Any ideas?

lil'H

Hi there, I'm new to the DFW board and was hoping you may all have some suggestions. I am a single parent, and a student doing my masters in an attempt to get my earning power a bit higher. I currently work, but am self employed and so don't really take any earnings until later in the year, once all costs are covered. My income totals to £1872 per month, in a combination of child and working tax credits, child maintenence payments and some benefits. I work off a budget for my outgoings which leaves me with nothing spare to cover debts, or save any money up. My outgoings (after rent and childcare which are unavoidable!) are as follows:

Gas - £60 (on supposedly cheapest deal, have rung around and this is covering my debts for underpayments. In fact gas company wanted £85 but I told them £60 was as far as I could go which over winter won't really cover any repayment)
Electricity - £24 Again as above, also on dual fuel so both with same company.
Water - £15 metered
Food - £45 per week - I try to keep this low, but I am a big believer in home cooked meals and good ingredients for my 4 year old.
Petrol - £25 per week. Mainly due to nursery run, which will end in September when my son starts school, we walk and bike wherever possible.
Contents insurance £9.05 a month
Car insurance £19 a month (definately lowest deal I could get)
Broadband £13.99
NTL phone around £36 a month
Mobile £35 a month, inclusive contract in whcih I use all the free elements up.
Babysitter - £15 a week, babysitters are £7 n hour round here so I save this and just have one bigger night every so often
Cash spends £50 a week to cover clothing, car tax, mot, activities with my son, christmas birthdays etc etc etc
Health insurance - £6.95 a month. THis is a specialist cancer package which gives me £9000 on diagnosis, plus monthly benefit of £500 for first year drom diagnosis, and £100 each night you spend in hospital (whether NHS or private). Cancer has frequently been in my family and so this gives me peace of mind, in addition after 15 years I get every penny in premiums back which coincidentaly will be around my son's 18th birthday and so it is a saving package for him if, as I hope will be the case I remain fit and healthy!



Debts - £1000 overdrawn (0% interest up to £1500)
Halifax - £1300 (0%)
Student Loans - Don't have exact figure through yet but around £17000

Additionally I have £1100 savings in an ISA, left in so far as that earns interest, and the debts are interest free (bar Student Loan)

I don't spend on credit cards, the balance is from purchasing my car as my old one went to the garage in the sky! Any one got any suggestions on cutting my spending or how best to manage the debts?

H
x

lynsayjane

hiya, congrats on finding the site and welcome!

couple of wee questions. when your son starts school are you going to get rid of the car? if you walk/bike everywhere but to nursery it seems like a good idea, plus your saving the planet too!

do you really need the mobile AND the house phone? thats £70 a month on the two! i used up all my mobile benefits too, but after cutting it down (stuck in with a contract too) i'm still just using my free bits too and it went from 500 free mins to 75! realised (somewhat belatedly) that if i held off and called mum from home after the gym rather than on way home from gym it'd save me heaps. thinking of going payg when contract ends now.

i'd check uswitch with regards your gas and electric costs, you may be able to get it cheaper.

your food seems quite high, granted i don't have a kid but i only spend £30 a month and being on a health kick diet i have plenty fruit and veg. and i definatly do not eat ready cooked meals! there are various forums on here re cheap meal ideas and where is the cheapest place to buy.

good luck with cutting back!
xx

lil'H

Thanks for your reply lynsayjane, really apprechiate the suggestions.

Regarding car, I also require that in order to work, and my son't school is just out of walking distance, as is the after school club and family members. Wish I could get rid of it but public transport isn't regular enough to manage!

Regarding the mobile and house phone I definately need to look into it, my mobile is £35 a month and i get 700 Xnet anytime mins, and 750 messages, so thinking I'd be better off getting rid of the landline. Will look closely at both bills this month and come up with a strategy! Will not having a house phone create a problem in any other sense do you reakon?

Just checked on uswitch, and am on cheapest gas and electricity, as I bartered them down a bit previously.

I am very impressed on the £30 a month food bill you have! Really must rethink that as there must be someway I can reduce it. I clearly am missing something here!

davesgirl_2

hiya:D maybe you could cut down your extra spends money per week when your son starts school. i know its hard as i have 3 children but rarley have £20 spare a month at the mo let alone £200. also agree with the phones, the easymobile simas offer a great deal at the moment as a way of getting some free credit for making calls;) good luck and hope to see more of you:D

lynsayjane

as far as your home phone goes, not having the line would mean no internet at home too. i'd be more inclined to get rid of the mobile. there are so many phone companies giving free evening weekend calls etc or like mine 5p for an hour, which works out much cheaper than the mobile. do you eed that for work etc or is it just for convenience?

food bill wise, i managed that by using meal planners, lots of others on here use them. basically you plan your meals for the week, including packed lunches for work/school, then make a list of what you need to buy to make them (obviously ignoring anything you already have in the house) then make sure you only buy whats on the list, none of the impulse buys that sit in the cupboard for weeks.

calleyw

In one word you need a spending diary. Ok it is two words.

You need to write down everything you spend. Not trying to be funny but £1872 a month is a lot more than some people take home doing a 40 hour week. And a lot of them don't get extra help. I never use to take that home when I was working full time and was on what I thought was a good wage.


Gas - £60 _ assume this per month
Electricity - £24 assume this per month
Water - £15 assume this per month
Food - £45 approx £180 a month-you should be able to cut this down as I spend up to a £100 a month on two adults. And we eat lots of fruit and veg.
Petrol - £25 per week. approx £100 a month
Contents insurance £9.05 a month
Car insurance £19 a month
Broadband £13.99
NTL phone around £36 -I pay £11 a month a line rental and about £1 for other other calls made on my cable line and use 1866/1899 for my calls that comes to about £6 every 3 months.
Mobile £35 a month- if it is not for work then go PAYG
Babysitter - £15 a week, approx £60 a month
Cash spends £50 a week to cover clothing, car tax, mot, activities with my son, christmas birthdays etc etc etc-These items should be budgetted for every month. Approx £200
Health insurance - £6.95 a month.

I make that a grand total of £758.99 leaving you another 1130.01 to pay off debts, rent and council tax and child care. You don't say how much they are.

I have put some extra figures in as some you have said are weekly and some monthly figures and it was hard to see the wood from the trees.

Even if your rent is £500 a month and council tax another hundred that is leaving you £530 ish a month. Do you spend that all on child care.

Could you do a full Statement of Affairs with rent and council and childcare fees included. it would help to get a better idea of where everything is going.

All the best.


Yours


Calley

lil'H

Calley,
Many thanks for your reply, I should really have put rent etc in! OK my rent is 750 for the smallest cheapest 2 bed place in the area, council tax I currently don't have to pay, and childcare is 346 per month for two afternoons and one full day, again going rate in area. I also should have added £8 a month on national insurance, leaving about £28 per month for debts. I admit the £200 is a lot for cash spends, which I need to tackle. This month half of that has gone on my son's school uniform, which nearly all of can only be brought at one shop, something which makes me really annoyed as they charge a fortune. Tried buying second hand but no one was selling small enough items for my son. The rest I need to tackle big time and definately should seperate out to budget individually for the things they cover. The mobile I calculated with regard to pay as you go, and even the best pay as you go deals (which I use for work) would tot up to over £150 for the calls I make.

Hope that makes more sense now!

lil'H

PS the cash spends will also need to cover travel to uni at £9/week on train.

lynsayjane

what i was meaning about the phone is, are the calls/texts necessary or is it something you can do from home at a later time?

lil'H

lynsay,
Calls probably aren't all necessary, though tend to use mobile rather than landline as none of my friends have landlines, or they just don't answer them! Is there any good deal to get free calls to mobiles on any landline package?
H

lynsayjane

afraid i don't rightly know chicken. person i phone most is my mum, she gets free calls so i prank her home phone so she calls me back! lol i still get 300 free text so i usually text my friends rather than calling.