my new soa help

Mrs_A.

incoming
mrs A pay 1200
Mr a's pay 860.00
child benefit and tax credits £117.00

going out
bank loan 385.76
car payment 148.13
oil for heating and hot water 75.00
electricity 74.00
phone bill 30.00
mobiles 40.00
pay son to cook 40.00
pension 27.67
life insurance 6.45
aol 17.99
union fees 10.98
sky 21.00
ing savings 10.00
car insurances 46.91
tv license 10.99
road tax x2 25.00
xmas savings 100.00
clothes 50.00
food cleaning pets 400.00
alcohol 100.00
smokes 100.00
petrol 240.00
suite repayment 56.50
overdraft repayments 56.50
this is my most accurate budget yet obviously some things need to change
anyone got any ideas

JAMIEDODGER

Mrs_A. wrote:

incoming
mrs A pay 1200
Mr a's pay 860.00
child benefit and tax credits £117.00 = total income - £2117

going out
bank loan 385.76 interest rate?
car payment 148.13interest rate?
oil for heating and hot water 75.00 this seems rather expensive
electricity 74.00total fuel bills= very high £149..is there a reason for this??? are you paying money back?
phone bill 30.00who are you with? change to option 1 with bt and look at the phones board to cut this down
mobiles 40.00again expensive....payg? or contract?
pay son to cook 40.00 i would save the money and cook myself
pension 27.67
life insurance 6.45
aol 17.99 is this broadband? check out cheaper options
union fees 10.98
sky 21.00sky not a MUST, cut down to cheapest package
ing savings 10.00you cant afford to save right now
car insurances 46.91
tv license 10.99
road tax x2 25.00
xmas savings 100.00 this works out at £1200 for xmas...way too much
clothes 50.00this is still 600 a year, charity shops ebay etc
food cleaning pets 400.00how many is this for?
alcohol 100.00cant afford this
smokes 100.00or this
petrol 240.00are you able to cut this down?
suite repayment 56.50
overdraft repayments 56.50
this is my most accurate budget yet obviously some things need to change
anyone got any ideas

what about birthdays? can you list all your debts?

Burlesque_Babe

Mrs_A. wrote:

incoming
mrs A pay 1200
Mr a's pay 860.00
child benefit and tax credits £117.00

going out
bank loan 385.76
car payment 148.13
oil for heating and hot water 75.00 Are there cheaper providers?
electricity 74.00 again - this is high - can you switch?
phone bill 30.00
mobiles 40.00 can you change tariffs ? Give them a call they might have a cheaper tariff if you are stuck in a contract. If you aren't find a cheap pay as you go
pay son to cook 40.00 Why? (apologies if you've mentioned this elsewhere)
pension 27.67
life insurance 6.45
aol 17.99 I think there could be cheaper providers for broadband - others may have ideas who to approach
union fees 10.98
sky 21.00 Downgrade/get rid of all together
ing savings 10.00 Can you stop this?
car insurances 46.91 Is this for one car? It seems high - try confused.com for a cheaper quote
tv license 10.99
road tax x2 25.00
xmas savings 100.00 This is lot - 100 per month is 1200 savings for Christmas!
clothes 50.00 Ebay/Tesco/Asda - 50 is too high
food cleaning pets 400.00 Very high - hop over to the Old Style Board for lots of help and advice on reducing your shopping billalcohol 100.00 Think this might have to go i'm afraid!smokes 100.00 Cut down/switch to rolling tobacco/STOP!!
petrol 240.00 again, how many cars is this for? Could one car be used if it is more than one?suite repayment 56.50
overdraft repayments 56.50
this is my most accurate budget yet obviously some things need to change
anyone got any ideas

hi there - here's a few ideas, (in red on your soa), although there are loads of fab people who will probably be able to help more! You'll be astounded how much you can save once you start phoning round people and asking for cheaper packages/deals etc

On the food/shopping front you'll find brilliant advice on the Old Style Board - how many people is the £400 for??

Good luck!

CLAPTON

do you pay rent or a mortgage?

missk_ensington

If you are saving, I am assume you have some saved up by now? Use it to pay off your suite or something. You're getting 4% on your savings, but paying perhaps 18% on your debt?!?!? How does that work? You're probably shelling out £30-40 a month in debt interest, but making 30p on savings interest!

Why don't you scrap sky and use your new free time to cook! Thats £60 saved in one swoop!

x

Floss

I take it you still have at least 1 DS still in school uniform - I found that ASDA was best for value in older boys sizes, also if he needs a blazer that can't be passed down, do the school have a uniform swap shop? That may cut your clothing budget.
Also, try your local charity shops - you may be pleasantly surprised at what you find & at the prices. Yes, there is some tat, but there are some good things too - I wear mostly Next and hardly any of it was from the stores! My DS's both shop in charity shops, and look reasonably smart on it too.

ms_london

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2385220#post2385220

sandybeaches

going out

bank loan 385.76 - take this along with other fixed debts like your suite and car and take out a low cost unsecured loan, you'll pay less interest and less money in the month and you will have one fixed paymenmt to manage, I did this and I'm really happy with it. You don't have a credit card? sorry if I've missed it. Try taking out an interest free credit card and moving some debt onto that but only if you can pay it off within the interst free period or are good at credit card tarting.

car payment 148.13
oil for heating and hot water 75.00 - can you find a cheaper provider?
electricity 74.00 - Again is this the cheapest provider?
phone bill 30.00
mobiles 40.00- Can you get a better deal, free minutes etc by switching phones, pay as you go or just a better tariff, can you cut down on texting or calling.
pay son to cook 40.00- stop this one all together unless there is a good reason why you need him to cook and then look at whether he really needs to be paid as much as that for it, is it to earn pocket money? If he's old enough to cook can he get a paper round or a wee job somewhere instead.

pension 27.67
life insurance 6.45
aol 17.99- Check for a better broadband deal.
union fees 10.98
sky 21.00 - cancel this, it is a total luxury.
ing savings 10.00 - keep savings we all need to save a little no matter how small it is.
car insurances 46.91- look for a better quote, try Elephant next time it's due.
tv license 10.99
road tax x2 25.00
xmas savings 100.00
clothes 50.00
food cleaning pets 400.00 - for how many people? I'm sure with some creative cooking and meal planning that this could be reduced without impacting too much on the quality of your diet.
alcohol 100.00 - This is a lot and could be cut down, is this for going out or drinking in the house? if for the house try looking out for beer and wine deals and stocking up when you find them, if it's for going out why don't you have a few people round for a drink at home and save a penny or two, have a themed night in.
smokes 100.00 - give up best of all.
petrol 240.00 - Do you check for the cheapest petrol in the area, can you double up journeys. i.e. only go to the supermarket on the way work or when dropping kids off somewhere.
suite repayment 56.50
overdraft repayments 56.50
this is my most accurate budget yet obviously some things need to change
anyone got any ideas


I'm really confident that your outgoings could be cut quite a bit with a little bit of thought and some jigging around, let me know how you get on, if you need any help we're all here.

domestic_goddess

I think most things have already been said but I just have to say £100 on alcohol is an awful lot. I like a nice bottle of wine on a weekend and you can get some good quality wines for under a fiver. Also at the mo all the big supermarkets have offers on lager and stuff as its the world cup. A £100 a month means that each year you spend £1200 on it. Cut right back and you will notice a big difference in your pocket (also to your health as well I would think)

domestic_goddess

Also re: AOL i rang them to cancel as i had got a better price elsewhere and they reduced my aol package price permanently. Try that..... Same with Sky although they only reduce for 3/6 months but every little helps.

missk_ensington

£100 isn't a lot, if two adults go out just once a week on a Saturday night and have 4-5 drinks, thats £100 a month easily. I also read in my local paper or somewhere I can't quite remember, that at least 20% of people spend £1000 a year pon pre-packed sandwiches!