Advice sought

tonysab

I would be grateful for some advice here, I earn a pretty decent salary but we are always in debt and have had to re-mortgage twice to pay off credit card debts. These are now paid off and will hopefully not be used again. Essentially after all the bills each month we are left with approx £300 per week which we take out in cash each week to avoid sticking stuff on debit card here and there, the idea being that you can see the cash you are spending and know how much you have got left each week. However after food shopping (approx 125 a week) this leaves approx 175 this is for 2 adults and 2 children, ok we have a couple of beers at the weekend and the odd takeaway but not much. Part of me thinks that £300 pw is a lot and we should be able to manage easily, we really don't just spend it willy nilly but it seems that we can just about manage but then any additional expense !!!!!!s us up such as Birthdays or Car repairs etc. From the point of view of a 2 adults and 2 children family does £300 pw week (to include food shopping) seem a lot?
Thanks.

Numpty_Monkey

Hi tony
it seems your main problem is budgeting (old and scarey thing:eek:) but it does work
have a look at Martins Budget Planner

and while you've got all the numbers out fill in the SOA calc
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

We'll have a look ad make suggestions
I think the first one will be £you can feed your family for £300 a month;):D
and it is possible:j

gonzo127

well in the nicest possible way, yes £300 a week is a massive amount,

i think a good thing for you to do is post up your SOA (statement of affairs) http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html and post it up here so we can try and help you spot areas where you can make some savings

as for not using the credit cards, thats easy, cut them up and cancel them!

keep one for absolute emergencies if you must but buy a freezer tub 1/3rd fill it with water and pop it in the freezer, once frozen, pop you emergency card on top and fill the rest of it with more water and freeze the rest of it, this way it will take about 24-48 hours to unfreeze your card therefore stoping its use in all but massive emergencies

purpleheather2810

Hmmm yes, 300 a week ought to be workable Please post an SOA then you will get plenty of pointers (and probably see the real picture properly for yourself).

tonysab

Thanks guys. Here is my SOA -I have entered minimal 'entertainment' as this is for a couple of store card payments plus lottery subscription. It shows approx 600pm which added to the 600 groceries does give us our 300pw.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 200
Benefits................................ 132
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3332
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1050
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 181
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 97 - includes 19 service contract
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 54
Telephone (land line)................... 46 - includes internet
Mobile phone............................ 70 - 2 phones
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 600
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 62
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 12
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 70
Holiday................................. 150 - we try and use this for holiday and xmas.
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2729

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 400000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 403000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 84000....(1050).....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 84000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,332
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,729
Available for debt repayments........... 603
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 603
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 403,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -84,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 319,000

gonzo127

tonysab wrote: »

Thanks guys. Here is my SOA -I have entered minimal 'entertainment' as this is for a couple of store card payments plus lottery subscription. It shows approx 600pm which added to the 600 groceries does give us our 300pw.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 200
Benefits................................ 132
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3332
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1050
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 181
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 97 - includes 19 service contract - this is massive for gas and electric find out what your annual usage is in KWH for each and do a price comparison to try and find a better tarrif, i spend £100 a month on gas and elec for a 3 bed semi with 2 adult 2 teenagers and a baby, baby and one adult at home all day
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 54
Telephone (land line)................... 46 - includes internet - this still seems a lot find out who you call and when (also how much your internet is) and look for bundles
Mobile phone............................ 70 - 2 phones - both on expensive contracts find out if you are using all your mins and texts, if not phone and ask to be dropped to a lower tarrif, the worst they can say is no
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 600 - this is massive, i usually advise people to aim for £60 per person per month which seems to be a reasonable amount that most people can live on, take into account some people on these forums can do this for a family of 4 for £150 a month!!!
Clothing................................ 0 - needs to be something here if you have kids in the house!
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 62
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 12
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 - would be better to have a set amount here sperate from your holiday fund
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 70 - try and use the better weather to your advantage, check out on of the other threads today about kiddies and free things to do
Holiday................................. 150 - we try and use this for holiday and xmas.
Emergency fund.......................... 0 - would always suggest to have something here as you can never know what is around the corner and having something here stops it going on the cards
Total monthly expenses.................. 2729

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 400000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 403000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 84000....(1050).....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 84000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,332
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,729
Available for debt repayments........... 603
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 603
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 403,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -84,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 319,000

have made a few comments on above

you can probably save big time on your food by planning your meals so you only buy the food you need for those meals, batch cooking some o fhtem and freezing the left overs for instant ready meals and the drop a brand chalange

milliemonster

Your mortgage repayment seems massive compared to the total amount of mortgage £84k? is that correct?

Not really sure what you need advice on as you have a healthy surplus now. You mentioned a couple of store cards you have but I can't see them on your SOA unless I have missed it?

Best advice I can offer now is to get rid of the store cards, you have remortgaged twice now to get rid of debt, if you are not careful, you will end up racking up the store cards, transferring the debt onto cheaper credit cards and lo and behold 2 years down the road will be consolidating again.

£600 a month on food for 4 is very generous but you an afford this so it's not an issue.

£300 a week 'spends' is an absolute luxury, but again you can afford this, however, how about halving this and saving the other half???, this would still leave you plenty to have some luxuries but you will get into the habit of saving up.

The next step really is to learn to stick within your budget so you don't end up spending on the cards again and saving for those big purchases you might need like a new car instead of getting credit for one etc,

tonysab

Thanks for your advice everyone. Just to be clear though the £300 a week 'spends' includes the food as well. So what I am saying in summary is we are approx £1200 a month after bills and that £1200 is generally split 50/50 with food and 'spends', £600 on food and £600 for anything else and this is generally used for clothing and other bits & pieces etc.

Tixy

Rather than have this 'spends' money I would suggest you actually budget and allocate for each item, that way when the car tax is needed or a car repair you have some money put aside.

tonysab wrote: »

Thanks guys. Here is my SOA -I have entered minimal 'entertainment' as this is for a couple of store card payments plus lottery subscription. ?? if you have store cards then put them in the debt section with the APRs and balances It shows approx 600pm which added to the 600 groceries does give us our 300pw.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2 do you need both cars?
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 200 can your partner increase their hours?
Benefits................................ 132 are you entitled to anything more?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3332
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1050
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 181 looks high - have you done the 5min check to see that you are in the correct band?
Electricity............................. 80 high - have you checked you are with the cheapest supplier for gas & elec? can you reduce your usage?
Gas..................................... 97 - includes 19 service contract
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 54
Telephone (land line)................... 46 -includes internet can you look for a cheaper deal? cheapest combined is around £20pm
Mobile phone............................ 70 -2 phones see if you can get a cheaper deal/drop a tariff
TV Licence.............................. 10 think its a bit more than this?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23 high on top of phone & internet.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 600 cut to £300 initially and then work on reducing
Clothing................................ 0 budget a set amount for this - so that you stick to it.
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 62 have you shopped around? do you need both cars as your partner earns so little?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0 any pocket money? after school clubs?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 12
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 budget a set amount
Haircuts................................ 0 budget for this
Entertainment........................... 70 budget for the lottery, takeaways and anything else here
Holiday................................. 150 - we try and use this for holiday and xmas.
Emergency fund.......................... 0 start building this up a bit, so that you don't need cards again (maybe £20 per month)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2729

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 400000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 403000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 84000....(1050).....0 find out the APR
Total secured & HP debts...... 84000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Store cards
Do you have any overdrafts?
Cut up the credit cards
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,332
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,729
Available for debt repayments........... 603 I would split this out as above to see what your true surplus is.
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 603
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 403,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -84,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 319,000