how do you all do it

Murtle

Four things immediately jump out at me;

1. £60 per month fags and hair
2. saving £60 per month
3. £200 per month "other"
4. £240 per month food

Can you quit smoking or change to rollies?
Can you have your hair done at a local college on trainee nights?
Not sure of the benefit of saving if you are paying more than that in interest?
Where is the £200 per month on other going, that is a lot of money to be unaccounting for each month.
£240 for food for four people, when one is only 18mths is alot of money. See on the Old style money saving how you can cut this down.

Oops and another one, the dentist plan? do you really need that? or would it be worthwhile putting that into your own account incase you need it?

Also if OH is paid weekly, some months have 5 weeks, so he should earn more money so you'd have more to play with. If you aren't aware when these months are it's very easy to just spend the money!!

Are all the credit card payments collated in your DMP??

earwig

Murtle wrote:

Four things immediately jump out at me;

1. £60 per month fags and hair
2. saving £60 per month
3. £200 per month "other"
4. £240 per month food

Can you quit smoking or change to rollies?
Can you have your hair done at a local college on trainee nights?
Not sure of the benefit of saving if you are paying more than that in interest?
Where is the £200 per month on other going, that is a lot of money to be unaccounting for each month.
£240 for food for four people, when one is only 18mths is alot of money. See on the Old style money saving how you can cut this down.

Oops and another one, the dentist plan? do you really need that? or would it be worthwhile putting that into your own account incase you need it?

Also if OH is paid weekly, some months have 5 weeks, so he should earn more money so you'd have more to play with. If you aren't aware when these months are it's very easy to just spend the money!!

Are all the credit card payments collated in your DMP??

hi well 240 is for 4 of us inculding a 20m baby i know it seems high but it used to 400 so its getting there the thing is my oh is a brand snob and wont touch it if its not branded so its hard to get it much lower

denist has 9 months left on it i cant cancle it as they have allready paid the denist i needed over thosand pounds of work done havent been in years and couldnt find a nhs denist in my area so had no choice but to pay it

fags i do smoke roll ups at a cost of 10.00 per week i couldnt give up now as i dont want to as life stresfull enough at the mo mybe in the future

hair i have this done every 3 months i have long hair and have it colors put init at a cost of 60.00 i dont go out clubing so its my treat anyway with out it my hair looks nasty

200 i have no idea i guess its on milk sweets for kids bits and bobs like today i spent 5 in the coop on rolls milk paper sweets for dd ham for ds and crisp for dd packlunch going out at at weekends eg took kids to park at weekend its free spent 8 pounds on some drinks form pub over looking the park i dont realy no is this not normal then i did say it was a mess

petroll this is paid for by oh company and is included in the 400 if it wasnt then petrol would be 10 per week and wages would be 340 per week

savings is because we have no credit at all so if the fridge gose we couldnt replace it it is also used for car insaurce its fullypaid up at the min but need to have it inplace for next year car tax due this month mot tyres anything that gose wrong with the car no car oh has no job so we would be silly not to make sure funds are avalible if anything went wrong with it

we are not entilled to housing or councill tax benifit as oh earns too much so they say

earwig

fizzel81 wrote:

earwig just a queary how many children do you have? as i get the same child benifit as you do (i have 2) but my tax credits are considerably lower than yours and many other people i know(i seem to get so little compared to many others liveing around me), my oh income comes in at approx 350 per week (i have suspected for a while that my tax credits are wrong i recieve 39.a month for a 2yr old and a 9month old)

hi i have had lots of converstaions with child tax credit as i thought we was beening over paid but because my oh get travell allowance which is around 6/7 thousand a year they cant take it into acount of his wages as its not taxable so we earned last year 26500 but our p 60 says it20.0000 and that what are arward is bassed on so i get 49.00 a week for two kid one age 7 one age 20m its just daft . you should be getting the baby ellment on your tax credit as you have a child under on this should double your amount phone them today about it because if you leave it to long you cant claim the baby ellment after your baby has turned one and they dont back pay it but if you tell them now you should get it back paid

ms_london

You can cut your budget in SOOOOOOOOO many ways!! You might have children & a family but you also get tax credits & benefits to help with this, so its swings and roundabouts.

I dont get my hair done that often!! I dont have sky. The dentist plan seems extortionate??!! Who is that with? Could you get a better plan?

You say you dont want to give up smoking as life is stressful enough as it is? Well, life will be more stressful if you were to die and leave your kids without a mother - smoking kills!!

Who do you have a debt management plan with? Can you get out of it? There are so many charities that can offer this for FREE and the £79 you are paying them a month can go a long way to helping you become debt free.

Could you list the interest rates on your debts and the amount you pay each month?

xx

pennies_from_heaven_2

Hi Earwig
well done in takeing people advice i always think the 1st step is recognising you have a problem.
im fortunate in that im debt free(apart from mortgatge)
i was in debt in my 20s and i felt ashamed and angry that when i had signed a finace car agreement i didnt understand it. A girlfriend helpmed me and since then i have always gone for interest free.
one thing my dad taught me was its takes a long time, hard work and effort to earn money and seconds to spend.
A few things you could do to generate money would be to, sell goods on ebay, do a car boot sale, get a second job if possible, or even babysit put your details in a shop window.
even now that i earn well i do go to jumble sales and get a buzz from paying 50pence for a jumper. you can get all sorts in a jumble sale and some clothes havent been worn.
good luck sending you peace and harmony

scottishspendaholic

earwig wrote:

hi well 240 is for 4 of us inculding a 20m baby i know it seems high but it used to 400 so its getting there the thing is my oh is a brand snob and wont touch it if its not branded so its hard to get it much lower

denist has 9 months left on it i cant cancle it as they have allready paid the denist i needed over thosand pounds of work done havent been in years and couldnt find a nhs denist in my area so had no choice but to pay it

fags i do smoke roll ups at a cost of 10.00 per week i couldnt give up now as i dont want to as life stresfull enough at the mo mybe in the future

hair i have this done every 3 months i have long hair and have it colors put init at a cost of 60.00 i dont go out clubing so its my treat anyway with out it my hair looks nasty

200 i have no idea i guess its on milk sweets for kids bits and bobs like today i spent 5 in the coop on rolls milk paper sweets for dd ham for ds and crisp for dd packlunch going out at at weekends eg took kids to park at weekend its free spent 8 pounds on some drinks form pub over looking the park i dont realy no is this not normal then i did say it was a mess

petroll this is paid for by oh company and is included in the 400 if it wasnt then petrol would be 10 per week and wages would be 340 per week

savings is because we have no credit at all so if the fridge gose we couldnt replace it it is also used for car insaurce its fullypaid up at the min but need to have it inplace for next year car tax due this month mot tyres anything that gose wrong with the car no car oh has no job so we would be silly not to make sure funds are avalible if anything went wrong with it

we are not entilled to housing or councill tax benifit as oh earns too much so they say

Hi earwig,

I couldn't just read this and not say anything - the harsh truth is that you will have to cut back more on fags/haircuts etc if you want to be debt free sooner. I know, I know, easy for me to say - but you seem to be doing a lot of justifying and I don't think anyone in debt that wants to pay off more can justify £60 on their hair - can you colour it yourself and if its long - can you buy some hairdressing scissors and get a friend to do it (no styling required if long). This is what I do.

Your £200 a month 'other' - this will HAVE to be strictly cut down - and I am confused about why you are using it to buy food (as today). You will have to be stricter with yourself and keep your food budget to all the food you need for the week/month - maybe take £10 from this every week (don't spend it in the supermarket) for odds and sods. Then allow you and OH £10 a week 'other' money for stamps, drinks, choccie bar etc. Maybe then you could make your 'other' money £100 a month and your food budget can definitely be cut back further - just tell your OH tough if he's a brand snob or change the labels! - why not try £200 a month on food? This would save you £140 on 'other' and another £40 on food - that's loads!

This site is about looking after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves - never a truer word said, I think. Therefore, you might not be able to afford drinks in the park - could you take a cheap picnic and water from home. I know, it doesn't sound as much fun, but every little helps.

Fags - is there any way you can cut back even? There are a lot of studies that say smoking INCREASES stress and is NOT an alleviator as people think. I used to smoke and feel a hell of a lot calmer now!

I hope this is helpful to you and its not too harsh. I still think you need to cut back a bit - best of luck to you and your family,

scottishspendaholic x

Rachie_B

earwig wrote:

hi well 240 is for 4 of us inculding a 20m baby i know it seems high but it used to 400 so its getting there the thing is my oh is a brand snob and wont touch it if its not branded so its hard to get it much lower
denist has 9 months left on it i cant cancle it as they have allready paid the denist i needed over thosand pounds of work done havent been in years and couldnt find a nhs denist in my area so had no choice but to pay it

fags i do smoke roll ups at a cost of 10.00 per week i couldnt give up now as i dont want to as life stresfull enough at the mo mybe in the future

hair i have this done every 3 months i have long hair and have it colors put init at a cost of 60.00 i dont go out clubing so its my treat anyway with out it my hair looks nasty

200 i have no idea i guess its on milk sweets for kids bits and bobs like today i spent 5 in the coop on rolls milk paper sweets for dd ham for ds and crisp for dd packlunch going out at at weekends eg took kids to park at weekend its free spent 8 pounds on some drinks form pub over looking the park i dont realy no is this not normal then i did say it was a mess

petroll this is paid for by oh company and is included in the 400 if it wasnt then petrol would be 10 per week and wages would be 340 per week

savings is because we have no credit at all so if the fridge gose we couldnt replace it it is also used for car insaurce its fullypaid up at the min but need to have it inplace for next year car tax due this month mot tyres anything that gose wrong with the car no car oh has no job so we would be silly not to make sure funds are avalible if anything went wrong with it

we are not entilled to housing or councill tax benifit as oh earns too much so they say

hi there

does your OH want to be debt free or not,so what if he has to have shops own food etc bet he couldnt tell the difference anyway make sure you do the shopping on your own or online and tell him he eats what you prepare or he goes hungry you cant be fussy when you are in debt

also the little bits adding up when out with the kids etc

only keep a few £s in your purse and learn to say no to the kids ! i used to go into town / shops and think nothing of spending a tenner on a mag,sweets for the kids etc ,add that up a few times a week and its :eek: because thats not inc any weekends trips etc !


its appears you need to change your mindset either you really want to try or you dont

it is hard but you get used to being a bargain queen lol and if you meal plan and shop to a list etc then you shouldnt need these £5 supermarket trips for packed lunch things ,loo rolls etc

Rachie_B

forgot to say whenever we go to the park etc i make sure we have bottles of water to drink and usually take a picnic / snacks of some sort

then maybe bring just a few £s for an ice cream if the kids have been good

if you dont take money with you ,you cant spend it lol

earwig

scottishspendaholic wrote:

Hi earwig,

I couldn't just read this and not say anything - the harsh truth is that you will have to cut back more on fags/haircuts etc if you want to be debt free sooner. I know, I know, easy for me to say - but you seem to be doing a lot of justifying and I don't think anyone in debt that wants to pay off more can justify £60 on their hair - can you colour it yourself and if its long - can you buy some hairdressing scissors and get a friend to do it (no styling required if long). This is what I do.

Your £200 a month 'other' - this will HAVE to be strictly cut down - and I am confused about why you are using it to buy food (as today). You will have to be stricter with yourself and keep your food budget to all the food you need for the week/month - maybe take £10 from this every week (don't spend it in the supermarket) for odds and sods. Then allow you and OH £10 a week 'other' money for stamps, drinks, choccie bar etc. Maybe then you could make your 'other' money £100 a month and your food budget can definitely be cut back further - just tell your OH tough if he's a brand snob or change the labels! - why not try £200 a month on food? This would save you £140 on 'other' and another £40 on food - that's loads!

This site is about looking after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves - never a truer word said, I think. Therefore, you might not be able to afford drinks in the park - could you take a cheap picnic and water from home. I know, it doesn't sound as much fun, but every little helps.

Fags - is there any way you can cut back even? There are a lot of studies that say smoking INCREASES stress and is NOT an alleviator as people think. I used to smoke and feel a hell of a lot calmer now!

I hope this is helpful to you and its not too harsh. I still think you need to cut back a bit - best of luck to you and your family,

scottishspendaholic x

hi i spend most of my food buget in the suppermarket getting the weekly shop as for telling oh tough about food brands as he works for the weekly wage on dirty grotty building sites i think he is entilled to have heniz beans if thats what he wants

smoking i agree with you so what can i say

hair is it so bad to have my hair done once every three months

200 i did say that this was a mess i have never said what im diong is right iam looking at ways to sort this out what i need is for some to say you get x money you payout x money you have x money to pay of your debts

Molanole

If you OH is such a brand snob you could try the old decanting own brand goods into brand name packaging. i.e supermarket coffee into posh coffee container. The only thing I find that this doesn't work for is coca-cola but then I'm one of those people who'd be able to do the pepsi challenge!!

Unfortunately, when paying off debts gets to this level non essential things need to go out of the window. Essential things I would class as keeping a roof over your head and having enough (not too much) food to eat. Things like haircuts just have to go. I'm like you in that I rarely go pubbing or clubbing but I did used to get my hair coloured and cut at £85 a pop! Needless to say, I haven't had a hair cut in about two years and the split ends are nearly reaching my bum. The way I see it though is that when I am debt free and can make Rapunzel style golden ladders with my hair, I'll be able to justify that pampering session when it all gets lopped off!

Sorry for seeming as though I'm chastising. Well done for acknowledging you have a problem. It's the first step towards debt freedom. :T