board of just surviving !! help !!

thinkpositive1

Good luck babie gurl

GeorgieFTB

thinkpositive1 wrote: »

Hope you don't mind me chipping in here but I read the comments about living on £100 a month for food as being easily achievable?

I find that an incredible assertion. Can anyone seriously manage on a food bill like that?!! I am single and have changed my shopping habits all round due to debt difficulties and when food shopping I always look for "deals" and non branded and cheaper items wherever possible and my monthly food bill is in the region of £160 to £180 minimum.

£100 a month for food i would suggest is a worthy target (as is cutting any costs) but totally unrealistic for the average person.

Think

It is possible, I'm a single mum of two growing lads and I can feed us for about £100 a month. Mostly its about thinking and planning. There is a website, sorry can't remember the address but the old style board will have a link to it, which gives you a monthly meal plan for four for £100, so it is possible. The best advice I can give you is to invest in a basics cooking book, one which shows you different skills as well as recipies, something like a cooks handbook. Then just play about until you find combinations you like. Just cook veg, carbs, protein and a sauce. My kids will smother anything savoury in ketchup, and anything sweet gets smothered in custard if it goes wrong.

Gx

babie_gurl

Hi everyone just thought i would update as its been a while i have one card of 6600 left to pay and my over draft of 900. i have got into bad habits over christmas buying coffies at work e.c.t so its time to get back on the wagon !!
i think i need to look at a free overdraft bank account and maybe i should now take out a loan for the remainder of my debt this way its taken out each month and i dont have to worrie about working out what i can afford what do you think ??
i have just looked at my credit rating on line and its 999 that the best i think ?? although i would like to get a morgage this year and buy my councill house do you think this would affect my morgage ??
any help / comments always welcome !
bg
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,550.00 now 1699
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
ebay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 60.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12 12.21
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.78 30.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 0.00 in with food shopping
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 same 25.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 same 25.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.00 same 61.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00 11.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.28 8.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216.49 243
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00 110
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.00 14.00
heating token . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00 12.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 80.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00 4.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.04 17.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.63 38.75
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171.65 65.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.00 00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.50 00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00 00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 30.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 15.00
mobile insurence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00 00
laptop in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00 8.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.33 10.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 00.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.33 13.33
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 30.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 - i dont save for this but i do spend alot at christmas time !
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187.50 35.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.67 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,558.33

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,624[/QUOTE]

plum44_2

No definitely dont take out a loan!!! you risk running up additional debt as you may keep using your credit card..just keep paying down your debt- you are doing so well x

babie_gurl

thanks plum
well i dont think a loan would help as my intrest on balence transfers are 1700 - 7.92% apr
2667- 6.95%apr
2100- 5.94 % apr
all for the lifetime of the balance
but i have a letter from rbs ( one of my clear credit cards) saying if i balance transfer i can have 0% for 12 month so i worked out if i pay the 1700 and 2667 off the halifax card i will pay minimum on the rbs balance for a year and throw the rest of my cash at the halifax card thus saving 148 per year even with the 4% transfer fee . then next april i will look for anoth 0% deal for the rbs card .
when i looked at the loans it worked out the same over three years as doing this so i think this is the best option :T:T