Just done something I so didn't want to do

purpleheather2810

tallyhoh wrote: »

Why do yo have an au pair and still pay child care?

Because an au pair isn't free. You have to pay them.

alison999

I got a basic bank account with RBS really easily and I have a CCJ and idk how many defaults, have you tried them?

determined_new_ms

I didn't want to read and run, so wanted to send some cyber hugs. I can hear you feel so desparate but hang in there this month is going to be tough (go over to the old school board and hunt around for the cheap recipes threads, there are loads) you can with a bit of planning cut your food bill down considerably and still eat well. We have had to slash our outgoings substantially to be able to reduce debt but it has been gradual. Even though your problems seem insurmountible at the moment you can and will get through this, there are lots of ways to do it as this board proves, the hopeless feelings will ebb & flow but over time and seeing progress you will find it easier. x

SuzySu

Is the au-pair absolutely necessary? It might help you having one, but so would £320 extra in your bank each month.

pelirocco

SuzySu wrote: »

Is the au-pair absolutely necessary? It might help you having one, but so would £320 extra in your bank each month.

I assume having one allows her to work ?

Allthough it might be worth while working out what it costs to work , ie Au pair , extra food food for them cost of travel to and from work and anything else involved

dobs

Hi i'm sure you could knock a bit off the shopping bill, there are 5 of us and 5 pets and on a good month spend £220 and £300-320 on a bad one - all of this also includes pet food, toiletries, cleaning stuff and nappies.

Have you tried switching brands, we shop at Asda but go to Lidl first to get the fruit and veg on offer. We have gone down to smartprice multi purpose liquid, loo rolls, kitchen towels, biscuits and other things where we can't tell any difference and it does bring the bill down. I see what we have in the cupboards and then make a list to go with that so we use the cupboard things up first, meal plan when i can and batch chook and freeze. Old style board is fantastic but tips on this.

Also, have you anything you can ebay or put in your local paper for sell? We sold our baby items the other day, pushchair, cot, rocker chair and got £100 for it all which kept us going for a bit. Or maybe if you have time at the weekend have a car boot, get the kids involved if they're old enough to make it more fun?

Hope you can get it sorted out xx

chevalier

Hi there Well done on posting the SOA. I have put in a few suggestions and comments to get you to think rather than panic.

cherrypie556 wrote: »

NEW SOA AS OF TODAY AND REALISTIC (??) FIGURES

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 4Are any of the children old enough to get a paper round/part time job/saturday job to help out?
Number of cars owned.................... 2 Do you really need two cars? Can you car share with others to save petrol? Can you sell the cars you have to get cheaper ones? Is either job close enough to cycle to (free exercise bonus!)?
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 892
Partners monthly income after tax....... 945
Benefits................................ 732 Does this include houseing benefit? Do any of the benefits entitle you to free school meals (thinking of your food budget here)
Other income............................ 0 Have a look for a thread by Eager Learner about how to earn free money off the internet. There are also companies like Valued Opinions, Lightspeed Panel, pure points, Ipsos etc where you can do surveys to get money or points, every little helps. Also have a look at the up your income forum for other ways of getting extra money.
Total monthly income.................... 2569
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 400 see post above ref HB
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 77You can ask to pay this over 12 months not 10 to help a little each month.
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 70Can you get this down at all. Seems very high? If some of this is to do with older children having mobiles, then see my comment earlier about getting a job. It could cover their mobile usage.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45 Do you really NEED this? Could you make do with using the dish to get the freeview channels?
Internet Services....................... 17
Groceries etc. ......................... 650 You have been given suggestions re this, above, but there are some meals that are cheap and cheerful that don't cost much, ie cauliflower, pasta and cheese bake, corn beef hash, baked potatoes etc. See Weasl's thread on the old style board for tips on how to feed people really cheaply. It really is about thinking outside the box and planning planning planning. If possible go to the supermarket sans children, that way you can stick to a shopping list without pester power wearing you down...:). You may not believe it now but I think you could easily know £250 of this... and still eat well. Also things like star drops, bicarb of soda, and vinegar can stretch cleaning products so that they last longer too.
Clothing................................ 30 I am assuming this is mainly kids clothes? Try freecycle.org, and freegle and gumtree for free clothes. Don't be proud.
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 50
Car Insurance........................... 148 Is this monthly? If so it is over half my YEARLY premium. Have a look on the comparison sites as I am sure you can save on this, unless you are very young or have points on your licence. Even for two cars it should be less than this a month.
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 54 Again another reason for seeing if you can car share, or bike it or something. Can you part further away from work for free and walk the extra?
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 346 You say this is the aupair, but surely you would get 20 hours or whatever it is free child care in a nursery? Then you would also be able to get vouchers from both employers towards childcare too? Also are you paying her national insurance and tax out of this money? As you are her employer? If you got a nursery place, are there grand parents who could chip in with caring for the children?
Other child related expenses............ 0 So none of the children, go on school trips, have pocket money, go swimming, have any sort of classes?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 18 So no one has glasses then? Or contact lenses?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 17
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 33 Sorry but for now you have to find ways of doing presents that involves little or no cost. Again there is a special occasions thread forum on how to do really nice present cheaply.
Haircuts................................ 5 Wow this is cheap well done.
Entertainment........................... 0 So no take aways, dvd rentals, cinema etc, no magazines, newpapers, crossword books,
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2365

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase DebtsYou need to find out the APR for all of these debts. Because if you do manage to find some extra money to throw at them, you will need to throw it at the card with the highest APR generally speaking.
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest CC.....................1452......32........0
Natwest CC.....................2607......60........0
halifax cc.....................2479......50........0
Santander loan.................5134......172.......0
natwest Loan...................7400......217.......0
Natwest OD.....................2000......20........0
Studio.........................100.......30........0
Next Cat.......................500.......40........0
Very cat.......................601.......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........22273.....651.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,569
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,365
Available for debt repayments........... 204
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 651
Amount short for making debt repayments. -447 Well done you now know the scope of the short fall. If you genuinely don't know where all the money is going, then a spending diary for your and partner is essential, to note down all those coffees at petrol stations, or canteen bought sandwiches etc... If you were able to cut £250 off your food bill, cut out the satellite, saved £50 on car insurance, that would be £345 a month towards this short fall. If you can sell on ebay, carboot or saved some petrol you would nearly be balancing each month....
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -22,273
Net Assets.............................. -19,273
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

I hope you don't mind this being this detailed, but sometimes the you can't see the wood for the trees, or spending is so habitual you don't notice it until it is pointed out to you. I remember one poster on here, who was horrified when she worked out that she spent £100 on coffees on the way to work!

good luck with your debt free journey. I would suggest looking at these cuts, in association with seeking help from CCCS or Payplan. That way you should be able to build up an emergency fund and manage a cheap holiday. CCCS have a debt remedy part of their website, where you can input the figures above and it will give you a generalised opinion of what your best option might be.

Also if you have a look at www.makesenseofcards.com, there is a calculator on there which will tell you how long it will take to pay off your debt. Whilst this might be horrifiying initially, it may also be a really good motivator.

chev

cherrypie556

Thanks guys. I am a FT student at uni, so the au pair is a necessaty for me to continue. Due to the course we don't qualify for child care help, the max we could get is £200 a week but childcare in the school hols would be £100 a day so this is a no go. My eldest child is 8 and my youngest is 3. As she is an au-pair she doesn't have to pay nat ins etc.
Council tax is £77 that includes a 25% discount as im a FT student. WE are not entitled to housing benefit and the 'benefits' we do get are child tax credit, working tax credit and child benefit.

Hubby is going to sell his car I think, the insurance is high due to the fact he has a ban and his car is a group 20! It's only worth £1000 but he said he will sell and ride to work as he is only about a 20 min cycle away. I need my car ( 7 seater) and the parking costs will have to remain. My insurance is £60 a month as got no no claims.

satelitte and mobiles cannot be cut as tied into contracts, with long life left in them yet.

Entertainment . No we do not get takeaways, go out or even buy mags, have no money to do anything with. Hense another reason we have satellite tv.

£33 a month on presents is park savings club for xmas, only way we can afford xmas without getting into further debt.

No none of my children go to any clubs or get pocket money, haven't the money. So hense another reason I feel like such a crap parent!

And as for food. I only buy tesco value products and offers, no 'named' brands at all. I have a fussy hubby and kids who would not eat cauliflower cheese etc. £20 a week per person is what I use to buy shopping which I think is dam good as it inc household toilteries and dog food too!

beanielou

Your food buget may be good but unfortunatly based on your SOA you cant afford it.