Contents insurance was pretty good. I was up until a few months ago paying about £45 with 2 different companies, will review again though if I can get any cheaper.

Well you have all given us a lot of encouragement, and a few days work to be getting on with.

How do you all budget for annual things like Mots, Birthdays, Xmas, Holidays etc. Do you put a monthly amount away? We have never really done this, do you think it is something we should? Or do we use the moneyto pay debts 1st?


Thanks all so much :T , and keep suggesting!

Conor_3

Firstly, GET A JOINT ACCOUNT. You're supposed to be married. I know a few couples who have seperate accounts and all of them are in a mess as a direct result of trying to run the family finances the way you are.

Ditch:

IMP/CANCER
OXFAM
(Your needs are greater than theirs)
MILKMAN
SPENDS (whatever that is)
MEALS OUT
SKY TV

Change:
NTL Phone to BT which will reduce it by 50%
NTL COMMS to any other broadband service which will save you another £20 a month.
Home Contents Insurance. Mine is £15 a month for £300,000 buildings and £100,000 contents.
Mobile phone to PAYG. USE IT LESS.

Conor_3

Daddyto3 wrote:

I know, I know, but I strongly believe in jobs in the community, and our milkman has been doing this round for years (soft touch i know) we will reconsider.
Regards to the charities, my wife is a very strong believer in donating to both Oxfam, and Cancer relief. It's £4 a month for both, which equates to 6p a day each. - Don't know whether she would be prepared to cancel - will ask her?

Sorry, for a minute I thought you were being serious about wanting to get out of the mess you're in. I guess the £360 a year you spend on the above isn't worth saving eh? Forget the fact it'd pay a month a year off your Cahoot Loan and the 3 Mortgage Loans, still leaving you £100 spare.

bj-sailaway

Don't know what cars you drive, but we went to 'confused.com' and slashed our car insurance from £380 to £260 and from £210 to £125!!! Worth looking into.

I actually still have the milkman, because we have a small fridge and can't store loads of milk. What I did to cut back on cost was cut the milkman back to 1 pint a day, and then I keep value longlife milk in the cupboard, and top-up when I'm at the supermarket. That way, I don't put the milkman out of work, but I do save a bit - also, he still calls and you can leave him a note for extras if your really short!

Is that a compromise, or am I going to be shot down by the real hardcore moneysavers!!!

tipsychick

I hope you don't mind me asking Conor but who is your buildings/contents insurance with? I'm looking for about the same level of cover as you and have been quoted a couple of hundred a month by Hiscox, who seem to be the only people interested in providing home contents over £50,000!

Thanks very much

Conor_3

It may be a shock to you but it's with Barclays Bank of all people. Had it two years now. Not sure if it was an offer as I have both a personal and business account with them but it's damned cheap.

molesworth

IMP/CANCER
OXFAM
(Your needs are greater than theirs)

paint

molesworth wrote:

IMP/CANCER
OXFAM
(Your needs are greater than theirs)

:rotfl: Yes, I couldn't quite believe that comment either! It beggars belief!

Daddyto3

Hi Connor,

The account which all the bills are paid out of is a joint account, but as it was swallowing up so much, inc. direct debits, and using debit card for food etc. We werent left with a lot. We have been finding it much easier, to have wifes wage paid along with child tax credits into a seperate account, that way we can see clearly what is for debt. ALL of this money.

Milkman is getting cancelled.

But wife is opposing to cancel oxfam and cancer relief, she feels there are plenty of ways we can cut down, and switch providers to compensate 6p a day. She is also of the mind that their needs ARE greater, at least we are not starving, have water & food and shelter.
And with the regards to the Cancer, a couple of family members have been affected, so somehow feels a duty to give. She is NOT budging on this one.

Re; the advice about car & utilities, will be looking to change when policies are up.

Chhers for now
Phil