SOA, ummm

asp746

i think you're doing ok with the food and clothing. I spose like other posters have said, you could trim back on the groceries but on the whole you're in the right direction. I'd never move kids out of school tho - not even to save money.

nuttylou

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

The problem with being in debt is that nobody ever finds solving the problems easy.

Some of the decisions you have to take will be difficult and will leave you walking places etc. What other choices do you have to solve the problems?

Am I missing the info, how much are your debts overall?

Well no but there is easy & not doable. I have no problems with walking etc and regularly do so for an hour to uni & back, but I am not going to put myself at danger by walking to & from a 13 hour shift. I also dont think walking to an on call in the middle of the night is suitable, but cannot take the car if we had one.

I do look around etc before I buy things and we dont spend any money on days put etc etc we go to parks, etc etc instead and take a picnic, the kids do things like games, puzzles, sticking & gluing indoors to keep them occuppied in bad weather.

The debts I have are from several years ago and I havent had any new ones since 2 years ago.
The total debt is £7000 odd I wrote full amount under the SOA, this is not including the rent arrears of £1800.
The rent arrears were not my fault I was paying my part of the rent but HB messed up my award 3 times for same award and as a result I was left with the arrears. However, I do have a tribuneral coming up for this.

Radarjet

Hiya,

The easiest place to cut down on is the grocery bills. I'm sure your your partner is doing a great job already but with preplanning and getting kids to help with batch cooking and freezing when things are on offer and taking best advantage of loyalty schemes etc it may be possible to reduce this.

Upping your income with ebay,amazon, surveys, free scratch cards etc will help add up the pennies -nothing mega perhaps but every little helps.

Roll on qualifying with a good salary increase and the opportunity to do bank/agency. How long to go...

nuttylou

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

Are you not able to hand down clothes between the kids?

Yes and I do if they will fit and are in good condition. Hence a £220 budget for 6 people per year which equals £36 each.

The school uniform is usually not able to be passed on as it is usually wrecked as I only buy it every year, and shoes twice yearly so its had its day by then!

nuttylou

Radarjet wrote: »

Hiya,

The easiest place to cut down on is the grocery bills. I'm sure your your partner is doing a great job already but with preplanning and getting kids to help with batch cooking and freezing when things are on offer and taking best advantage of loyalty schemes etc it may be possible to reduce this.

Upping your income with ebay,amazon, surveys, free scratch cards etc will help add up the pennies -nothing mega perhaps but every little helps.

Roll on qualifying with a good salary increase and the opportunity to do bank/agency. How long to go...

Another 2 years but I guess it will soon be along. It goes so fast! xxx

nuttylou

asp746 wrote: »

i think you're doing ok with the food and clothing. I spose like other posters have said, you could trim back on the groceries but on the whole you're in the right direction. I'd never move kids out of school tho - not even to save money.

No me either!!!!!

Pitlanepiglet

nuttylou wrote: »

Well no but there is easy & not doable. I have no problems with walking etc and regularly do so for an hour to uni & back, but I am not going to put myself at danger by walking to & from a 13 hour shift. I also dont think walking to an on call in the middle of the night is suitable, but cannot take the car if we had one.

That's why I said your placements are the starting point, you clearly need a vehicle for those. I walked more than 40 minutes to school each way from infant school and when I was tiny my mum walked back and forward to take and collect me as we couldn't afford a car.

nuttylou

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

That's why I said your placements are the starting point, you clearly need a vehicle for those. I walked more than 40 minutes to school each way from infant school and when I was tiny my mum walked back and forward to take and collect me as we couldn't afford a car.

Yes, I see what your saying but there is no way my other half is going to walk with all 4 of them. This becomes a problem if one of them are ill etc, whose going to take the others? I have nobody to help closer than 30 miles away. Baring in mind there are 4 of them it is not like having 1, you cant just ask joe bloggs to watch them for you.

Also if we were to have just one car it would have to be the 7 seater as we need that to fit us all in. Its not feasible me driving a seven seater clocking up miles, petrol, maintenance in that for one person either.

I am hoping the insurance will come down a fair bit this year as I will have 2 years no claims on the big one & a year on the small one, Touch wood.

It would have to be my last last resort to get rid of one car.

lemoncheesecake

nuttylou wrote: »

Their school is the closest one to here. It is about 10 mins in the car, 40 mins walk.
The £60 per month is £720 per year which too be honest very small amount is mine & other halfs.
School jumpers are £14 a piece so even 2 of those each is £112, then taking into account trousers, shirts, shoes, skirts, for all of them which are usually bought at ASDA etc a uniform shop can easily be £300. Shoes are usually needed at least twice per year for both school and casual due to wear & growth. School shoes are £14 in asda each so that is £112 , I usually budget £10 for casuals= £40 I need shoes for work which I usually spend around £40 on and they do last the year, cheaper ones wouldnt this is tried & tested in the hospitals lol. That is £500 odd then that would leave £220 for clothes for 6 people for a year, is that bad then?

I also have 4 children so totally appreciate how expensive clothes and food can be. That being said I spend nowhere near what you do on clothing and food for mine. Does it have to be school logo jumpers for school because that does sound pricey! I buy non logo stuff in school colours and that cuts price immediately. i also buy a quality uniform because with 4 I then find it becomes a wearable hand me down for the younger ones - i only had to buy shoes and the polo t-shirts for my DD this year as everything else was fine - the red jumpers do fade but can be spruced up with a dye! I always buy uniform from M&S as this seems to last. I buy when they do a 3 for 2 - usually in summer hols.
Do the same with casuals - if its going to be a hand me down I buy better quality.

As for food -I spend between 250-300 a mth including toiletries, cleaning products and nappies for my youngest. Menu planning, downgrading brands, shopping around, cooking from scratch, watching portion sizes and cutting some previously thought 'essentials' helped. I no longer buy cakes, biscuits, juice, kitchen roll, nappy sacks, ready made anything e.g. pizza/ quiches, kids yoghurts, bread, sandwich bags, ..............really amazing how much you can save doing this. I buy meat in bulk from the butchers, fruit and veg from market, most other stuff from aldi and then spices, rice etc from a speciality supermarket

nuttylou

Hi,

Yes they are logo jumpers @£14 each and polo shirts @£8 each. Everybody wears the logo ones, not one child does not! In my eldest sons old school everyone used wear plain ones and so did he. I wouldnt send them in plain ones here though because nobody else wears them.

I dont buy cake, sweets, biscuits- I make them myself. Occasionally I but a tub of ice cream. I am looking into the food side tho I cant see it coming down to £250-300 I buy ALOT of fresh fruit & veg, meats, pasta, rice, etc etc... Im going to buy daily for a month, list all spending and go from there really. ANY money I have at the mo tho will be going on the rent as I love my home and would like to keep it!