It's a marathon not a sprint.....

nookey_bear

Thought it would be helpful to post my SOA. I have identified some areas of potential savings already, but would appreciate any comments anyone may have (bad as well as good please!!)

Mortgage 910.75
Nursery 343 – will be 0 from July 2011!!
Food 400
Fuel 200
School meals 40
Car tax, insurance, MOT etc 75
Council Tax 173 (pay mthly)
Gas & elec 99 – EON dual fuel package, looking for better tariff with same provider (pay mthly)
Water 52 (pay mthly)
BT line rental 12.50 (pay mthly)
TV licence 11.25 (paid annually)
Broadband plus phone calls 27 (pay mthly)
Window cleaner 20
Vets 18
Specsavers 26
Mobile 24 – OH has switched to cheaper tariff so should save @ £5/mth
Life assurance 13.50
Savings (Oz holiday, ISA, kids etc)185
House Insurance 61.29
OH prof fees 25
Treats (coffee out etc) 20
Family outings 80
Me & OH misc (clothes etc) 50
Social 40
Kids misc (clothes,toys etc) 150
House misc (DIY etc) 50
Dentist 4.15
Haircuts 17
Birthdays (pressies etc) 20
Misc 100
TOTAL EXPENDITURE - £3247.44

TOTAL INCOME - £3270.00

BUDGETED SPARE PER MTH - £22.56

Potential savings per mth – OH mobile £5
Gas & elec £16
Misc £50

POTENTIAL BUDGETED SPARE PER MTH – £93.56

As I have only just started a monthly budget check, some of the forecast spend figures are still to be proven but I am about 85% there. Obviously some months we save against budget (ie where we don’t have dentist & haircut appts, MOT & tax etc) but on the flip side we come in over budget when we do have to meet those expenses. The food spend is one area that my OH is always looking at and trying to minimise – for example she bakes her own cakes for kids school lunches, and personally I think she does very well to keep weekly bill at around £90 for a family of five. I have stopped adding beer to the list (rare occasions only now) and that has really helped things.

I am still waiting to make my first ever OP. Need to check a few things with mortgage provider first but hopefully it will be soon

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi nookey bear :hello:

Sounds like you have got things in order, but I thought I would try and help you a bit on the gas and electricity side.

I can see that your not keen on changing supplier, so as another poster has said try looking at a different tariff within E.ON.

Just a couple of things to remember when comparing, use your annual usage in kWh not the amount that you spend, this makes the quotes much more accurate.

I can see you prefer to pay monthly, this is good as monthly Direct Debit offers more discount, every little helps

If you would prefer you can call or email E.ON and ask them to do the comparisons for you, or just ask them for your usage and have a look on the website.

Also use all of the services E.ON can offer to save the amount of energy that your using, there is an energy efficiency department who can help and the interactive house on the website is good.

I wish you luck, let me know if I can help further.

Helena

nookey_bear

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Hi nookey bear :hello:

Sounds like you have got things in order, but I thought I would try and help you a bit on the gas and electricity side.

I can see that your not keen on changing supplier, so as another poster has said try looking at a different tariff within E.ON.

Just a couple of things to remember when comparing, use your annual usage in kWh not the amount that you spend, this makes the quotes much more accurate.

I can see you prefer to pay monthly, this is good as monthly Direct Debit offers more discount, every little helps

If you would prefer you can call or email E.ON and ask them to do the comparisons for you, or just ask them for your usage and have a look on the website.

Also use all of the services E.ON can offer to save the amount of energy that your using, there is an energy efficiency department who can help and the interactive house on the website is good.

I wish you luck, let me know if I can help further.

Helena

thanks Helena, had a look at EON site today after registering. Found very quickly that I could save 20% straightaway by switching to an online tariff. Need to see if any other tariff will give me higher savings but happy so far!!:j

hillcats

Do the kids take packed Lunches to school or do you pay for school dinners?

We used to pay for school dinners but reverted to packed lunches as both our kids are fusspots and will only eat what they want, when they want, and it was noticed that they were coming home complaining of being hungry but didnt like the hot food offered even though multiple choice. We decided to change to packed lunches which works out cheaper and the kids usually eat what the wife provides them with little waste and it must work out cheaper. No complaints received nowadays.

Then they get their hot dinners at night which is a nice time to sit, eat and chat together.
(Depending on my work shifts of course...)

nookey_bear

hillcats wrote: »

Do the kids take packed Lunches to school or do you pay for school dinners?

We used to pay for school dinners but reverted to packed lunches as both our kids are fusspots and will only eat what they want, when they want, and it was noticed that they were coming home complaining of being hungry but didnt like the hot food offered even though multiple choice. We decided to change to packed lunches which works out cheaper and the kids usually eat what the wife provides them with little waste and it must work out cheaper. No complaints received nowadays.

Then they get their hot dinners at night which is a nice time to sit, eat and chat together.
(Depending on my work shifts of course...)

hi hillcats
we do a mix of packed lunches and school dinners. The school operates a 4 week rolling menu so we tell the kids whats available each day, and between us we decide which days are hot dinners and which are packed lunches. Ideally we would do packed lunches every day but from a practical perspective (OH works part time, Wed thru' to Fri), with the kids having hot dinners towards the end of the week, it means they can survive on a lighter meal in the early evening.

chickaroonee

Hope you don't mind me posting on your diary! Good luck with your MF journey

I just wanted to say I think you can save loads on your gas & elec, we pay (for a three bed house but only 2 of us just now) £47 a month, and we got £60 cashback through quidco for opening it, plus we get nectar points every month. I'd definitely look at the guide on here and switch if you can - lots of the cashback sites are offering up to £100 back, as well as cheaper bills each month.

I agree it's a pain if it doesn't quite work, but it's such a saving it really is worth looking in to it!

nookey_bear

chickaroonee wrote: »

Hope you don't mind me posting on your diary! Good luck with your MF journey

I just wanted to say I think you can save loads on your gas & elec, we pay (for a three bed house but only 2 of us just now) £47 a month, and we got £60 cashback through quidco for opening it, plus we get nectar points every month. I'd definitely look at the guide on here and switch if you can - lots of the cashback sites are offering up to £100 back, as well as cheaper bills each month.

I agree it's a pain if it doesn't quite work, but it's such a saving it really is worth looking in to it!

hi chickaroonee - nope, dont mind at all you posting on my diary, the more the merrier!!

I know I could probably save loads but you cant imagine the nightmare we went through last time we switched! I know it was with recently built house so there were problems with the correct meter registered to the correct house but even so.....

I have found a better EON tariff that will save me @ £180 pa for starters, I'll have a look at other provider's tariffs and see what more I could be saving.

cheers

nookey_bear

I thought I'd post a quick update - been a busy bee this week!

Firstly, I have just switched tariffs on my EON elec and gas, they offer an online-managed tariff where you are tied into a price per unit until Apr 2011, and I have estimated my annual savings will be £180!!

Secondly, managed to persuade OH to switch to a cheape mobile tariff, that should start mid Mar which should save us around £10/mth

Thirdly, I have decided to stop doing the lottery at work so that will save me £4/mth

Forthly, my house insurance has reduced by £64 per year!

So overall, this week's hard work should save me £412 per year, which equals £35 per mth. This will be our regular OP from this month!

There was a fifth saving but I cant remember what it was! It will come back to me soon....

have a good weekend y'all!!

:money:

herewegoagain2010

Well done Nookey...I've just started on my journey, so am taking everything on board and you've given me some good ideas. Good Luck with your quest! x

nookey_bear

herewegoagain2010 wrote: »

Well done Nookey...I've just started on my journey, so am taking everything on board and you've given me some good ideas. Good Luck with your quest! x

thanks herewegoagain, glad to hear some of my ideas might help you, just as other posters ideas and comments have helped me! We all some help sometimes!! I will pop over to your diary to have a nose if thats ok?

Just worked out that by OPing £35/mth for the remainder of my term, I will save nearly £8k (:j:j:j) and reduce my term by 15mths. Also, when my youngest son finishes at nursery next July and we dont have to pay nursery fees, I plan to increase OPs by £450/mth. So in total, I should save nearly £53k in interest and reduce the term by nearly 10yrs. Wowzer!! I can now see the light - I wanna be MF by the time I'm 50. Nookey Bear likes this idea!!!:cool: