Does anyone think I can do better?

yummum_3

Hi, here is our situation, just wondered if anyone could spot areas where we can improve. We have been keen MSE'rs for about 9 months. I thought some fresh perspective might see something different.

Income:

Job 1 £1143.80
Job 2 £200.00
Tax Credits £93.87
Family Benefit £67.00
Total £1504.65

Outgoings:

TV Licence £11.50
Mortgage £375.00
Car Loan £135.00
Gas £40
Elec £30
Broadband £14.99
Landline and two mobiles £35
Water £21.00
Council Tax £69.00
Mortgage Life insurance £32.00
Mortgage payment protection insurance £8.20
Total £760.19

Save:

Car tax £12.50 pm
Car Insurance £30.00 pm
Home Insurance £12.50 pm
Holidays £117.00 pm
Total £172.00

Spend:

Food/Clothes/Entertainment £100 pw / £430 pm
Petrol £25 pw / £107.50 pm
Total £537.50

Debts:

Mam + Dad Loan £6500 - Pay back ASAPP.
Car Loan £5800 - paying £135.00 pm, 52 payments left
HSBC card £1275 (0% until Nov) - Lump sum comming our way soon which will pay this off!

Our family consists of 2 adults and 1 baby (14m).
Any suggestions for fine tuning would be greatly appreciated!!

Smashing

yummum wrote:

Save:

Car tax £12.50 pm
Car Insurance £30.00 pm
Home Insurance £12.50 pm
Holidays £117.00 pm
Total £172.00
!

I don't quite understand the 'save' part of this?
How much interest are you paying on your car loan? Do you have any savings?

**purpleprincess**

Could you break down the £100 p/w Food/Clothes/Entertainment please? And also, the £117 p/m saving for holidays???? Could this be used against your debts instead then start saving again later?

yummum_3

In the past when I have tried to become debt free I have thrown all of my money at my debts then when it comes time for say the car insurance to be paid I used to put it on the c/c (not wanting to pay a big apr to the insurance company) and then I would be back at square one with debt. Now I am trying to save a reasonable ammount each month to cover these so that I can pay them each year when they are due. this is the first year I am doing this and have £280 saved. I am going on holiday in Sept and that money will be our spending money (in the past holidays and spending money all came from C/C's)

APR on the car is 12.8% which was the cheapest I could get at the time.

Out of the £100 a week for food etc... I get this cash out of the bank and then dont carry my cards around with me. Out of this money I spend on average £50 on food, £10 on nappies and the rest goes on things like hair cuts, clothes, dvd's etc. Once that £100 is gone that's it.

Thanks for replies

moozie_2

Hello there and very well done for posting and for doing so well with your SOA! In the main I can see no problem areas.

I think it's great that you are saving for your annual bills. That is good money management and one I will definitely take up at the next round of insurances for our household

Good thinking on saving for the holiday in September. Perhaps you can save the same amount after that (as you are accustomed to it) to either pay back your parents or overpay on your monthly repayments on the car if it is allowed or save and then pay the car loan early.

As it has been suggested already, look at the Food/Clothes/Entertainment category more closely as that is a big chunk of your monthly incomings and you'd best know where exactly it goes and how you can save, if possible. The old style board is great for reducing the food bill by the way.

Hope this helps but you are doing well anyway

Smashing

Do you always spend the whole £100? If you work on the basis of 'when it's gone, that's it' perhaps you could experiement with cutting it down to £90 initially to see if you can manage it. If there's a spare £5 in your purse from the £100 you may well be more likely to spend it because you're still within your 'allowance.'

beanielou

Think its great that you are disciplined enough to put money away each month for your yearly spends.
As others have said look at cutting down a wee bit on that £100.
Best of scottish!