My State of Affairs

youngmum_2

I was wondering if you kind peeps would be so kind as to peruse my state of affairs and give me suggestions as to where I could improve matters.

Have quite a few debts Always have had. Seem to pay one off only to accumulate another. My problem is now that I have no spare cash at all so any grandeurs of holidays or such like are a no no

Any help will be gratefully received.

Here it is......

Monthly Incomings
My wage (variable) - £1400 average
OH wage - £672
Family Allowance/Child Tax Credit - £150 (approx)

Total -£2222

Monthly outgoings
Mortgage £666.64 (Fixed 5 years, commenced Dec 2005)
Council Tax £147
Car Insurance £26.06
BT Line Rental £10
Talk Talk (varies £2-£6 roughly) £6
Car Loan £93.80 (Not due to end till April 2009 - not sure of APR)
Bank loan £126.07 (ends November 2009 - again unsure of APR - emailed to find out)
DFS £63.52 (ends June 2008, interest free)
Insurances (Home, Mortgage, Critical Illness, Union) £92.60
Nationwide Loan £47.43 (Ends May 2009)
Powered (Gas & Electricity) £50.00
Sky £42.50
Specsavers £15.00
Wanadoo £17.99
TV Licence £10.99
Account charge £10.00

Food £300 perhaps (would like to be more like £200)
Petrol - not sure on average, perhaps £160
Put money aside for Xmas, Gifts, Car, Hair fund, Clothes etc = £300
Weight watchers £20
OH pocket money £20
Misc - newspapers, DVD rental, takeaways etc ? (I know I buy these things regular but where to pay for them from?)

Total - £2205.60

So,what do you reckon?

lynzpower

HI there :wave: Welcome
just a quickie from me a few things

1. Sky, you dont need that

2. 300 for saving for Xmas & haircuts :eek: No way, thats astronomical. Get your hair cut on "model" nights or at beauty coleges, and to be completely fair you should not be putting the rest away for presents, I suspect you are overspending there- massively

3. you can get broaband a few quid cheaper as your specsavers I suspect that contact lenses ( theres a big thread in health moneysaving about good deals on these)

4. yes , your food can come down, join in on our grocery challenge and use the Old style board for inspiration on getting your cash to stretch further

thats jsut a few thoughts from me

lynsayjane

personally i think the main ones there are your sky tv (is it really necessary?) and the xmas birthdays stuff. 300 a month? thats 3600 a year!!! i think that could be cut down substantially! your food bill as you say is high, check out the old style board for tips on that.

oops_a_daisy

also have you renewed your insurances for home, car etc lately. I renewed my contents and buildings even though they were not up for renewal and managed to save money ( not much though ) and got over £100 cash back because of offers and Quidco. Tescos are doing home insurance for half price at the moment too. Its definately worth looking into. All the best and good luck

youngmum_2

lynzpower wrote:

HI there :wave: Welcome
just a quickie from me a few things

1. Sky, you dont need that

:eek: Lol, how about a compromise and I reduce it?

2. 300 for saving for Xmas & haircuts :eek: No way, thats astronomical. Get your hair cut on "model" nights or at beauty coleges, and to be completely fair you should not be putting the rest away for presents, I suspect you are overspending there- massively

Good idea about the model nights. I'm never usually happy with how the "pros" cut it anyway! As for xmas savings I save £20 a week. Far too much do you reckon? I also save £15 for gifts (birthdays, anniversarys, mothers day etc), £15 towards car fund (tax disc, MOTs etc) and £5 a week for hair.

3. you can get broaband a few quid cheaper as your specsavers I suspect that contact lenses ( theres a big thread in health moneysaving about good deals on these)

I was thinking of doing the free Broadband thing thru Talk Talk? Yes, specsavers if for Contact Lenses. I look into that thread thanks.

4. yes , your food can come down, join in on our grocery challenge and use the Old style board for inspiration on getting your cash to stretch further

Always fail miserably on this but am determined to make it work!

thats jsut a few thoughts from me

Thanks again

lynsayjane

looks like great lyns' think alike :rotfl:

youngmum_2

lynsayjane wrote:

personally i think the main ones there are your sky tv (is it really necessary?) and the xmas birthdays stuff. 300 a month? thats 3600 a year!!! i think that could be cut down substantially! your food bill as you say is high, check out the old style board for tips on that.

Sky I'm going to look into reducing.

Broken down the £300 is £20 a week for Xmas savings, £15 a week for gifts (to cover everyones birthday, anniversarys, mothers day etc), £15 a week towards car fund (MOTs, tax disc etc) and £5 a week towards hair money (for all 4 of us - 2 adults and 2 kids). Are those figures too high you reckon?

And yep, I'm going to work on that food bill

Thanks

youngmum_2

oops_a_daisy wrote:

also have you renewed your insurances fpr home, car ets lately. I renewed my contents and buildings even though they were not up for renewal and managed to save money ( not much though ) and get over £100 cash back because of offers and Quidco. Tescos are doing home indurance for half price at the moment too. It definately worth looking into. All the best and good luck

Thanks for that info

gazza975526570

youngmum wrote:

I was wondering if you kind peeps would be so kind as to peruse my state of affairs and give me suggestions as to where I could improve matters.

Have quite a few debts Always have had. Seem to pay one off only to accumulate another. My problem is now that I have no spare cash at all so any grandeurs of holidays or such like are a no no

Any help will be gratefully received.

Here it is......

Monthly Incomings
My wage (variable) - £1400 average
OH wage - £672
Family Allowance/Child Tax Credit - £150 (approx)

Total -£2222

Monthly outgoings
Mortgage £666.64 (Fixed 5 years, commenced Dec 2005)
Council Tax £147
Car Insurance £26.06 Looks quite good but check on some comparison sites then get quotes for RBS groups (d line, churchill, tesco as they dont allow their dets on these sites)
BT Line Rental £10
Talk Talk (varies £2-£6 roughly) £6
Car Loan £93.80 (Not due to end till April 2009 - not sure of APR) Need to find the APR on this - then if above 6ish% look for new loan/transfer to 0% cc deal?
Bank loan £126.07 (ends November 2009 - again unsure of APR - emailed to find out) advise us of apr when known
DFS £63.52 (ends June 2008, interest free)
Insurances (Home, Mortgage, Critical Illness, Union) £92.60 Do you need ALL these? If so check your on the cheapest deals. if taking a new deal can you get cashback via quidco?
Nationwide Loan £47.43 (Ends May 2009) apr?
Powered (Gas & Electricity) £50.00 go on uswitch.com via this site for cashback and the best deal
Sky £42.50 get rid of this (or at least go to basic package) or get freeview
Specsavers £15.00
Wanadoo £17.99 cheaper deals available than this - Talk talk/sky/aol
TV Licence £10.99
Account charge £10.00 Do you get moneysworth from this? if not cancel

Food £300 perhaps (would like to be more like £200) do your shopping online then you only get what you need. Plus get some money off codes ie £10 off £50 spend from the codes thread + asda doing cheaper delivery at the mo
Petrol - not sure on average, perhaps £160 Go to Petrolprices.com to find the cheapest petrol in your area
Put money aside for Xmas, Gifts, Car, Hair fund, Clothes etc = £300 Too much - presents can you do something more personable/photos etc or agree not to give this year and put money towards debts?
Weight watchers £20 Follow the diet and weigh yourself - £20 saved
OH pocket money £20
Misc - newspapers, DVD rental, takeaways etc ? (I know I buy these things regular but where to pay for them from?) stop these for a while - save the cash somewhere - challenge yourself as to how much you can save

Total - £2205.60

So,what do you reckon? Not bad but room for improvement!!!

Keep us posted how you get on and good luck

youngmum_2

gazza975526570 - thank you. A lot of good advice in there

angchris

you dont need to be paying £10 a month for your bank account! i fell into that trap with lloyds tsb they upped me to a gold card with a £10 a month charge because my loan worked out cheaper, i agreed without thinking about it:o and must of paid £100`s + £100`s extra over the course of several years, if you dont use the "extra" benefits your bank give you for your £10 then downgrade your bank account asap or change banks like i did through quidco to alliance and leicester, you get £50 cashback through quidco and if someone refers you they get £25 and so do you, so you will be £75 up on the deal and no more £10 a month charges!:j