Desperate times...

Wizwoo

...but just for a short while!
OK this is my SOA from a few weeks back. Our situation has changed though. OH has a new job and better pay :j - however it means relocating (new job will not cover any costs...he asked) and initially while I try to find a job, sort the house out for selling and move there things are going to be worse not better.
So I really need some help to pull the belts in big time.

We also need to buy a second car (tried to look at public tranport but it would take him about 5 hours to do a 2 hour journey and that's at best!!!)

Natwest (the bills account) incoming per month = £1020

Outoing per month:
Gym membership = £20 each (so £40) - now cancelled
TV Licence = £11.07
Council Tax = £114
Npower gas & Electric = £49 (I'm planning on keeping the heating down pretty low this winter to make sure that this doesn't need increasing)
Northern Rock loan repayment = £144.14 (71 months to go)
Life Ins = £32.63
Mortgage = £394 (renewed last June)
Water rates = £22.18
Cat Ins = £8.64 (claims made have actually made this worthwhile - however thinking of getting rid)
Credit Card payments = £240
BT phone = £25 - BT together 1 (just got e-mail through from Madasafish re: £9.99 per month charge which would give free evening & weekend calls)
Home & Contents Ins = £16
Interest charges= £8
Broadband = £10.99

Total £1075.65

The other account has £840 paid in from which:
Cash to NW= £60 (to cover the shortfall on the bills above)
Food = £240 (includes food for 4 cats food and cat litter!)
Running Car = £70 (we put money aside for car insurance and tax)
Going out = £60 (that's £30 each)
Clothing = £20
PAYgo mobiles = £15 (for 2 phones)
Household maintanence = £25 (between the house and the garden)
Education = £164 (OH studying)
Birthday cards & pressies = £15 average
Dentist / Hair cuts = £30
Vets bills = £40 (jabs for 4 cats and one is on medication)

This leaves £101 (it was at £51). To be honest the food has come down too (we've been savvy about buying cat food on offer and careful on our food too) which has saved us another £50 - £60 per month.

I've kept a money diary in the past which helped identify a few holes in the money bucket (magazines, newspapers, lunches out) - all gone now.

However, extra costs:
Second car £2500 (I've got a card wit £0 on which I was going to use which I'll then transfer onto a new 0% card - unless anyone out there has a better suggestion?) - approx minimum payment = £75 per month
Second car insurance approx £200 pa = £18 per month (generally charge a little extra for spreading the cost don't they?)
Increased petrol costs £100 per month
OH accomodation £275 pm

This comes to an extra £468 (can only cover about £250 of this).

Eventually we're hoping to fully relocate (need to make sure that the new job is what he wants first though). Initially his pay only increases by £100 per month but this will raise to £250 per month after 3 months.

My main areas to tackle I think are:
Food;
Phone (not very good with anything too complicated here - need it to be straight forward and could do with some suggestions. Is the Madasafish thing a good deal esp. since will probably be on the phone more with OH);
Already doing mystery shopping and other little extras.

What else can we do????

leni

In terms of insurance, join Quidco - I've just renewed with Prudential who were £2 more expensive that my renewal quote but I got £100 cash back so my insurance is only really £130 a year

lynzpower

One thing you can do is move this account to one without an accoutn charge. Smile comes with a standard 500 interest free OD, and A&L will do the same.

I can refer for A&L if you are interested PM me, otherwise theres a long thread on the referrers board about this too.

Wizwoo

Thanks for those comments.

I've not joined Quidco because I joined rpoints and really didn't find it very useful - too tempting and the points didn't really seem to stack up otherwise. Is Quidco easier / more rewarding?

OH and I are already with the A & L (over a year) so the overdraft is no longer free . And the second overdraft is nearly £1000 a month at worst.

What worries me is that the debt will grow quite quickly.

I think (as I've mentioned in another post) the spending diary is coming out again - otherwise with us living apart it'll be really hard to keep track.

Ww