running out of money...please help!

Tracey04

Ive been sent to this forum from another one to see if any one can help me. This is what i had posted

"i know most of us are in the same boat, but what do I do. I'm not in debt..yet..for the first time in my life its beggining to look that way
Any ideas from you out there would be helpful, but before I start giving explanations I don't want you to think they are excuses Im just painting the picture.

OK then where do I begin

money coming in pays all expenses like mortgage, bills, car and food etc(these already are down to the minimum I can spend.


But I have nothing else left and I mean not one spare penny.. I know they are all luxuries and you will be laughing thinking what are these . i have never been filpant with money but here goes,
no clothes, no glasses, no haircuts( and I only go twice a year for a dry cut),no christmas or birthday presents not even a card or anything for my children,I carn't even afford to park the car!, no holidays( I'm used to a fornight in the sun) not even one day trip a year, no meals out I dont drink much but not even one bottle of wine I can afford.

I work the most I can but have 2 primary aged boys to bring up alone so working extra is not an option.

My mum says just tighten your belt for a year , but how and I carn't see that making much difference to the year after when the bills have gone up and still no extra cash.

Sorry for moaning but I do not want to get in a mess, hoping to save myself befor I begin to sink !!!

I now know what living on the bread line means!

Thanks for listening any help appreciated Tracey"

They asked for my soa and I sent this

"My SOA

Monthly Incomings:

£1315.11 inc wage, WFTC, CSA

Total - £1315.11

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £274.18
Council Tax - £65.83
Home/Building Insurance - £19.32
Gas - £33.62
Electric - £21.68
Water rates - £22.60
Phone - £18.08
Internet - £14.99
Mobile - £2.50
Household maintance/repairs - £35.00
Food - £216.50
Pet Food etc - £10.00
Car MOT /maintance - £8.33
Car Insurance - £25.55
Car Tax - £10.42
Petrol - £86.60
Car repairs - £10.00
Life Insurance - £8.44
Investments/policies - £74.30
College books etc - £4.17
TV licence - £10.54
Church - £4.33
Car loan ( to Mum)- £100.00

so I have £238.13 left.


these are the figs I came up with per month
garden - £1.25
eating out - £8.33
drinking out - £4.17
meals at work - £2.00
park and ride / parking - £4.17
mothers/fathers/easter day - £5.00
cost of christmas - £57.92 (2 children plus 13 family members)
cost of birthdays - £37.50 as above
cost of weekend break - £16.67
cost of holiday - £166.67
cost of new electrical applicances- £21.67
clothes and shoes - £25.00
hobbies - £6.25
families day out(swimming etc) - £8.33
haircuts - £8.33 ( if I have it highlighted)
beauty products/treatments - £2.50
optical - £8.33
chemist /tablets - £5.67
magazine - £3.00

total short -£154.63 per month

Family allowance is kept separate, for school uniforms, their clothes, clubs, haircuts etc. Nothing left if not I go over alittle with this also.

Any ideas????"

Thanks again

Mrs_Arkwright

Hello

You'll get some good advice here from the regulars, I did.

Could I ask, what is the monthly 'cost of holiday £166' for? Do you mean your yearly holiday costs 12 x £166 ie £1992?

elantan

hi tracey ..can't really give you much advice as i'm just learning ..but if it was me for starters i would cut the b/day and xmas drastically ...you only need to buy your kids if the other 13 family members don't like it and they can't understand your situation then tough....i have 7 brothers 3 sisters 10 neices and nephews hubby has cousins etc...they have all been told (including parents) and some have said that's great were in the same situation some went in a bad mood but now understand..you also say you don't go on any hols or weekends away yet you budget for these is there a reason for this? try the £9.50 sun hols i'm trying it this year from the reports ive read everyone likes them...that's just a couple of things you could fix..i'm sure more peole with tonnes more experiance will be along just shortly...good luck

Willsnarf1983

If your mum says cut back then how about telling her your cutting back her payment to 40 quid a month?

Will

Broken_hearted

Hugs and more hugs. I know how you feel. These days I feel like a tramp, I need my hair doing and could cry for new clothes. Try to hang in there I'm sure someone with better advice than me will be along soon.

Willsnarf1983

tracey04 wrote:

Monthly Incomings:

£1315.11 inc wage, WFTC, CSA

Total - £1315.11

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £274.18
Council Tax - £65.83
Home/Building Insurance - £19.32
Gas - £33.62
Electric - £21.68
Water rates - £22.60
Phone - £18.08
Internet - £14.99
Mobile - £2.50
Household maintance/repairs - £35.00
Food - £216.50
Pet Food etc - £10.00
Car MOT /maintance - £8.33
Car Insurance - £25.55
Car Tax - £10.42
Petrol - £86.60
Car repairs - £10.00
Life Insurance - £8.44
Investments/policies - £74.30 What is this actually for?
College books etc - £4.17
TV licence - £10.54
Church - £4.33
Car loan ( to Mum)- £100.00

so I have £238.13 left.


these are the figs I came up with per month
garden - £1.25
eating out - £8.33
drinking out - £4.17
meals at work - £2.00
park and ride / parking - £4.17
mothers/fathers/easter day - £5.00
cost of christmas - £57.92 (2 children plus 13 family members)(your spending near on £700 on Christmas...at worst 13 family members at £15 average=£195, + 2 kids at £100, so £200 total....at worst and i mean worst thats still £300 saved or £25 a month)
cost of birthdays - £37.50 as above (again £450 a year! Cut this down, u just have to budget and be wiser on the gifts)
cost of weekend break - £16.67
cost of holiday - £166.67 thought you weren't having any holidays???
cost of new electrical applicances- £21.67
clothes and shoes - £25.00£300 on clothes, for u and kids or for urself?...oh apparently ur clothes...cut this back to £100
hobbies - £6.25
families day out(swimming etc) - £8.33
haircuts - £8.33 ( if I have it highlighted)
beauty products/treatments - £2.50
optical - £8.33
chemist /tablets - £5.67
magazine - £3.00

total short -£154.63 per month

Family allowance is kept separate, for school uniforms, their clothes, clubs, haircuts etc. Nothing left if not I go over alittle with this also.

Any ideas????"

Thanks again

#

Theres plenty of areas to cut back from to stop u getting into debt so please look at them...plenty more ideas to come

Will

baldbloke_2

Hello Tracey

Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions?

Firstly
- is the petrol used only for essential work, weekly supermarket & school runs or could you cut this a little?
- would your mother accept say £50 pcm as your repayment of the car loan thereby extending the period? Do you have much left to pay on this?
- are you cooking meals or buying mostly ready meals and the suchlike. It must be very difficult with small children and a job but savings can always be made when buying food & household goods. Others will advise you better on this.
- would you be able to explain in general terms what the £74 for investments & policies represents? I notice you already have life insurance. If you are trying to save then possibly you need to think about the amount and method. I would always suggest having a fall-back fund but this needs to be realistic.

Secondly - and this will sound very harsh but ...
- do you honestly feel that in your current situation you can consider trying to set aside £275 pcm or therabouts for family events & holidays? It may be what you would wish to do if your situation were different but your family will surely understand the reasons for your costcutting.

Good Luck in your efforts. Accepting the difficulty of your situation is a great first step.

piglet6

Hi Tracey

Welcome to the DFW forum and congratulations for recognising the problem and wanting to do something about it before it really gets out of hand :T. I know that loads of experienced DFW-ers will be along shortly to grab your SOA and shake any available spare cash out of it for you (its a speciality on this board and they are really good at it, so don't worry - I promise you they will find you cash where you didn't think it was possible to cut back!! ).

However, I wondered whether you might also consider hopping across to the money saving old style board and posting there, too . The folks over there will make your money stretch like rubber ...particularly the food bill part (check out some of black-saturn's threads, in particular, but also penny-pincher's menu plans - and a whole host of other people, too...way too many to name individually!!!:D ). I bet they'll also be able to help you with house maintenance, birthday/christmas pressies and holiday ideas which are cheap or free! (I'm sure if you post, Lynzpower will "attack" your SOA before too long - and I mean "attack" in a nice way, not a nasty one - she really knows what she's talking about when it comes to cutting back and will give you some great ideas!!)

Give it a go - and good luck!:beer:

Piglet

skintchick

Right - where can you cut back? Here's some suggestions:

Home/Building Insurance - £19.32 This is high! Mine is about £120 a year. you can change midway through the year so get some quotes - try CIS as Mirror Money often recommend them.

Gas - £33.62
Electric - £21.68
This also seems high. I pay £35 a month with Powergen for the two together. Look into changing supplier or try and use less.

Water rates - £22.60Is this on a meter? That might be cheaper - check it out.

Phone - £18.08
Internet - £14.99
Mobile - £2.50
Phone can always be cut down! Check out other providers such as onetel, and see what deals there are.

Household maintance/repairs - £35.00
What's this actually for? I don;t do any maintenance costing this kind of money! Justa boiler service once a year at £100. Do you really need to put this by?

Food - £216.50
I don;t have kids, but you might be able to cut this if you get over to the old style board. I spend £60 for one adult so I'm sure there's scope on this.

Pet Food etc - £10.00
Honestly? I have a cat and spend about £6 a month on her food! What are you feeding?

Petrol - £86.60
Any chance you could use the car less?

Car repairs - £10.00
Really? Does it break down a lot?

Investments/policies - £74.30
What are these??

College books etc - £4.17EVERY month? Or is it a one off spend broken down?

Church - £4.33
Strange amount - why this figure especially?

Car loan ( to Mum)- £100.00
How long has this got to go?

I'm not gonna comment on everything cos I need to eat my dinner (!) but there's plenty of scope I think.

beanielou

Hi there
Hate to say this but With your current SOA dont think you can afford the investment part of inv/policies.
Am also confused on holidays?
Take it that you currently have no debts-if so good for you!!
You need to start to keep a spending diary & write down everything that you spend

Dr.Shoe_2

I don't buy gifts for my family at all and they reciprocate. We prefer to go out with the cash we save from not buying a dozen or so small gifts and buy ourselves one really nice thing we really want for our birthdays. It's a tradition that has been in our family for years, the only exceptions being young kids who don't have their own money. Of course we do buy each other token gifts but they will only come to a few quid- if that.


What I was going to say was perhaps you could save on your holidays by going on these Sun £9.50 breaks which will work out about £3 per month, saving £164! You don't need a foreign holiday.

You're spending £60 per year on father's day etc. Why? A brace of easter eggs from woollies, a card for mum and dad on their respective days will set you back no more than £15 max. saves you £45 per year (just under £4 per month).

I think that you might be able to save money on your food too if you're careful. Take advantage of special offers, reduced to clear bargains, go to your local market after 3pm on a saturday and get about four pounds of fruit for the price of one because they want to clear it. You'll save at least £50 per month!

Talk to your phone provider and see if you can save money by getting a better value call package. I know that you don't spend a lot on phone calls but if you make most of your calls in the evening then something like BT Together1 or TalkTalk1 might be cheaper.

Weekend breaks?!! Sorry to be so brutal but you can't afford them. You're spending £1.25 per month on your garden, spend a fiver from the weekend break budget and enjoy your garden more. Some people camp out in the garden for a weekend, the kids looooove it!

You're spending in excess of £240 per year on new electrical appliances...? I can't remember the last time I bought so much as a kettle, the one we got is about two years old, the washing machine is just over 5 years old, I know that because they're trying to get me to extend the warranty, I ain't falling for that again though!

Household maintenance appears high though it is wise to put much more money than you should need to one side (in a high interest savings account I hope!).

I won't comment on the meals out and drinks, you do deserve some treats but why not link these to a moneysaving goal? Save £50 per month on food and go out for a glass of wine to celebrate (as long as you don't blow your saving!). Shave £150 off your entire budget and go out for an "all you can eat" at your local !!!!!!.

Now I don't claim to be an expert but it is amazing how quickly you learn when that little lightbulb goes on in your head.

Here's a gift, have you paid bank charges in the last 6 years for bounced cheques etc? You can claim these back! :beer: