SOA - Can I do better?

in*the*red_6

Ali-OK wrote:

Do you think £80-100 on food is too high? I put this figure, though during March my actual spend has been £49.26 with 1 week to go - this was the first month of trying to cut to £15 per week.

I think you've done well to get food that low, not something I've been able to achieve anything like even though we cook from scratch!

black-saturn

Take a look at this thread which will show you how to get it lower than that:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=157526

Ali-OK

tigerlily wrote:

So the mortgage decreasing thingy will pay off your mortgage should the worst happen........does the life insurance you have listed separately not do the same thing, if not it may be worth seeing if you can get one policy to cover everything.

No, it doesn't. The other life policy is for my son - that's if I die my son gets £150K - up until he's 18. I did this in conjunction with my bro and their kids - we looked at the cost of bringing them up and basically if anything happens to him and his wife, I'd have theirs and vice versa.

I think being a single parent I worry so much about this type of 'what if' stuff. But when needs must, it could get the chop.

Ali-OK

in*the*red wrote:

I think you've done well to get food that low, not something I've been able to achieve anything like even though we cook from scratch!

I keep a running total on the savings by coupon, multi-buy and BOGOFs and it's £38.61 so far. I'm currently sitting with 72 packets of hula-hoops in the cupboard from one BOGOF! Works out 7p a packet and will last for packed lunches for ages!

I can make a chicken last Sunday eve roast, Mon sandwiches, Mon eve roast again but diff veg, Tues sandwiches, Tues eve curry or sweet'n' sour. I do that alternate weeks.

Inbetween we like spag bol, pasta, chilli, rice, etc. One treat has been garlic bread - again, on BOGOF, so plenty in the freezer.

Son loves 'hedgehogs' - mash in middle of plate, 2 sausages cut into pieces to make spikes in the mash with baked beans around it. I'm buying value/own brand too and that's made a difference. I can safely say Sainsburys value clingfilm is better than their more expensive stuff - has a better cutter on the box too!

We have very little in the way of 'extras' I guess - we're lucky neither of us are big chocolate or cake fans, we like water not fizzy drinks (diet coke is a treat when on BOGOF). I don't buy alcohol (don't drink), and meat and veg/fruit is from local butchers and farm shop respectively.

Blimey..that was a ramble and a half! Sorry...hope you might find something useful amongst it though!

Ali

Justin_Credit

Could you look into the possibility of agreeing to foster your bro's kids and vice versa should the situation ever occur. Not that I know much about this sort of thing but I do know you get paid a fair rate for fostering. This would save the insurance money, a little bit more to throw at the debt.

Regards JC

gingin_2

Hi Ali-Ok

My son is 6 and we have a present box, I try and keep presents to under £3 and pick up pressies in sales when I see them, I bought a load of Hotwheels car sets and "My little ponies" a couple of weeks ago in the supermarket for £1.99, when I see a bargain like that I tend to stock up so we are well covered. I also make him make his own cards. That seems the norm for my little boy's school.

We have a freeview box and so although we don't get all of the channels they get cbeebies, Cbbc and Nick Jnr in the morning, I think CITV has just started a channel too. The box is a one off payment (£30 ish) and then free from then on so I would definitely get rid of Sky.

I would probably keep the Life insurance too.

Good Luck!

sanfrancisco

I hate to bring up something so depressing but if oyu die, cant your brother just sell your house pay off the mortgage and use the other life ins (150k) to bring up your son? Your son will not need to live in a mortgage free house if he is still young, he will be living at your brothers house.

sanfrancisco

Other thoughts...as you seem like you get money now and are not just looking for a way out, why dont you temporarily stop pension payments and sons savings. When you are debt free and not paying any interest on your debts you could reinstate them and pay more in. Could you change your mortgage to interest only?

wrighty_3

Ali-OK wrote:

Hi Wrighty

Thanks for the IT stuff - Symantec want £64 for 2 yr sub to NIS 06 - ha ha, I'm just about to save that thanks to you!

Just glad i can help! Symantec is a rip off!!!!

Ali-OK

Justin_Credit wrote:

Could you look into the possibility of agreeing to foster your bro's kids and vice versa should the situation ever occur. Not that I know much about this sort of thing but I do know you get paid a fair rate for fostering. This would save the insurance money, a little bit more to throw at the debt.

Regards JC

Hi JC

It's a little more complicated due to son's Dad (my ex)..I won't bore you with the details!

I've decided to chop son's life assurance anyhow - I've just spoken to bro and we did this when my son was very small on the basis of what I said above, but also that his wife would probably have to give up work if my son wasn't at school then (nursery fees were almost £600 a month) or carry on and pay them! Plus his parents-in-laws have retired, so we have more options, particularly as his kids are not too far off 'could leave home' age. Crumbs, time flies!

The house is worth £250K - mortgage is for just over half of that - if I pop my clogs, it gets paid off under the mortgage insurance and can then be sold. Sorted! That's £226.80 a year gone. Wow. Thanks everyone.

To answer other points:

I could play about with the mortgage - I deliberately put more on repayment when I found out the endowments weren't going to meet the interest only part of the mortgage (£11K short) and that has got 7 years to run. Mis-selling bit is in midst of being sorted (here's hoping!)

I will look at putting more onto interest only as another short-term option - I'll have to pay penalties if I do anything else due to being tied into the 2 year deal until Sept this year. I don't want to lengthen the term - I've had a mortgage since I was 18! When I've cleared this debt, I'll be on the Get Mortgage Free Forums lol.

Sky - This has to go - you're right. Since writing about this earlier, we've had dinner and I realised this is Round 2 (or check and check again as an earlier poster said - thank you it's dawned on me!) Even if we got Freeview, he wouldn't have Boomerang - we've got a DVD player (£30 one last year in the supermarket) and the internet, plus outdoors to enjoy and then all his toys! Right, that's another £180 saved.

Thanks everyone - another sizeable chunk to throw at the cards. So glad I did the SOA - it took me 2 days to have the courage to post it.

Ali