Thought I was getting straight, now its all going wrong.

skylight

As far as I am aware, its not hassle to your employers at all, what I mean is they dont have to pay anything and it doesn't cost them anything either.

Hope you get something sorted with it on Monday! Paying less tax in any form is great!

tyllwyd

I'm not too sure the childcare vouchers will be a big help, because you are claiming tax credits and I assume that this includes childcare tax credit? I don't think you can claim childcare tax credit for care that you have paid for with the vouchers, so your tax credit would go down.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childcare/taxcredits-guidance.htm

wishingonastar_3

tyllwyd wrote:

I'm not too sure the childcare vouchers will be a big help, because you are claiming tax credits and I assume that this includes childcare tax credit? I don't think you can claim childcare tax credit for care that you have paid for with the vouchers, so your tax credit would go down.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childcare/taxcredits-guidance.htm

ohh, thanks for the warning, and the link, i'll have a good look at it over the weekend before i decide in that case.

many thanks.

Justin_Credit

Electricity seems a bit high, try being careful how you use it, use low energy bulbs etc.

Food bill is way too high as others have said.

Could you get your large family to help out with childcare, even if it was one day per week to cut down the £190 monthly bill?

Other than that, on your current income, there is not too much room to manouvre without affecting lifestyle.

HTH

Regards JC

lynzpower

Hello there

Could you not cut out the papers entirely? I either scavenge one off the tube ( easy for us londoners ) or borrow one off a colleague. I only ever buy wednesdays ( jobs day for me) and the rest of the time borrow, or read online. Should save a little bit.

Bossyboots

Could someone else take a turn with feeding the hoard on Sunday? This must be making a huge hole in your budget.

Why not see if you can make something other than a full roast when it is your turn to cut costs further.

wishingonastar_3

thanks for all the advice,
no paper today, and didn't miss it at lunchtime, brought a book to read i've been meaning to read for ages, and had a look at the news on the web. had a chat to family yesterday about sundays, i've worked out they cost me nearly £100 a month with buying a joint of meat and all the trimmings, now been decided we'll rotate it between four of us, and actually family said they would be much happier with that but haven't wanted to offend me, and we all want to keep up having sunday afternoons together. thanks for pushing me to talk to them about it, i wouldn't have otherwise. as for electricity, energy saving bulbs were in a lot of lights, after this weekend they are in all lights that will take them (have one lamp with a smaller fitting, not sure if i can get energy saving bulbs for that one, will have a look next time i'm near somewhere that sells them). also
turned off microwave in kitchen, as i have a wall clock anyways,
turned off video, its rarely used, and can be plugged in if necessary
switched off stereo, and other things at the wall that don't need to be on all the time
all that was plugged in when i left this monring was alarm clock, fridge & freezer, so hopefully that should cut down on electric.
also got off my backside this weekend and walked everywhere and left the car at home for everything except food shopping, and i really enjoyed it, lol.
am hoping the changes you;ve all so kindly suggested nip the problem in the bud, and i can concentrate on saving up instead of spending too much.
thanks again so much, i feel a huge weight has been lifted off my mind, off to work out new soa, and see how things lie.

woas.

wishingonastar_3

forgot to add, mentioned about childcare for forthcoming easter school holidays to family yesterday, and family are helping out 2 of the days now, so thats saved me £30, and have said they will do again so long as they have a bit of warning they will see what they can do at each holiday.

beautifulgorgeous_2

Morrisons has energy saving bulbs for 99p on bogof in bayonet and screw in 60w and 100.

oops_a_daisy

Hi Wishing on a star - welcome to MSE. well done for posting here and I hope you have saved money already . I would just like to say that I am a single mum and if you look at my signature you will see that we managed to live ( very well ) on £140.00 last month. It would have been less but I was new to it so spent too much in the first couple of weeks. I seem to have balanced out at £25.00 per week for food, toiletries and cleaning stuff. I know others have mentioned it before but take a look at Old Style MSE for help cutting food and cleaning bills. I also do a couple of lunches ( HM soup ) for my Nana out of this every week. I am very lucky that my Mum and Dad are both retired and look after my daughter before and after school so I cant help out much there. One thing though is if you are going swimming or to other activities every week try to get together with one of the other mums that lives near to you and do alternate weeks. Good luck and happy money spinning