Ljd1 Soa

LJD1_2

Hiya
I've been reading this for a few months now and posted a few times but thought it was time to see how you good people can help me! I wouldn't say we're terribly in debt but equally we have an offset mortgage and we're not always paying capital of it...just the interest. We have no excuse as we do have a good income.

Ok,

Incomings: OH £2300
Me £500 (self employed so varies)
Child allowance: £110
Tax credits: £28
Total: 2938


Outgoings:
Mortgage: £800
British gas/ elec: £69.50
British gas service: £24.08
BT: £21.50
Health insurance: £101.10 (both myself and one of children have chronic conditions so we'd like to keep this if possible)
Car insurance (me): £30.61
House insurance: £27.82
Vacuum insurance: £3.40
Car insurance (OH): £31.75
Professional fees: £20
Life insurance: £52
Poll tax (whatever it's called now): £118
Course fees £65
Pet insurance: £30 (no more animals, sadly, after these)
Tiscali: £23.98
Gym for whole family:£74.50 (we all swim three times a week and hubby and I gym it twice a week so think this is cheaper than paying at local leisure centre)
tv license: £10.99
Water: £40.41
Insurance for work: £10
Food etc: £300
Car incidentals: £100
Petrol: £30
Pet food and vet: £100 (diabetic, animals on special diets as we've had bad luck with them, when they've gone NO MORE)
Christmas / birthdays: £30

Total: 2078.54


Okay, now i am totally totally shocked. Have i missed something major off, according to this we should have a huge amount of diposable income to pay off credit card but we don't. If anyone has ideas to cut down bills etc i'd be grateful as I need to start paying into a pension (hubby has one).

Many many thanks

xxxx

wanttobedebtfreenatty

Hi Ljd1

Gas and Electric seem pretty high I am with Npower and gas is £8 a month and electric is £30. Maybe try and change suppliers of these

There are some pretty nice people on here which I am sure can help out abit more

Good luck in begining debt free

Emmzi

LJD1,

sounds like you need a spending diary!!! Stuff like haircuts, clothes seem to be missing, as does social events. Comics for kids.. it all adds up.

How about tracking every penny for a month to find out where the cash *really* goes?

lynzpower

Hi there

Let me see.

Outgoings:
Mortgage: £800 ( IO, is that?)
British gas/ elec: £69.50
British gas service: £24.08 ( do you need this? Lots of people self insure. Could you put this money into the offset part of the moirtgage, then if you need it later, you can call on it?)
BT: £21.50 ( whats this for? I take it thats a call package on there is it over the land line? Talk together- free evenings & weekends? Primus 2 does the same job ( in fact slightly better IMHO) and its FREE http://www.planet-talk.co.uk/SaverProducts.aspx?source=saver
Health insurance: £101.10 (both myself and one of children have chronic conditions so we'd like to keep this if possible)
Car insurance (me): £30.61
House insurance: £27.82
Vacuum insurance: £3.40 ( what? You have insurance for a vac? Waste of money IMHO. you can get a hoover on ebay for about a tenner these days!)
Car insurance (OH): £31.75
Professional fees: £20 ( trade union type thing is this?)
Life insurance: £52
Poll tax (whatever it's called now): £118
Course fees £65 ( how long is this going to go on for?)
Pet insurance: £30 (no more animals, sadly, after these)
Tiscali: £23.98 ( this is your broadband, much cheaper out there, tescos/ madasafish, both under £15)
Gym for whole family:£74.50 (we all swim three times a week and hubby and I gym it twice a week so think this is cheaper than paying at local leisure centre) ( do you absolutely have to have this?)
tv license: £10.99
Water: £40.41 ( this seems quite high? DO you have a meter?)
Insurance for work: £10 ( what is this? cant work pay for it?)
Food etc: £300 ( this needs to be broken up. 300 a month seems a lot, we have 100 a month for 2, its not that hard really with a bit of planning, hoesntly)
Car incidentals: £100 ( whats tihs? Do you actively spend this? If not, could you put this into the offset bit as well)
Petrol: £30 ( for 2 cars, seems quite low, I then ask, do you really NEED 2 cars?)
Pet food and vet: £100 (diabetic, animals on special diets as we've had bad luck with them, when they've gone NO MORE)
Christmas / birthdays: £30

so thats my first thoughts, theres quite a lot there to save on.

vyvyan_2

Hiya - I'm not one of the regular experts but here goes for my tuppence worth.

Vacuum insurance can go.

Do you really the gas service? Why not keep an amount in a pot for that emergency?

Health insurnace - understandable so long a they pay out if needed and it doesn't become a problem over a pre-existing condition. Double check you are getting the cheapest cover for your needs.

See if you can get the special diet pet food cheaper in bulk form an on-line retailer. My sister does this for her diabetic cat.

Gym seems expensive to me but check out season ticket for pool use at your local public one. I'm sure some sort of saving can be made here but it might need to be broken down into separate bits.

I'll leave the heavy financial stuff to the experts on here who can probably type faster than me too!

LJD1_2

Thanks to all of you!

Emmzi: Spending diary has just started as I know that it's a pound here a pound there that adds up. I forgot about haircuts etc so need to add that in. We keep the family allowance in a separate account which pays for kids clothes, swimming, birthdays etc.

Lynzpower: Wow, where do I start? Ok,
1) The mortgage is 500 for interest and the rest is capital
2) I agree with the british gas servicing so that can go! Saved: £24.08
3) BT is the package where all calls are free so long as you ring off after an hour. Will look into it to see if there's something better out there.
4) Vaccuum insurance: yip, i agree, daft so it can go. Saved: £3.40
5) Professional fees: Just rememberd hubby does claim his back and mine can go against tax so probably shouldn't have included them. Saved: £20.00
6) Course fees are for a degree so i'll probably be paying them for about another 3 years.
7) We don't have a meter, maybe we need to look into this.
8) Insurance for work - i'm self employed. Maybe I shouldn't include this as it goes agaisnt tax.
9) Car incidentals - this is for tax, mot, exhausts falling off and remainder is in offset to try and save for a newer car for hubby.
10) Petrol OH claims his back. Mine is for hospital visits so sadly need the car as some appointments are at quite antisocial times and the hospital doesn't have good public transport.
Some fantastic savings, thankyou!!!!

Vvyvan: Definitely stopping the gas servicing, they're coming this afternoon so i'll cancel after they've been! Will look into season ticket etc and never thought of buying food in bulk so will look into that as well.

I really appreciate all your comments.

Many thanks.
xx

So

LJD1_2

How do i change the colour of text so I can edit the first post to show savings? Still got a lot to learn!

x

CLAPTON

in addition to keeping a spending diary...i'm sure that it will prove interesting; think about other things you have spent money on over the last year and again what you will spend over the next 12 months...some possible example...holidays, appliances for the house, new carpets, decorating...do you really only spend 360 per annum on presents and xmas (how many children do you have ?) do the kids get things like bikes or are there school related activities..school trips out etc.
all can add quite a lot.

LJD1_2

Hiya Clapton
I'm sure I am under estimating on presents for the children though I do buy on ebay and in sales for all the small presents and stocking fillers. We're not going to have a holiday until this credit card is paid off which is more of an incentive to pay it off. You're right about the one offs... think i'll make the spending diary long term so i can see exactly where money goes.
Thanks again.

lynzpower

3) BT is the package where all calls are free so long as you ring off after an hour. Will look into it to see if there's something better out there.
[/QUOTE]

thats exactly what I had.

Try this instead, its similar/ better- its free, and you get up to an hour & a half, so better :beer:
http://www.uswitch.com/directory/home-phone/product-5920-primus-planet-talk-saver-option-2.html

If you go via uswitch on Quidco you'll get £8 cash back for choosing it

LJD1_2

Over the weekend we're going to look to see if we're with the best phone, gas, electric, internet etc provider.

I've got the spending diary ready for June and EVERYTHING we buy will be going in it. I'm going to take £200 for food / cleaning stuff / toiletries etc and that WILL last us. I'm feeling very positive though i've a long month ahead of me. I'll let you know how I get on.