How can we cut back!?

stephbond89

Petrol (the cheapest around us), is £1.20 a litre my husbands car is only 1.2litre but seems to eat petrol, a galon (which costs around £8) will get him around 30 miles (he drives sensibly but all the roads here are small windy roads not motorways), so that gets him to work and home 1 and a half times, he does 22 shifts a month, so he has to get 440 miles in a month, at £8 a galon, this is around £120 a month, which means the car is doing around 30-40mpg depending on the roads. His petrol allowance is very budgeted, his work is 10 miles from home, so thats 20 miles round trip. We go to my parents which is 60 miles away once every other month, but only go if we have spare money. We do an online shop, so dont drive to the supermarket, and with my husbands hours rarely go anywhere else. I tried cutting his petrol to £60 a month, and he just ended up having to get a lift to work from his boss (which take his hourly rate down by 50p per hour as this is classed as travel allowance on his wages).

I am about 4 months into the virgin contarct I think, but not 100%, we got it just before christmas when our finances were better, or should I say not better but I didnt realise how bad they were!!!! And I am hoping to be able to cut it down if I can do this halfway through contract as I could with my mobile.

The only things on the statement which aren't "essential", are our mobile phones (well mine, my husbands is used for his work), the TV and internet, and thats about it really. But those two things are in contracts: and I see my mobile as an essential, my tariff means I would be spending much more on a PAYG, as I get unlimited texts and 400 minutes for I think £25, which I have just cut down from £30 a month, and so cannot cut down any more until November, I could live without my phone and its not "essential", but its not exactly a huge bill I would be cutting out. And as I said it can't be cut out until November anyway.

Lokolo

You have a lot of changes coming up, with the loan going, overdraft going, TV licence going down.

You need to list your debts out as well. Which ones you are paying off, which ones aren't. Currently this is mixed in with the amounts you are paying off (e.g. gas and electric, how much is this paying off the debt, how much is paying off usage).

Do a SOA for the next 6 months. So this should change monthly.

Things you haven't considered; car tax, MOT and service. Xmas. Birthdays.

stephbond89

We dont do christmas and birthdays, or we do, but we do them very small simply because we cannot afford expensive gifts. Its un necesary for us to spend hundreds on gifts for each other. So we just spend around £100 each on one another, and £10 on our parents each, which we buy from August onwards so we know we have them.

We pay our car tax 6 monthly, and just budget it into that months budget instead of saving as that ends up going on the wrong things (i.e. if council need money we give it to them instead and end up wihtout the money then!) We dont service the car, its 15 years old, my husband checks the oil etc and the MOT checks the breaks are ok and the car is safe. MOT again we pay when it comes up, and we go for the offers, we got it half price this year so only £20.

The council tax is getting around £30 a month off the arrears, gas and electric Im not sure what goes where as its just the direct debit they asked for, I asked if it could be less and they said no as it is paying for both the usage we have now and the arrears, but they couldnt tell me anymore.

The TV licence should be £12.50, but the rest goes towards the arrears.

Our arrears arent actually that big of a problem, and I have negotiated with them to pay a low amount with them.

I cannot wait for the loan to go as thats an extra £100 a month for us, but tis the problem of the car, as we dont want to have to get finance, we have to buy a car outright, and so we have a budget of around £100 if we can buy it without financial help (the loan is only for £800 but is a high interest loan!), which wont buy us much, so we had to get a loan for £350 to get this car, and we are hoping it doesnt happen again. Although it would mean less of an outgoing it would also mean possibly my husband losing his job!

chambta

stephbond89 wrote: »

We dont do christmas and birthdays, or we do, but we do them very small simply because we cannot afford expensive gifts. Its un necesary for us to spend hundreds on gifts for each other. So we just spend around £100 each on one another, and £10 on our parents each, which we buy from August onwards so we know we have them.

We pay our car tax 6 monthly, and just budget it into that months budget instead of saving as that ends up going on the wrong things (i.e. if council need money we give it to them instead and end up wihtout the money then!) We dont service the car, its 15 years old, my husband checks the oil etc and the MOT checks the breaks are ok and the car is safe. MOT again we pay when it comes up, and we go for the offers, we got it half price this year so only £20.

The council tax is getting around £30 a month off the arrears, gas and electric Im not sure what goes where as its just the direct debit they asked for, I asked if it could be less and they said no as it is paying for both the usage we have now and the arrears, but they couldnt tell me anymore.

The TV licence should be £12.50, but the rest goes towards the arrears.

Our arrears arent actually that big of a problem, and I have negotiated with them to pay a low amount with them.

I cannot wait for the loan to go as thats an extra £100 a month for us, but tis the problem of the car, as we dont want to have to get finance, we have to buy a car outright, and so we have a budget of around £100 if we can buy it without financial help (the loan is only for £800 but is a high interest loan!), which wont buy us much, so we had to get a loan for £350 to get this car, and we are hoping it doesnt happen again. Although it would mean less of an outgoing it would also mean possibly my husband losing his job!

That sounds like a lot to me.

stephbond89

£100 spread over 5 months isn't much at all, and we tend to buy each other things we need anyway. (Like if we need a new toaster, it'll be wrapped up for me, if the kettle dies it'll be wrapped up for my hubby). We buy each other clothes for christmas and then do without the rest of the year. I dont buy make up over the year I make do with what I get for christmas, so when you consider alot of people even in monetary problems spend hundreds on each other on useless rubbish, we sont spend much at all. And the £100 is the msot we'd spend, and we'd never make ourselves skint for it, I'd only spend that if we could afford it. My hubby asked for £50 last christmas to spend on me, and didnt even spend all of that as he bought cheaper things.

But yeah your right £100 each for christmas is something that isnt essential, but considrring a lot of people put £100 a month away for christmas and bdays, I think £200 all in all over 5 months, isnt actually much, and as I said thats the biggest we'd ever spend I spent that this year cause we had a bit extra, but this year Im likely to spend much less. And our baby wont get useless gifts they dont need, but things they'll need before their next bday, so clothes etc so we're not worrying about that throughout the yr.

chambta

stephbond89 wrote: »

£100 spread over 5 months isn't much at all, and we tend to buy each other things we need anyway. (Like if we need a new toaster, it'll be wrapped up for me, if the kettle dies it'll be wrapped up for my hubby). We buy each other clothes for christmas and then do without the rest of the year. I dont buy make up over the year I make do with what I get for christmas, so when you consider alot of people even in monetary problems spend hundreds on each other on useless rubbish, we sont spend much at all. And the £100 is the msot we'd spend, and we'd never make ourselves skint for it, I'd only spend that if we could afford it. My hubby asked for £50 last christmas to spend on me, and didnt even spend all of that as he bought cheaper things.

But yeah your right £100 each for christmas is something that isnt essential, but considrring a lot of people put £100 a month away for christmas and bdays, I think £200 all in all over 5 months, isnt actually much, and as I said thats the biggest we'd ever spend I spent that this year cause we had a bit extra, but this year Im likely to spend much less. And our baby wont get useless gifts they dont need, but things they'll need before their next bday, so clothes etc so we're not worrying about that throughout the yr.

You romantic b*stards.

stephbond89

chambta wrote: »

You romantic b*stards.

Hahahahaha! :-p I know tell me about it, what I wouldn't do for a diamond necklace and champagne!!!!!

slummymummyof3

You need to start thinking about budgetting for baby stuff - yes, you can get most stuff second hand, but you still need to pay for it. You HAVE to cut your budget somewhere otherwise you are not going to make any headway on your debts! You need to be a little more realistic I think about what is essential and what isn't.

Have you tried phoning mobile phone co's and saying you are having difficulty paying and asking for the tariffs to be reduced (yes, I know you are in contracts - but they might be able to do something) Ditto for Virgin Media!

Any chance you could do some temping of some sort for a few months before you take your 'unpaid' maternity leave? Pregnancy is a condition not an illness and does not mean you cannot work during it (well in most circumstances anyway)

lynzpower

Ive always been able to reduce my phone and other tarriffs in the middle of contracts ( inusrance less likelu).

I think Op hasnt had thier lighgbulb moment in terms of everything is important and nothing can be cut back. Pay-per view tv is nowhere near as important as ensuring that debts are paid. It seems OP is in that Pre-LB condition where she feels stuck as everything is an essential; when it isnt.

I can see that the car is, I cant see why ythe mobile phone is, if its for work, isnt the boyf getting his calls paid for by his office? Or a phone provided. I workin security troo and I wouldnt expect to use my personal mobile for work things apart from getting calls ( ie can you work tomorrow) you dont need to pay 40pcm for incoming only.

bryanb

In post 9 your husband's route to work is along dual carriageway, so you say he can't cycle.
In post 12 you say his route to work is small windy roads so the car uses a lot of petrol.
Explain please.

PS. you can cycle on dual carriageways.