Family Planning

J.Bye

My fiance and I are expecting our first child in June of next year. I have done a budget and we can just get by on my wages alone. It doesn't leave much at the end of each week ( a couple of quid spare).

We are aiming on doing a trial run in a couple of weeks, where we live on my wages with only £100 of the OH's wages to simulate the SMP + Child benefit and aim to save the rest of her wages.

Any tips and tricks for making my money stretch?

daska

make sure you apply for the relevant grants/benefits at the appropriate time (health in pregnancy, surestart, tax credits)

if you haven't learnt to cook from scratch, now's the time, visit the Old Style board for help

cut back on unnecessary expenditure - leave your wallet at home unless you're going to buy something specific.

do you have any luxuries you could cut back on? Sky? daily papers etc?

p.s. don't go silly, you still need to have some fun, relax and enjoy yourselves

nm123_2

I would second cooking from scratch - we've not bought Ragu for ages!!! Make a weekly meal plan and shop according to that - we've cut loads off our shopping bill by doing this and save waste.

Sarahlou_2

nm123 wrote: »

I would second cooking from scratch - we've not bought Ragu for ages!!! Make a weekly meal plan and shop according to that - we've cut loads off our shopping bill by doing this and save waste.

I'll third it - I lazily used a jar of curry sauce last night, first time in months, it was YAKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

J.Bye

Cheers. My main worry is that my partner gets stressed when we try to talk money. I try to reassure here that we will manage but she just don't understand.

I am looking at moving house, to a bigger garden and £50 less a month. Plus looking into swapping gs an electric suppliers i we stay here.

lynzpower

If you are swapping suppliers- definately use quidco or other cash back site.

We are about to get 40 quid for changing our home insurance - for example.

There is a lot of money to be made if you are switching suppliers so make sure you get it!

https://www.quidco.com

I would also suggest that talking about it will help. She cant just "close down " and not be open to coping with less money. It may be she simply doesnt realise things can be done cheaper and thinks "cutting back" means margarine sandwiches and water- and isnt looking forward to that.

Neednt be that way, I think its safe to say most of use hardened moneysavers have a good life, we just dont need to overspend to achieve it.

Get her to come on here and write a list of 10 ways she can cut back- and you too.

From making sure you rinse out the shampoo bottle to recycling old mobile phones, there will be 10 easy ways to make money or save money on this site within the first 20 mins of reeading.

BitterAndTwisted

The very best you can both do is to keep a spending-diary for a couple of weeks. It's a frightening eye-opener and will suggest all kinds of ways you could choose to spend less. It's much more effective if you can use this time as a fun challenge rather than a penance.

I'd second the suggestion to visit the Old Style part of the forum, there are millions of ways you can spend less and have the same or better than you had before. WARNING: it's addictive!

ClaireLR

If your moving to somewhere with a bigger garden you could start to grow some of your own food.

Why not post a copy of your budget plan on here and people could then advise?

J.Bye

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1124
Partners monthly income after tax....... 880
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2004

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 425
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 88
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 120
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 60
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 860


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................3300......130.......0
Total unsecured debts..........3300......130.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,004
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 860
Available for debt repayments........... 1,144
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 130
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,014

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,300
Net Assets.............................. -3,300

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Obviously once the OH goes on Maternity her income drops to about £90 then once the baby's born it goes to about £100is with the Child Benefit.

daska

First thing that strikes me is you have no land line and no internet cost listed but spend £120/month on mobiles and £50 on Sky. I'm assuming that the Sky package includes a phone and broadband. Is there scope to reduce the mobile bill?

I pay £40 all in for my broadband, telephone and national rate calls with BT (who are not the cheapest but who were cheapest for my situation!).

J.Bye

Yeah it's all in with Virgin - Tv and broadband. We both have contract phones which is why thats high. The Oh's contract is up for renewal soon so I will try and get her to go on a cheaper tarrif. Yet mines not up till late next year.