First Steps

ShillyShally

I have had my "Woah, OMG" lightbulb moment, been in touch with CCCS and sorted out with their help my SoA and made token offers to the people I owe money to. All the debts are in my name and I really want to pay them off as quickly as possible (although that's not going to be very quick!).

My situation has slowly spiralled over the years - my husband works on a temporary basis through an agency and during the summer months he works regularly, over winter work is less easy to come by and he often goes weeks or months without any work. THis is when I have got into to debt by using credit cards/loans to keep food on the table etc. He will not change his work pattern. I'll post my SoA below (it's worked out for 2 cars but at the moment I have SORNed mine and am using that money to make my payments.
Utility Bills 143.00
Water Bills 41.00
Council Tax 124.00
House Insurance 32.00
Telephone 16.00
Internet 29.99
Car Spares/Service x2 50.00
Road Tax x2 32.00
Insurance x 2 50.00
Cat Insurance 23.19
Pet Supplies 25.00
Clothing & Footwear 36.00
School trips/costs 10.00
Prescriptions 13.20
Dentists/Opticians 20.00
Pocket Money 20.00
701.38

Food & Groceries 482.00

Total 1,183.38

Income (Mine)

Income Wages 675.49
Child Ben 123.00
Tax Credit 102.00

At the moment this is the only household income but last year my husband earned £13605 (according to his P60) before tax etc. But this is where my maths ability fizzles out completely. How do I budget for his wages over the course of the year? And can you help me cut down on anything. Utility bills are very high due to their meter reading !!!! up but should be paid off by this time next year.

Well done if you've got this far :j

Thank you.

pixie1

Hi there,

Just a little tip for your water bill or any utility bill for that matter, when ever they bill you and its an estimiated reading send the company an actual reading. Their computer systems will then start making more realistic estimates as they base them on previous usage. (i dont mean to preach, i used to work for a utility company thats all )

We're a really friendly and helpful bunch here, well done for posting and Im sure someone with loads more advice and expertise will come along and help you out.

Pixie

lottie26_2

Hi Shillyshally welcome to MSE I'm sure you will get lots of help I'm not sure how you work out your DH wages but someone will let you know.
Good Luck.

ShillyShally

Thank you for your lovely welcome pixie & lottie.

Re the utility bill - lets just say that this was one (hard) lesson learnt

chardonnay_2

hi shillyshally, are you on a water meter? you could save money by putting a brick in your cistern which reduces the amount of water used per flush. soe water companies send out something similar might be worth serching their individual sites.

your grocery bill could probably be reduced try the old style board for money saving ideas. try aldi & lidl for great value products cheaper than the big supermarkets.

good luck

pixie1

Under utilities gauranteed standards of service they only have to read your meter once year...cost cutting and all that LOL but it doesnt help the consumer. Im glad you posted about it actually because i need to read our meters this weekend.

magentadreamer

Hi and welcome to MSE.

With regards to hubbys income being sporadic and him unwilling to change this. You could try and estimate if he works for say 6 months of the year divide any money by 12 thereby getting 12 "wages" next time he's back in work. Or if he's earnt £13k last year then divide that up into 12 monthly wages. You do need to try and put by some of his wages if you can for the lean months when he isn't working. I know that'll be hard but you'll just build up more debt in the leaner months if you don't try to put even a bit a way.

Utilites - I'm assuming this is with arrears? once you've got back into credit with them I really would shop around to see what your cheapest options are.

Cars - now yours is off the road are you able to manage long term without one for you? this would save car tax,insurance and maintence.

internet -are you out of the 12 month contract -if you are find a cheaper ISP.

Home insurance - is this the cheapest? I manged to save £18 a month by switching mine. Same goes for your car insurances switching might save you money.

Food - how many is the £482 for? look on the OS board for food shopping hints. also try shopping online loads of Tesco discount codes in the discount board on here.

Pet insurance/food - how many animals are you feeding for the £25 a month? could you cut back on this and ditch the Cat insurance which adds up to £278 a year!

Does someone need regular prescriptions? if so have you thought about a payment card for them? works out way cheaper if you need meds on a regular basis.

Also are you able to up your hours at work at all when Hubby isn't working?

Good luck

MD x

beeniemac

Thought about replacing one of the cars with a little scooter? I just got one and it does 100mpg!

ShillyShally

Thank you again for your replies - I am really taking all your suggestions on board.

You are right about "rationing" out OHs wages and that is something I will def be doing once works starts to come in for him. My food shopping usually comes in at about £80 a week (using Lidls, market for fruit & veg) but the CCCS lady added more on saying that this wasn't enough for a family of five - didn't cover cleaning stuff and things like that. Pet food - they will be going onto economy cat food (even if they do go on strike ). I am desparately trying to do without a car and will certainly try to longterm - on the upside I have lost 6lbs since New Year through walking to work and back every day.

Sadly I can't increase my hours at work, I have asked and although they are sympathetic there just isn't enough work to allow it BUT I am now charging all the friends whose computers I fix for doing it - felt terrible doing it but I am very good at it and still cheaper than taking them into a shop. I'm going to use this money to throw at my debts as it's money I didn't have before IYSWIM.
I'm an asthmatic on 2 inhalers per month - my prepay card has just run out but once I've saved up enough I will get a new one. I got the last one on my credit card and I'm not doing that again.

Thank you once more for all your excellent ideas and help.

I showed OH the SoA and he's currently in shock

southernscouser

Please don't take offence by what I am about to say as none is intended!

I'm just confused by your husbands work situation! You say he will not change his work pattern and work in the winter!

Why not? Does he have valid reasons or is he just unwilling to work year round?

Also you haven't posted any details about your debts (your choice of course but does he understand the severity (sp) of the situation?

Also do you own your home as their was no mention of rent or mortgage in your outgoings!

duncans-mum_2

Hi Shillyshally.

Just to let you know that I too am in the same situation with my OH working patterns, so can feel for you totally. This is why as a newbie I have not totally got my head round how to put that into my SOA.

Good luck, I hope you get the result you need from here.

x