What else can I do?

skintchick

Right! Well, I'm guessing hubby used to have a weel paid job, cos you look like you've got used to living at a certain standard.

Those holidays cannot happen, I'm afraid. Even if you lose a deposit by cancelling, it will be better than shelling out all that money, then spending money on top. Anyway, your hubby will need to be working, not going away.

Why is your household maintenance £50 a month? What are you paying for? Mine consists of a boiler service for £100 - and that's it!!! I don;t think you need to put this much away.

Water rates do look expensive - are you sure a meter wouldn;t be cheaper? And have you looked at how you actually use your water? Even if you cant save money, we are in the grip of global warming and should each do out bit.

Gas and leccy also look high to me.

As does mobile bill.

Your food shopping scares me!! How many are you feeding? If it is not around ten of you then you really can cut this right back.

What do you feed your pets? Or do you have elephants? My cat costs me about £4 a month to feed!!

Your car maintenance figure also looks high - have you sat downa dn worked out what the servicing, tax, insurance costs REALLY are? And if it is that much, you need to get a cheaper car!
.
Your days out money needs to stop. Right now you can't afford days out.

WHy is the TV licence so high? I pay about £11 a month.

I'm concerned about the birthday do. Can you scale it down, or not go, or cancel it or something?!?!

New clothes are but a dream when you're on a budget - you can;t afford £25 every month on clothes.

So, those are my thoughts.

I also think your husband should think about getting an interim job - one that pays some money but is just a stopgap till he gets a new job. Could he do some consultance work? Or get a job in an office for a bit? What does he do?

I know how hard it is to lose a job ( I lost two in ten months) but JSA really isn;t going to touch the sides. Can you put your studying on hold for a bit?

Sorry if some of this isn;t helpful I am just thinking otu loud.

lynzpower

Is only one of you working? If there is any other way of bringing in extra money, you jsut have to find out what it is.. Are you selling stuff on ebay? Carboots etc?

Looking at your tv licence? You say 25.30 - that cant be monthly, mines about a tenner...that figure I guess is quarterly? if so, a tiny bit freed up from that.

I agree, the winter holiday, it just has to go - you can get some money back, or ask for it to be transferred to next year or something, its not just the money it COSTS for the holiday, once the hidden extras are in, you are looking at WAY more. Camping for the summer might be OK, where is it? In the uK or abroad, ie do you have to pay a ferry crossing on it as well for example?

Good luck with it,
Lynz

Ordinary_Joe

Hi there,

Looks like you've looked quite hard at what you can do. You're plight perfectly shows how merely cutting back doesn't always solve the problem.

Sounds obvious but what effectively needs to happen is you need to create additional income streams which is what I'm doing to try and get my debts resolved. What you need is something that is relatively straightforward but doesn't take all your time to implement.

There are some out there and you can find some on ebay. A word of advice though - trust your instinct. If something looks to good to be true it probably is. Especially when you see those ads offering things under the guise of "I made £300,000 in 5 months while I slept" and the guy is offering it for 99p and has a feedback score of 36. If they're clearing £300k why are they bothering trying to shift £37 in products.

One thing that might be an option is being a trading assistant. Basically you act as a middleman for people wanting to sell stuff on e-bay. You photograph it post the listings and if it sells you take a percentage of the sale price.

You've got to market yourself and your service and make sure all of your costs are taken into consideration - but it might be an option. Do remember the good deals do require some effort from you. There's no miracle pill.

In essence though creating additional income streams is the way forward. That's what I'm trying to do & write about it in my blog.

Good luck with everything though

fannyadams

I also noticed your overdraft is costing you moeny - Alliance & Leicester give you a free overdraft for 12 months I htink it is and you can get £50 back too if you sign up for their current account.

sweetmoneysaver

First of all well done for posting. Redundancy is an awful thing but happens to lots of people these days and doesn't have the stigma that it used to have. Your SOA is a good place to start and there seem to be several major places that you can look at. Some of my suggestions are:

Stop the cash ISA - the interest rate on those savings will not beat the interest that you are being charged on the car loan. Savings are only any good if you have little or no debt.

I am concerned that your mortgage is interest only at the moment - this should only be used as a short term gap as eventually it will have to be paid. I know that you can't at the moment but make a mental note to sort things when you can.

How are are the kids? Is there any way that you can suggest a cut in pocket money or get them to do a paper round instead.

Clothes - try to go without where you can but you could look in charity shops. Go to affluent areas as the quality of the clothes will be better. Some even have designer labels!

Cut back on the days out or try something free. With the wramer weather coming, the park with a picnic is a good one. You could play games like football, cricket, rounders etc.

Agree a budget with friends and family for Christmas and Birthdays. I assume that your close friends and family will know of your husband's work situation. Homemade gifts could be another option.

The food bill is the obvious quick win here. Try shopping every 2-3 days maybe rather than weekly. Also do a weekly menu so you stick to only what you need. Make large batches of things so that you can freeze things. That way you will not be tempted to buy other meals because it looks like there is nothing in the fridge.

Make sure you really want the winter holiday.

Good luck with everything, I hope things improve.

sanfrancisco

Sell the car and get a £500 one.

Don't bother with saving, home maintenance, birthdays, xmas, days out, holidays. You need to go down to basic rations during what should hopefully be a short period if you are not to get into further debt. Could hubby work nights at Tesco's until he finds a job in his field?

Greenwellies_2

WOW, lots of replies!

OK Pets, I was spending £30 a month on Iams for my 3 cats. There was two problems: 1 the cats were being over fed and 2 the local cats were coming in for dinner. I have sorted this by getting a measuring cup from Iams and a IR catflap from ebay. With this I expect to see a great difference, but I wont know just yet.

Clothes, I am dieting at the moment, so I need new underware. I am sewing some things to make them smaller, but I have a nice office job where I see some VIP's, so I can't look a mess. The £25. budget covers hair cuts too

Food, there are effectivly 4 adults and one child in the house. The £650 covers everything from soap powder to meat to toothpaste. I admit I do buy decent meat as I can't stand the taste (or lack of) from the supermarket, However, I buy in bulk and get it at 'freezer prices'. I did have a time of having a 6 week menu plan, and going to the market to shop for that, but then I injured my neck and can't carry or pull anything since.

Holidays, I go camping twice in August. I have never holidayed abroad and wouldn't dream of going to butlins etc. I have a holiday booked at a cottage at Christmas for the family to have a get together, this is actually money saving, as for a week there we're paying less than we would by going to a restaurant. (it's also the only way we can get everyone together)

TV Licence, I used to pay this in advance, and I knew I needed to adjust, so I opted to pay by DD, which is 6 months in advance.

The birthday is for my son's it's already booked (taking them to a show) the tickets are paid for, but we will also be going for a meal in China Town. But on reflection, I could do this for £150.

My mobile bill was £77 per month. (this covers 4 phones) I have changed Service provider to PAYG, where as I was paying £36 for 250 mins, I am now paying £24 for 200 mins. (Son's have £5 each, and hubby wont use phone so much now not working, but it's an area in progress)

I agree that G & E are high, but I have had suppliers messing me about for the last 3 years so I have no idea where I am truly at with them. I currently pay £27, but I am not covering my usage.

Days out: My in-laws expect us to drop everything and go for a pizza. They do not understand that we can't afford it and when we say no, they take it that we don't want their company and it causes friction. I have dropped very severe hints regarding not being able to pay the mortgage and still searching for jobs have they heards of anything etc.

Ebay, I have sold about £200 worth of items recently, and I am in the process of listing some more bits tonight. (though I have given away a fair amount on freecycle as my research showed that items didn't sell, so rather than rack up ebay fees, I'm giving it away)

I think that covers everything raised. If you think I am just trying to justify it to myself, by all means say so.

I really do appreciate your thoughts and opinions, it has made me reduce the birthday budget.

How much would you say 4 adults and a child should spend on food shopping?

Thanks to all

GW

Greenwellies_2

Ah Cars.
I have a car on loan that suits my family perfect. When I brought it, the garage tried to sell me a servicing pollicy. Instead of taking it up, I said I'd put the money aside in an account, so I do. But I also factor in insurance. I am very lucky, I won a car last summer, and I tried to sell it as soon as I got news of the redundancy, but the best I got offered was 1/3 of the price. As the car was already taxed and insured, it made sense just to hold on to it. Now that hubby has lost his company vehicle, he needs it to get to interviews. (We also have a child that needs therapy, so I need a car to get everywhere and still manage to hold down a job)

Thanks

GW

Greenwellies_2

The ISA is on hold.

GW

sweetmoneysaver

Get your husband to talk to his parents; if anybody can make them see it's not to do with their company but money, it will be him. Families can be funny at the best of times but hopefully they will listen to him. If they want to pop round and go out for pizza, maybe you or husband could suggest they still pop round but bring the pizza with them!