Please Help -In Debt and struggling!

gizmo111

Electricity and Gas are a bit too high. Not many people use £280 for electric and £340 for gas a month!!!!! Do not forget the Judge will look at it that your husband is at work, you kids are at school. You must be leaving the whole property with central heating on 24/7 and all lights on 24/7. An average family of 4 would use something like £140 electric and £200 gas a month. IF you want to keep the amounts you have declared then take a bill with you for electric and for gas and attach them to the statement

Where does it say the OP uses 280 + 340 a month?
I'm a family four and pay £108 per month for both - where do you get the 200 + 140? Do you mean per quarter?

BeautyandtheBeast_3

have you got enough space to grow your own veg? we started growing our own last year and i have to say it tastes SO much nicer from your own garden!
Butchers are generally CHEAPER than Supermarkets (well my butcher is) xx

gfplux

hello Lisae03,
Great news that you are redoing your SOA, Looking forward to that being posted.

Start a spending diary TODAY to find out exactly where you money goes. Knowledge is power.


Good Luck.

memelalou

lisae03 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet



Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1125
Partners monthly income after tax....... N/A
Benefits................................ 540 (420 Tax Credits 120 Child Benefit)
Total monthly income.................... 1665
Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... £430
HP loan repayments...................... £310
Council tax............................. 110
Electricity............................. 70 - may be obvious but have you tried changing supplier. If your already on the cheapest deal for you make sure you have fitted energy saving light bulbs, turn off switches when not in use, simmer food instead of boiling to save gas, you proboly do this already but sometimes even the best of us forget
Gas..................................... 85
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 60 Includes Mobile
TV Licence.............................. 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 - seems alot to me. When you order from tesco write out a menu plan for the week and only buy whats on it. I have cut down on my food bill by doing this from £60 a week to £40 for me and the husband. For the moment at least cut down or stop buying treats like pop, biscuits etc - they really do add up. If you smoke or drink again give up or cut down. I'll admit when you can't have even a little treat it can get you down, but if i can save you from being in major doo doo it's worth it.
Clothing................................ 80 - If this is really what you spend a month it can really be cut down to 0, just make do until your belts aren't as tight {no pun intended }. Kids grow fast so ofcourse you have to buy clothes for them if they are growing out of them, but unless you have a baby or toddler it's unnesserary to spend this much each month.
Other travel............................ 30
School Dinners ......................... 30 - see if making packed luches are cheaper - it's not always the case but even if it's only £1 a week cheaper it all adds up.
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Contents insurance...................... 20
Haircuts................................ 20 - Again this could go. Invest in a hair trimmer for the boys/men you can find a good one in Argos for under £20. If you have a style that needs mataining try growing the style out or using a student hairdresser. Ring your local college. It's very cheap and they also do other beauty treatments for a fraction of the cost it would be from a salon.


Total Monthly Expenses.................. 1711


A breakdown of Loans – £310

HFC Bank £80
Beneficial Finance - £15
Aptiv Kapita – 15
Princes Trust Loan £58
Mutual Clothing and Supply £40
Provident Personal Credit £20
Additions Direct £40
Littlewoods £22
Simply Be £10
Next £10

Have you used the snowball calculator. I can't link it but do a search on here or google. It has shaved at least a couple of years of my debt. You enter your debts, min payments and the amount you have to throw at debts and with the intrest rates it works out who to pay and how much and the date you hopefully have your debts off.

I hope this helps

RAS

lisae03 wrote: »

As reguards to cooking I find it costs a fortune to make a decent meal for my brood as it costs a fortune.

For example my homemade (well half homemade) Lasagne costs

1.40 Mince - OK but bulk up with some lentils
90 for pasta sauce - a tin cheap tomatoes and a few dried herbs at half the price.
90 white sauce - half a pint of milk, 25g flour and margerine - half the price or less.
90 for mushrooms - halve these
50 pepper is this really necessary?
50 onion - how much onion? One is enough.
80 Lasagne sheets
50 cheese -

By the time I add the garlic bread and salad or peas it costs quite a bit!

Do you buy ready made garlic bread? Do you need more carbs on top of the others?

I don't mind budget brands but don't like to go to far as some of it lacks quality!

Go over to the old Style forum and see how to reduce your grocery costs.

TellTheTruth_2

lisae03 wrote: »

Wow it just gets better. Some fab advice, going to re-do my statement now.

As reguards to cooking I find it costs a fortune to make a decent meal for my brood as it costs a fortune.

For example my homemade (well half homemade) Lasagne costs

1.40 Mince
90 for pasta sauce < half a tub of tomato puree, a table spoon of mixed herbs, a table spoon of mild curry, some salt and pepper to taste and water to make it into a mixture. Half the price
90 white sauce < Heaped tablespoon margerine. Put on low flame and melt. Add 4 mugs of milk. Bring to the boil. Take a half mug of flour. Put flour in a sieve and while shaking the sieve mix into the milk with a wooden spoon until it thickens. If you see it thickening then stop adding flour. (Do not make it too thick as it will thicken a bit more in the oven). IF you happen to get lumps (maybe until you get used to it) then just pass it through the seive using a wooden spoon to press the liquid through the holes. That is what white sauce is........... if you want to be really cool, add some grated cheese
90 for mushrooms <lasagna should not have mushrooms
50 pepper <lasagna should not have pepper except for pepper in the sauce (for taste same as salt)
50 onion <onions are 79p for 3 large onions from Asda (just got back from there as been to get my shopping). You only need one onion.
80 Lasagne sheets < two mugs of flour. Two egg yolks (you can use the white of the eggs later on to make sugar puffs). Mix together and add two table spoons of olive oil. Knead into a dough. Put in bowl cover and leave for about an hour. Take out and knead a bit. Now if you have a pasta machine (a very good investment as you can also make tagliatelli, etc with it) you just use the machine to make the pasta sheets. Or if you do not have the machine you just use a roller and do them to a thin sheet. This method also saves on cooking time (i.e. gas/electric usage) as the dough is not dry and will cook in half the time
50 cheese

By the time I add the garlic bread and salad or peas it costs quite a bit! < garlic bread: take half a tub of margerine. Put in a pan and bring to liquid over a very very low heat. In the meantime take a garlic clove. Unpeel it. Put it on a chopping board. Put knife over it flat side on the garlic. Give it a whack with the palm of your hand. It will squash. Now chop very finely. Add to the margerine and leave it to simmer (on the lowest of heat) for about 2 minutes. Pour liquid into a jar and leave to cool. Put in fridge when cool. You can use this for say garlic pizza (just take a brush and spread some on the top) or garlic bread, get a long bun, split in half and spread some garlic butter in the middle. Now wrap in kitchen foil and bake on low flame. Alternatively, I love it when take a bun, cut in half, spread the garlic butter on it and then grill until it looks like a toast....... Yummy.
I don't mind budget brands but don't like to go to far as some of it lacks quality!

There you are: Lasagna half price. I have written notes next to your shopping list. And here you go............ basic sauce for spaghetti or lasagna.........and with a bit of variation e.g. adding mushrooms can be used for say cottage pies........

MY MAMMA IS GOING TO KILL ME FOR GIVING THIS OUT!!!

one bag of mince
one onion
4 cloves of garlic < can use less if you do not like garlic
table spoon mixed herbs
1 table spoon curry
1 beef oxo cube
1 teaspoon of sugar
half a tub of tomato puree
half a can of peas (not mashy peas though)
salt and pepper to taste
table spoon oil

Frying pan on high flame. Fry mince until it starts to look like it is burger meat. Take off flame and drain (so get rid of all the fat). I put the sieve on an empty can so the fat goes in there. Once it cools then it becomes solid and can throw out. Do NOT drain over a sink or you will block it lol

Finely chop the onion and the garlic

Throw the table spoon of oil in the frying pan. Fry the onion and garlic until brown/like see through. Now bring flame down to low

Add the mince. Stir all in. Add the tomato puree. Add some water to make it into a liquidy state. Add the salt and pepper, peas, curry, mixed herbs

Cover and leave to simmer for about an hour on a very very low heat. Check it once in a while to make sure in case you may have to add a bit of water

To cook spaghetti one table spoon oil in a pan and some water. Bring it to the boil. Add some salt (you add salt when it starts boiling otherwise it will actually take longer to come to the boil) throw in spaghetti and give a stir (the oil will make it not stick to each other) and cook but do not overcook. When done drain. Throw spaghetti into pan. Take sauce and dump it in big pan with spaghetti. High flame stir spaghetti into sauce until basically you do not have any more liquid (but dont let it burn or go too dry)

Serve with some red wine. If you want to make it more authentic sprinkle some grated parmasan cheese on the top.

AND learn to make the white sauce. Then you can have things like Macaroni cheese or Cauliflower cheese (same sauce)........ or if you cook fish you can have white sauce on them........

Nick Smith
ohhhhhh and you may ask, "What do I do with the sugar in the receipy"? In the old days, they used to use half a cored apple. Today they use sugar. Before you mix the sauce with the spaghetti have a taste. If you think you have added too much herbs to your liking add the sugar. It reduces the taste.

TellTheTruth_2

gizmo111 wrote: »

Where does it say the OP uses 280 + 340 a month?
I'm a family four and pay £108 per month for both - where do you get the 200 + 140? Do you mean per quarter?

I get billed quarterly and yep a mistake as I went x 4 instead of 3 months in every quarter. Then again so have you made a mistake. Where did you get 200 + 140? :beer::beer:

Nick Smith

TellTheTruth_2

Sunday dinner. Have had pork. Keep the bone and the skin.

Next day: Big pan. Throw the bone in it and the skin and if there are any small pieces left over (like not good enough for a sandwich). Packet of bacon misshaps (Herons £1.39). Take bacon and using a scissors cut into decent (not too small pieces. Any pieces with too much fat try and remove some of the fat). Throw into pan. One packet of casserole veggies (most supermarkets about £1). Throw the whole lot into pan. 5 or 6 average potatoes. Peel, wash, cut in halves, throw into pan. 2 veggie OXO cubes. Break up and throw into pan. About one table spoon of tomato puree, Throw into pan. One mug full barley (Optional. This is only to thicken the minestrone more). Throw into pan. Bit of pepper for seasoning. DO NOT add salt as you get the salt from the bacon. Fill with water to cover everything. Put on flame and bring to boil. Leave to simmer for about 4 hours or until the potatoes are soft when you prod them with a fork or knife (it will go through with no resistance). Take bone and skin out and throw away. (You use them instead of buying a Ham Shank (or as some people call it a Ham Hock). Bowls out. Garlic bread done. Happy eating. Cheap and in the winter a very warming meal. Total cost? About £4 to feed 4 people. Home made med minestrone.

Note: Do not cook this overnight on say a slow cooker. The potatoes will give an acidy taste if left cooking too long. IF this happens, then add a tablespoon of sugar and stir in. Once again. Sugar saves the day. :rotfl:

Nick Smith