Advice on how to get by until April.

74jax

I was made redundant in January when Halifax sold off it's Estate Agents. I've managed to find part-time work for now so I have an income. I'm only working 18.5 hours now (I was working 30hrs).

My problem is my incomings now for Feb/March are considerably lower than they were and my Tax Credits won't increase until April when I can give my new year figure (at the moment it's everything I've earned this year and my next two pays).

So........... what's the best way of getting to April.

There's only myself and my daughter so not a lot of people to buy stuff for.

Incomings are - £440 (salary), £80.00 (child benefit), £280 (tax credits) and £420 (maintenenace). Totalling £1220 which to be honest is totally live-able but will be hard as I'm used to more.

Outgoings are - £850 (all household bills) which leaves £370. I need to factor in school meals at £2 a day, and a weekly food budget of £30 for us both. Which totals £160 and with £25 a week on petrol leaves me with £90.00. I need to tax my car in April, but I 'think' I might be able to work something out whereby someone pays it for me and I pay them back at the end of the month.

Can anyone think of anything else that I have missed off, I know next week is half term and so more will be spent on food, but hoping not much.

Any ideas on how to make this work is appreciated - should I print it off and stick it on the fridge? Write everything down?

Thanks

pmduk

Could you claim for free school meals, council tax benefit and/or free prescriptions on the basis of your reduced circumstances?

74jax

I've checked with my council and I can only get free school meals if I claimed Income Support. I do have enough money as long as I stick to this plan, but just wondering if I've missed anything.

Thanks though.

tara747

Do you have anything you could sell on eBay? Things that you don't want/no longer need, your DD's clothes that she has outgrown etc? I am in the process of selling lots of my stuff on eBay and it is amazing what will sell (and how much for)! See my sig (and I have only been doing it for 3-4 weeks). It's a good way of getting rid of some stuff you have cluttering up the house, making a few ££s and making space!

Some people on this site do daily clicks to make money, this could be worth looking into.

Can you post an SOA (budget) here with all your outgoings listed so we can see where you might be able to cut down your bills?

Also, visit the OldStyle board here and they will be able to help you out with lots of tips to help your budget stretch further.

Good luck, I will follow your thread with interest xo

74jax

Thanks tara747, my outgoings are:
Mortgage 382.24
Mortgage Insurance 20.87
TV Licence 12.12
Northumbrian Water 40.55
NFU mutual car ins 25.15
BT 58.00
1st quote ins (contents&buildings) 29.90
Vodafone mobile 35.00
Council Tax 118.00
Npower (duel fuel) 95.00
Pet ins 22.00 - I have to pay this as had to make a claim and they paid out almost 3k and so I have to keep up the rest fo the year's payments or pay the year in full.
Vision Express 12.00

I do also have an extra income this month of around £40 as on leaving halifax any free shares we'd been given were sold, so they will be coming to me shortly.

As for ebay, my daughter was wanting to do a car boot sale when they start again in a few weeks, so I might look on Ebay instead and see which would be the better. Thanks for that.

timnicebutdim_2

Hi there,

Vodafone & BT seem very high, are you near to end of contracts to renew a better deal?

Council tax - will you actually pay this in Feb/March as i thought they only bill you for 10 months of year i.e. April - Jan?

Npower/water - how accurate are the readings on your previous bill? Could you possibly be in credit (and get a rebate)?

Build/contents seems high, i reckon you could probably get this for circa £15 a month (bear in mind though you often have to pay a larger amount for the 1st month so it might not help immediately)

oh just another thing if i've got this right, bear in mind the weekly budget of £30 food, £25 petrol etc is based on a 4 week month, but some months have 5 weeks (e.g. march) to take into consideration......these months always catch me out! Good luck!

opinions4u

- Packed lunch for school (or work), sensibly selected, could half the cost. Fruit juice, apple, cheese sandwich and a yoghurt can be done for £1 a day!

- Do you have any Tesco vouchers or value on your Nectar card? Use these to pay for any half-term treats, rather than real money! e.g. 4 x value on Clubcard deals. Do you have a Boots card with unspent points on?

- Does your mortgage lender allow a mortgage payment holiday - perhaps one or two months (note this is effectively a loan repayable over the remaining term of the mortgage, so while it buys you good cash flow now, it will cost you). Alternatively can you change you mortgage payment date from the beginning to the end of the month?

- Vodafone will often offer £17.50 contracts if you're over 12 months in to an existing contract. Or could you switch to a PAYG SIM and stop making calls via the mobile for a bit? Would Vodafone defer your contract for 2 months? Cashback sites like Top Cashback often pay £50-£150 if you buy a new mobile contract through them.

- are you entitled to any help with council tax (and do you claim your 25% single person discount?)

- while it won't help short term, focus on the utility bills - switching lights off, don't leave telly on standby, don't leave the tap running when brushing teeth etc. Turn off dripping taps. Wash up manually instead of using the dishwasher. You could easily save 10% with these things.

- go to bed half an hour earlier and turn the lights off sooner!

- jumper on and turn the thermostat down 1 degree!

- do you need all the elements of your BT package?

- use discount vouchers when shopping.

- work out where the cheapest groceries are using MySupermarket.

- ask your daughter to come to the supermarket with you to help identify cheaper purchases for the next few weeks ... involve her so she doesn't end up feeling hard done to. Make sure she gets a treat when the income rises again!

- shop with a friend and split the cost of bogof deals.

- shop in the half hour before closing to get the yellow sticker discounts.

- make sure you buy your petrol from a cheaper place and claim any loyalty points you're entitled to. This link can help.

- walk the short journeys to save petrol.

- car share where possible to split costs.

- if you had to wear corporate wear during your Halifax career, you are entitled to claim a £50 allowance against your tax code for dry cleaning costs (worth £10 per tax year to a 20% taxpayer). Contact your tax office, tell them how many tax years you worked for the firm and they'll send you a cheque (or adjust your tax code) if you've never claimed the allowance! This applies to part tax years too!

- register with a cashback site such as Top Cashback and use it for any online shopping going forwards (won't help short term, but can be a nice little earner to contribute towards Christmas!).

- drink tapwater instead of bottled/cartoned drinks.

- are you in advance on your utility bills? Could the companies reduce your direct debits by £5 or £10 a month? (Don't do this if you're not ahead though).

- once a week have a meal made up of all those packets / tins in the cupboard that you'll never use up otherwise (if not, raid the freezer and start using that old meat up!).

- organise the occasional sleepover for your daughter elsewhere ... and let somebody else's family feed her .

- does your new employer have any perks such as discounted shopping vouchers (e.g. £100 of ASDA vouchers for £95)?

- if you were with HBOS less than 2 years can you have any pension contributions refunded? (not sure of the rules, not sure if it would cost you the value of employer contributions).

- find a wealthy new lover.

tara747

opinions4u - brilliant. :T (especially the last one)

74jax

Opinions4U - amazing! Thank you so much!

My mortgage is currently still on the staff deal of the Halifax, as you get to keep it for a year after being made redundant. I can't switch yet as my salary isn't high enough, by the time the year is up I would hope to be back earning what I was or very near to. i am looking for either a 2ns job for the other hours or within my current work for a job with more hours.

Vodafone won't swap me until April, but i may call again and try again giving my circumstances.

BT - yeah it's a lot, contract not due to change for a while, it's not the contract - that's ok, it's the calls - daughter to blame for that! so paying off old calls, not adding to them. It's something like £11 line rental and free evening and weekend calls, then £10.95 broadband - I got it on an offer it should have been £17 I think, the rest is calls, but again this will go down, £20 is for old calls and we don''t really use the home phone anymore.

Home/buildings, it was only £16, but my roof fell off (in parts!) last feb, so the premium went up, when it came up for renewal in July so many other places were in the £40's because I had to declare the claim so I went with the one I already had.

As for you other comments, all brillient, when my daughter comes home from school we are going to sit down and look at them together.

I had completed forgot about our two free months of council tax.

Many many thanks.

tara747

74jax - good for you, you have a very positive attitude! Hope you get somewhere with Vodafone. Try asking for tips on negotiating your contract on the Mobile Phones board on here.

The 2 month CT holiday wll certainly help out a lot, hurrah!!! :beer:

Keep us posted.

74jax

Tara747, always think positive, that's me! I know there are many many many others who don't have half of what me and my daughter do, so I'm always very careful with how I word things, I don't want to offend people at all, so really I'm astounded that opinions4u went to all that trouble. I am so grateful!

I'm off to call vodafone now ;-)