My SOA if anyone is feeling nosey and/or helpful!

PizzaLover

Deleted sorry.

lisainglasgow

OK I would cut out the lottery, £200 is a good aim for food, with a bit of meal planning this can be made into a reality.
The £100 for fuel to the station seems high, as does the £75 per month train travel. Have you looked into a yearly ticket? Could your OH either cycle to the station or get a bus there?

It's great that you realise you need to do a spending diary - you certainly seem to have excess but obviously in practice you don't.

frugallass

Hi

I would consider cutting down the lottery spending to £1 a week, apart from that everything else looks reasonable (although it might be worth looking for quotes for cheaper insurance and power suppliers etc.)

Your OH spends £100 a month on fuel getting to the station? is it some distance away? or is it a thirsty car?

The concern is that the £451 at the end of the month is disappearing and a spending diary really is the way to go - you also need to prepare a budget for each week and stick to it.

Create a shopping list each week and stick to it - plan your meals if you can too.

Katie-Kat-Kins

Hmm, first thing get some contents insurance it is false economy not to if you have any possessions of value.

Seconly has your OH checked whether he can get to the station more cheaply? Maybe bus or cycle or even walk. Is he getting the cheapest rail fare and is rail the most economical way for him to travel?

Ditch the lottery, you will get a better return from a savings account. If you really can't resist cut back to one line a week. £20 is really excessive and unnecessary, it is after all gambling, and gambling with very poor odds at that.

Other than that your expenditure doesn't look too bad, I wonder whether you are being honest with yourself and agree that a spending diary is the way forward.

To give yourself a kick start why not do a month of no spending on clothes (easy really bet you have loads of stuff that isn't worn out!).

Also get onto the O/S board to help reduce that food shopping bill! I find that I spend lots shopping and build up stuff in the cupboard/freezer that I have bought on offer and not used. Try a month of only buying essentials and running down some of your supplies, I managed to plan a weeks shopping this week using stuff we have in and only buying bread milk and fresh veg. I still won't have an empty freezer or store cupboard at the end of the week!!!

frugallass

PizzaLover wrote: »

Yep, I've said this to OH many many times but does he listen? :rolleyes: I need to show him how much it costs over a year. At least if we just do £1 per week we'll still feel like we have a chance at the jackpot

oh I know what you mean - do you actually win much from the £20 a month? £20 a month x 12 = £240 - enough to pay for you to have a short break away somewhere once a year

Katie-Kat-Kins

PizzaLover wrote: »

He could actually walk to the station! But as he is so used to driving everywhere the first instinct is to use the car. But to be honest most of the petrol is used at weekends when we do tend to use the car a lot. Although I'm not sure how it can come to £100 per month, it does seem high. I will look at our bank statments more carefully and get an average petrol cost over the past 3 months to see how accurate that figure is.

And you're right - the excess just vanishes! I have a sneaky feeling OH's work lunches might not be helping there.

Sounds like a major issue is getting your OH on board with the need to cut back......

If you make a plan for him to walk and he gets up at the right time then "instinct" shouldn't come into it. It should be his routine to walk if he can and it will save a lot, cars are much more thirsty on a series of short runs and this kind of use wears the engine too. Persuade him it is daft to get the car out for distances of less than three miles. If he doesn't listen hide the car keys!!!

If you weekend use of the car is high review what you do at the weekend. Can you walk or cycle more or just go to closer places? Can you get people to visit you or use the bus? A few weekends close to home could make a difference.

Sounds like a spending diary would help track down the surplus and maybe also keeping a track on the fuel usage. Fill the car right up on a sunday, and note the mileage, fill it up again the following sunday note the number of litres needed and the mileage, continue doing this each week and you can work out your average fuel consumption each week. Challenge yourselves to a) increase the mpg and b) reduce the number of miles covered.

The work lunches have to go, buying lunch is a real waste your OH will be paying £2.50 for a sandwich that costs less than £1 to make at home. Then probably buying a packet of crisps for 60p when you could get a six pack for £1.20.......... Perhaps if he gets up early to walk to the station you could make him a really nice pack up Try the O/S board for ideas for cheap and nutritious pack up ideas!!!

Katie-Kat-Kins

frugallass wrote: »

oh I know what you mean - do you actually win much from the £20 a month? £20 a month x 12 = £240 - enough to pay for you to have a short break away somewhere once a year

Work out the odds and the rate of return, I bet you don't do much better than you would putting it in a savings account and at least you have some guarentees there!

Can't understand you (or is it your OH again :rolleyes:) being able to justify chucking this kind of money away when you are struggling to repay your debts. What would he say if you blew £240 on a pair of shoes or in the bookies???

Tixy

Packed up lunches will save loads (or if he is still reluctant start with 4days a week packed and let him buy on Fridays). If its down to having time and being organised I know a few people who make sandwiches for the family for the whole week on a Sunday and freeze them. Then just take them out each morning (if they have tomato in it seems to be better to add this is after, it doesn't freeze well). Or if not keen on sandwiches all the time he could start taking leftovers of the night before's meals (even make a little more if need be).

Considering your username, even Pizza could be taken for the next day cold. Pasta meals work well. In winter homemade soup and a flask are good and cheap.

Fire_Fox

I think you should calculate how much the car is costing you to run over the course of a year: insurance, tax, MOT, repairs and petrol. As far as I can see from what you have said this is a luxury as it's not needed for work - I make it £1800 a year PLUS repairs which you haven't accounted for. And it's £1500 of dead money, depreciating as I type!

You will be entitled to discounted bus and rail travel as a student (ask at university as well as the travel centre), and your OH might find a season ticket allows use at the weekends too. There are also some really cheap 'friends and family' tickets being brought out for your weekend shenanigans - in my area five people can travel on the bus all day for just £7!! :T I'd be inclined to do all the homework myself and then just tell your OH that the car is on the market.

david_hellier

KatP wrote: »

Sounds like a major issue is getting your OH on board with the need to cut back......

If you make a plan for him to walk and he gets up at the right time then "instinct" shouldn't come into it. It should be his routine to walk if he can and it will save a lot, cars are much more thirsty on a series of short runs and this kind of use wears the engine too. Persuade him it is daft to get the car out for distances of less than three miles. If he doesn't listen hide the car keys!!!

If you weekend use of the car is high review what you do at the weekend. Can you walk or cycle more or just go to closer places? Can you get people to visit you or use the bus? A few weekends close to home could make a difference.

Sounds like a spending diary would help track down the surplus and maybe also keeping a track on the fuel usage. Fill the car right up on a sunday, and note the mileage, fill it up again the following sunday note the number of litres needed and the mileage, continue doing this each week and you can work out your average fuel consumption each week. Challenge yourselves to a) increase the mpg and b) reduce the number of miles covered.

The work lunches have to go, buying lunch is a real waste your OH will be paying £2.50 for a sandwich that costs less than £1 to make at home. Then probably buying a packet of crisps for 60p when you could get a six pack for £1.20.......... Perhaps if he gets up early to walk to the station you could make him a really nice pack up Try the O/S board for ideas for cheap and nutritious pack up ideas!!!

Another way of using a spending diary is to allocate a weekly amount to yourself per week, from your budget after all essentials have been deducted. Using receipts, deduct as you spend through the week. Try to get to the end of the week leaving some over to carry forward to the next week. This has the effect of keeping your overdraft down and avoids overspend.

david_hellier

KatP wrote: »

Hmm, first thing get some contents insurance it is false economy not to if you have any possessions of value.

Seconly has your OH checked whether he can get to the station more cheaply? Maybe bus or cycle or even walk. Is he getting the cheapest rail fare and is rail the most economical way for him to travel?

Ditch the lottery, you will get a better return from a savings account. If you really can't resist cut back to one line a week. £20 is really excessive and unnecessary, it is after all gambling, and gambling with very poor odds at that.

Other than that your expenditure doesn't look too bad, I wonder whether you are being honest with yourself and agree that a spending diary is the way forward.

To give yourself a kick start why not do a month of no spending on clothes (easy really bet you have loads of stuff that isn't worn out!).

Also get onto the O/S board to help reduce that food shopping bill! I find that I spend lots shopping and build up stuff in the cupboard/freezer that I have bought on offer and not used. Try a month of only buying essentials and running down some of your supplies, I managed to plan a weeks shopping this week using stuff we have in and only buying bread milk and fresh veg. I still won't have an empty freezer or store cupboard at the end of the week!!!

Another way of using a spending diary is to allocate a weekly amount to yourself per week, from your budget after all essentials have been deducted. Using receipts, deduct as you spend through the week. Try to get to the end of the week leaving some over to carry forward to the next week. This has the effect of keeping your overdraft down and avoids overspend.