Light Bulb Moment horror!

dancingfairy

Mortgage - £916 month (£152,000 owed at 4.79% interest)
Mortgage endowment - £10 month*
Council Tax - £108 month
TV licence - £13 month
Water - £95 year can you put this per month please as your figures are confusing with some weekly , some monthly and some yearly
Electricity & Gas - £83 month a bit high - can you get this down - be more eco and/or switch tariffs and suppliers
Buildings & Contents insurance - £33 month have you shoppped around for this? could be a bit lower?
Mortgage PPI - £47 month have you shopped around for this? if bought with your mortgage can cost a lot more than a standalone policy
Life, critical illness & income protection - £162 (for us both) that's a lot to pay out each month - have you shopped around for these? are you clear on what they do and don't cover?
Car insurance for 2 cars - £750 year Need this per month
Road tax for 2 cars - £330 year - need this per month
School meals - £12 week - need this per month - times it by 4.3 to get a monthly amount but do they really need school meals? on top of what appears to be a decent grocery fund already.
Tobacco - £25 month - an area to maybe consider if you can reduce?
Magazine subscription - £8 month
Washing machine cover - £7 month
Loan from parents to buy 2nd car - £30 month**
Food & groceries - £420 month not sure how many you're feeding here?
Clothing & footwear - £50 month
Fuel - £110 month - petrol/diesel? are you getting it from the cheapest garage? can you drive more carefully and check that you are not carting about the kitchen sink in the boot/car or have a roof rack as these add loads to the fuel bill apparently.
BT phone & broadband - £50 month
O2 - £80 month :eek: ridiculous - easy massive savings here - think more like 40 a month between you MAX
Kids swimming lessons - £11 week write this monthly
Scouts subs - £14 month

CCCS also reckons to add:
School trips/activities - £10 month
Medicines/prescriptions - £7 month
Dentist/opticians - £10 month
Vehicle spares/servicing - £20 month
Hairdressing - £15 month (though I'm sure we spend less)
Sundries/emergencies - £25
Childcare costs effectively £0 as husband gets childcare vouchers which covers the full cost.

Maybe re-add this up when you have got all the figures monthly and with any savings you can make.
I would get in touch with one of the debt charities Martin recommends like CCCS etc as banks don't always have your best interests at heart and may just give you a loan (more debt does not ever help -the amount of people who have cleared cards with a loan, wracked up more, got another loan etc is truly horrifying - so many people have done that and it is a bad,bad,bad idea). Banks also like things that make them profit or which earns them sales commission. Go through a free charity.
df

JUMI

All really helpful suggestions - thanks all x
Will spend weekend with husband sorting through all suggestions.

Realised that mobile phone insurance is covered by the bank account we have (Barclays Additions Active) so will be able to cancel the insurance we both pay to O2 each month in 3 weeks when new cover kicks in