Could someone look at my outgoings please?

mrs:optimist_2

Hi everyone,

I thought I would post my outgoings for advice on where I can cut back further, I am starting a DMP with CCCS on 1st March.

We are already looking into reducing some costs, but would like advice on any areas we may have overlooked. Thank you

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned...................... 2

Monthly Income Details

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage.......................................... . 930
Secured/HP loan repayments.................. 175
Rent.............................................. ... 0
Management charge (leasehold property) 0
Council tax............................. 130
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 50 (we are in the process of changing gas/elec supplier to cut these down, will be about half the amount!)
Coal/Wood................................ 0
Water rates............................. 17 (we are on a meter)
Telephone (land line)................... 22.50
Mobile phone............................ 35 (for 2 phones on contract, we will go onto PAYG as soon as contracts have ended and will call providers tomorrow to see if we can go onto cheaper tariff in the meantime)

TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 32 (are calling SKY tomorrow to reduce package and see if they can offer a better price)
Internet Services....................... 19.56 (includes free international calls that are a must for me!)

Groceries etc. ......................... 300 (includes nappies etc and also cat food for our 3 cats as well as toiletries/cleaning/laundry etc)
Clothing................................... 26
Petrol/diesel............................. 50
Road tax................................ 38 (for 2 cars, we have to have both unfortunately)
Car Insurance........................... 62.62 (again for 2 cars)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20 (as above)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35 (includes NHS dentist check-ups, contact lenses for both of us and allows for prescriptions which I need on an ad hoc basis)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10 (for our 3 cats - they are part of the family, as important to us as any other family member - one has not long to live)
Buildings insurance..................... 17 (includes contents)
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 38 (have to have this for mortgage, can't get cheaper due to my health issues)
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 6
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Money to support my Mother....216 (long story but this is essential, my sister and I send £200 each and the fee is £32 which we also split, and no she can't support herself although I deeply wish the situation were different)
This leaves £200 to send to CCCS each month for our DMP, and that's it!

Thanks in advance

tealady

Hi If you need to make international calls do you SKYPE these? Also I would look into bundling your phone, TV and internet, there are deals out there.

Nottoobadyet

Hi there - you've taken out your income information, so I dont know how its distributed, but is there any way to up your income? It seems like you've identified most things to save on in your SOA.

Transfer costs seem really high - I send money home as well and Im sure its less than £36 per transfer. Maybe shop around? I know prices vary between banks.

katsu

Car maintenance seems low for two cars - have you looked at actual spend last year?

katsu

Have you looked at Martin's international calling articles to check that your phone provider is cheapest? I've saved lots from using his recommendation for mobile intl calling.

mrs:optimist_2

tealady wrote: »

Hi If you need to make international calls do you SKYPE these? Also I would look into bundling your phone, TV and internet, there are deals out there.

Hi, the phoneline I use is connected through the internet with Orange, it's like a second line with a different number. It's free including international calls, is that Skype? We just have a cheap phone attached to it, it's not dialled through the computer. I really have no clue about Skype...does the other person have to have Skype too or can you call any phone for free on it?

Also, we have tried to bundle everything in the past but have never been able to because of where our property is (not by the roadside) so they can't get the cable to us without digging up about 5 neighbours' gardens which isn't going to happen lol. Do you know of any digital packages as that would be great!

Thanks

mrs:optimist_2

Nottoobadyet wrote: »

Hi there - you've taken out your income information, so I dont know how its distributed, but is there any way to up your income? It seems like you've identified most things to save on in your SOA.

Transfer costs seem really high - I send money home as well and Im sure its less than £36 per transfer. Maybe shop around? I know prices vary between banks.

Sorry, income is £2550 from DH's salary plus £80 child benefit and £46 tax credits per month. DH is due a promotion soon and is en route to becoming Director in the next 5 years so this will go up dramatically then...which is kind of what we are counting on to reduce the time it takes to pay it all off.

I have been working weekends but have just had to stop working due to health reasons (which is why we are starting the DMP, until now we have met all payments and have never missed one, we are pre-empting problems).

During the week I look after our 2 year old.

Also, the salary above is a minimum average for DH as he works on comission, so quite often brings home 2750-2800, so those months we will put the extra away so that we have something to fall back on and pay for extras if they arise. CCCS know about this and are happy with that.

Once our DD is in school I will be able to go back to work during the week and hopefully bring home around £1500 per month like I used to, so at that point our income will jump dramatically again and we can stick it all into the DMP! :j

We are aiming to bring it down from 15 years to about 8-9 at most, but you never know what the future brings so am keeping everything crossed!

I am also due an inheritance in 2012 but no idea how much that will be, could be only a couple of hundred, but could possibly be a few thousand. It's in shares and I don't manage it so no idea how it's doing.

For now I am keeping me eye open for anything I can do from home and as I'm a Graphic Designer I keep advertising on Gumtree for work. When I get it, it can bring in a few hundred at a time.

We are going to throw everything into the pot that we can and get this debt eliminated asap!

mrs:optimist_2

Nottoobadyet wrote: »

Hi there - you've taken out your income information, so I dont know how its distributed, but is there any way to up your income? It seems like you've identified most things to save on in your SOA.

Transfer costs seem really high - I send money home as well and Im sure its less than £36 per transfer. Maybe shop around? I know prices vary between banks.

Sorry forgot to say, transfer the money via Western Union because my current bank charges more than them (First Direct). They didn't used to, it used to cost £21 but then they upped the charge by quite a lot so we changed to WU. I am changing to Co-op so if they charge less then I will use them.

And it's £32, not £36 (sorry if I put £36!) but I know that's still a lot.

mrs:optimist_2

katsu wrote: »

Car maintenance seems low for two cars - have you looked at actual spend last year?

Hi, CCCS set this figure, they said that the general advice is £10 per car per month so we just went with that.

Also, we will have some extra money most months from DH's comission so we can use that to put aside and cover any extras.

mrs:optimist_2

katsu wrote: »

Have you looked at Martin's international calling articles to check that your phone provider is cheapest? I've saved lots from using his recommendation for mobile intl calling.

Hi, I haven't checked that, thanks I will

Nottoobadyet

mrs:optimist wrote: »

Sorry forgot to say, transfer the money via Western Union because my current bank charges more than them (First Direct). They didn't used to, it used to cost £21 but then they upped the charge by quite a lot so we changed to WU. I am changing to Co-op so if they charge less then I will use them.

And it's £32, not £36 (sorry if I put £36!) but I know that's still a lot.

Have you looked into paypal? They are quite cheap but i havent quite gotten my head around it to try yet.