Advice on SOA

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

ok not having a go

but..

cycloneuk wrote: »

Don't see how we can cut groceries bill, works out at around £75 week. 2 tins of baby powder is £16 and then nappies another £10 and jars of food about £12 just for baby alone. I don't actually like a lot of foods, veg and all that - i had a very poor diet as a child so i blame that. The council tax should be for 10 months only so will need to correct that, stuck with Sky for time being and that is for the basic package really.

Ok - Baby food, why can't you blend food that the rest of the family eat? My DD LOVED sunday dinners mixed up into sizeable amounts for her to eat.

Sky basic package is £18 - That's what I pay.

cycloneuk wrote: »

I thought i was being good on entertainment compared to some iv'e seen. That is basically for 1 meal out for us once a month, maybe 2 at a push if any pub deals are on. My partner is currently on maternity leave and was/is employed by me but won't be able to keep her on. I will be able to clear the majority once i sell, at least the big one, i will be using the cash from this place for the new purchase so don't require a morgage.

Ok - meals out - do you REALLY need to go out to have a nice meal? its a waste of money for what you actually get - you could rustle up a meal at home

Maternity - Why isnt your wife getting SMP?

cycloneuk wrote: »

£10 a week, we could try a pack lunch but i'm not sure we would save much.

Loaf of bread costs £1.29 (and thats hovis!) butter - £1.05 Billy Bear meat/haslet etc is pretty cheap, some of of fruit and a packet of crisps - sorted That would cost you less than a school meal

You seem to be brushing against all our tips - You NEED to make changes or you will never live in your budget

P.S - Nappies - Get Terry's and wash them. WHY you are doing 2 loads of laundry a day I dont know, you can not possible be wearing THAT amount of clothes!

PPS - You need to sort your diet out - just because YOU had a poor diet growing up doesnt mean you should introduce that poor diet to YOUR kids. You should want them to eat better than you did x

patchwork_cat

A few thngs that are shouting at me are you say baby food jars - expensive rubbish. Home cooked food for the baby is much cheaper (also you say you have alot of food you won't eat- unless you are careful, baby will be the same) also packed lunches are IMO cheaper than school dinners - how old is your older child? If you are not happy with your eating habits and they are expensive are they also unhealthy? Time for a change - head over to old style and they will help if you give your likes and dislikes to suggest similar home cooked meals from scratch and then you can broaden your repertoire. £17.99 for internet is high - mine is £7.99 for Be. - even better if you go via cashback site. Gas and electricity are possibly touch on the high side - go on uswitch, but don't click on any links - see if the best priced deal comes with cashback on Topcashback.

Check your benefit entitlement on entitled to. Basically do a Martin money makeover and then go to old style to trim off the groceries. We spend £100/120 on clothes and aren't in debt for a family of 4 with 2 kids - 17 and 12, so £100 when struggling and with 2 little ones (assuming here.) is high.

Bus passes are they not cheaper when bought monthly or do you already do that?

cycloneuk

We can save £30 by getting them monthly, you can only get them at certain times of the month, seems to be the last 3 days so will have to wait until the 28th June. We have been buying the organic baby jars of food, can't see that changing to be honest.

Her SMP ends this month so iv'e not included that, baby is 5 months and uses a lot of clothes. I have been trying to keep on top of the washing and doing 2 loads a day, one for darks and one for lights - should be able to switch that to every other day since sometimes the loads are small. I should be able to bring the Sky down to £21 a month by getting rid of music and another one we don't watch.

Since i work from home i use a lot of bandwidth (i need around 40gb a month and i don't use p2p either) i have a order management system that runs 24 hours a day so PC stays on. I have reduced it from £20 a month and saved £2 on my line rental.

iamana1ias

cycloneuk wrote: »

We can save £30 by getting them monthly, you can only get them at certain times of the month, seems to be the last 3 days so will have to wait until the 28th June. We have been buying the organic baby jars of food, can't see that changing to be honest.

So not much point anyone trying to help, is there. :mad:

cycloneuk wrote: »

Her SMP ends this month so iv'e not included that, baby is 5 months and uses a lot of clothes. I have been trying to keep on top of the washing and doing 2 loads a day, one for darks and one for lights - should be able to switch that to every other day since sometimes the loads are small.

You're spending £100 a month on clothing. You must have enough by now not to need to wash anything more than twice a week!

cycloneuk wrote: »

I should be able to bring the Sky down to £21 a month by getting rid of music and another one we don't watch.

So you're not on the basic package then!

cycloneuk wrote: »

Since i work from home i use a lot of bandwidth (i need around 40gb a month and i don't use p2p either) i have a order management system that runs 24 hours a day so PC stays on. I have reduced it from £20 a month and saved £2 on my line rental.

Wow. £2.

And yet the suggestions to save significantly more than that are washing straight over your head.

cycloneuk

iamana1ias wrote: »

So not much point anyone trying to help, is there. :mad:



You're spending £100 a month on clothing. You must have enough by now not to need to wash anything more than twice a week!




Wow. £2.

And yet the suggestions to save significantly more than that are washing straight over your head.

All lower packages have connection fees or fair use policies, £17.99 a month for a 60gb is good i thought.

I am willing to make changes but some things like making the baby food i'm not, would spend more on electric, water, food - i'm just being honest and do appreciate all input and will make some changes but you can't expect me to make everyone.

I think we can come down on the clothes budget, baby is growing like crazy but needs new clothes every few months at least.

iamana1ias

cycloneuk wrote: »

I am willing to make changes but some things like making the baby food i'm not, would spend more on electric, water, food - i'm just being honest and do appreciate all input and will make some changes but you can't expect me to make everyone.

Why would you insist on feeding your baby formula milk and jars of food though? Organic or not it's rubbish! And expensive rubbish!

Your OH is not working. How can she not have time to cook decent food for the family?

cycloneuk

iamana1ias wrote: »

Why would you insist on feeding your baby formula milk and jars of food though? Organic or not it's rubbish! And expensive rubbish!

Your OH is not working. How can she not have time to cook decent food for the family?

He is only just going onto the food so is having both atm. A tin of powder will probably last a week now.

She refuses to cook for me because i'm so fussy, i'm sure she would make some of the babies food 50/50 thus saving on jars.

rachelet

I have been on MSE for a while now but have never posted before now giving some advice on a SOA, but I just had to on this one. I am married and have 4 kids, 2 of which are in nappies so I do know what am talking about with the expense of kids.

With regard to your cost of nappies at £10 per week, I don't spend this on two children in nappies. What nappies are you buying? I use Tesco own brand (not the value range) and have just worked out I spend £36 a month on nappies for two children. Tesco own brand are just as good as the named brands and are a lot cheaper. Also the tins of baby milk, I estimated that whilst the baby is having I use 1 tin a week at just over £7 per tin. I don't see how you are getting through two tins of milk a week and also feeding your baby jars of food. My children love their milk as well so its not that they don't drink very much.

With regard to the clothes, my kids grow very quickly as well and although I have three girls, so the clothes have been handed down and are getting well used, for my son, we bought a job lot of second hand clothes from ebay for £50. This should keep him clothed for a few years, with me only having to buy underwear, socks and maybe a few t-shirts each year. I know babies grow quickly but £1200 a year on clothes is a lot and I think this can be reduced. I probably spend less than half that on all four of my kids a year!

With regard to the washing as well, I only do one load of washing a day with perhaps two loads a day at the weekend. This is with four kids, one of which seems to change clothes three times a day!

I know what you are saying about the jars of baby food, I fed my first two on them as it was more convenient for me, but the second two I cook for them myself. I did have a few jars in the cupboard in case of emergencies, but I have found with my son, who I have fed mostly whatever we have eat, eats far better than my older two and actually prefers my cooked food to jars! You don't have to cook separately for your baby, just either puree whatever you are eating or do a batch cook and freeze mini portions. I do this a lot as well. I tend to cook a meal for us, then if I have a little bit left, I put it in a plastic tub in the freezer and there's a meal ready for my son without wasting any food.

With regard to your business, it is only making a profit at the moment because it isn't paying you a fair wage for the work that you are doing. If you were to pay yourself a fair wage, then it would obviously be making a loss. Do you see the business turning around any time soon?

I hope this helps!

clang_uk

Ok i don't want to wade in with unhelpful comments about your life style choice. But you clearly have some debt, and you want to get out of it, right. Therefore you are going to have to make some sacrifices. I know this is hard as you want the best for your child, and your OH may stand in the way. A few tips, do get rid of sky, get a freeview box instead. Sky has nothing worth paying for - if you watch the footie, go down the pub on a day out instead, a lot cheaper than £40 worth of ads! For baby look at the baby forums on babyworld.com there are a lot of conversations going about the best cheap nappy. A lot cheaper than £10 a pop. Also the sooner your child eats the same dinner as you the better the dinner experience will be, even if it's not particularly healthy, just be sure to include veg, and its a winner! There are a few things that maybe your oh wants to do, could she start working locally, part time, or online, local school? I know it's easier said than done.

As for two washes a day, that's a lot - wash the baby stuff twice a week (unless it really smells) and your stuff once a week. It what would happen if you both worked full time! You don't want to be flushing your money down the drain! (sorry couldn't help it!!!)

You need to find a way of separating the business from your personal life. If you carry on taking out loans in your name to fund your business you are going to get in huge debt, and missing payments will affect your credit rating when buying a new house.

I know some of the comments may seem critical, but people are trying to help, and it does seem that you have a few luxuries that could save you money.

BAILEYS6904

You seem to want the best of both worlds here, to reduce your debt, but not have that affect your standard of living at all, and to be honest, it aint gonna happen!!

You seem to be most inflexible towards anything affecting your child, which obviously is fair enough, except would you prefer to the baby to grow up in a world of debt??? When I had my first child, i was a lot like that, only bought clothes from bext, designer coats etc. Like a fool, especially when he grew out of it within a month. Eventually I had my lightbulb moment!

The thing with baby clothes is that its very easy to get good second hand ones that have barely been used, as I say, babys only stay in them a couple of months, so most are like brand new. Get yourself on ebay or freecycle. Or friends or family of course.

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.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 371.2 £5.80 an hour? Is this right??
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 can your partner not work?
Benefits................................ 760.52
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1131.72

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 123 Do you not get help for this due to low income??
Electricity............................. 50 Seems very high
Gas..................................... 40 Again seems high, esepcially at the mo
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 8.99
Mobile phone............................ 20 can reduce this
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 17.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 320 this is where you biggest saving is!!!
Clothing................................ 100 luxury, cut down if you cant afford
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 160
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 20
School Dinners.......................... 9.25
Total monthly expenses.................. 994.23


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 149000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 149000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
HSBC Loan......................17155.....245.......0
HSBC Credit Card...............4097......100.......21.9
A & L Loan.....................0.........0.........8.4
Clode (Overclockers)...........843.95....42.35.....20.29
Total unsecured debts..........22095.95..387.35....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,131.72
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 994.23
Available for debt repayments........... 137.49
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 387.35
Amount short for making debt repayments. -249.86

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 149,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -22,095.95
Net Assets.............................. 126,904.0


Sorry, know I sound harsh, but there is light at the end of the tunnel for you, but you just wont see it or take it