Dimmer switched light bulb moment

all_hours

samgoffe wrote:

i did summerise it a bit.

basically, we both have seprate accounts.

i pay £1000 (but usally top it up with an other £200) every month, out of my £1400. The loan comes from my bank

Partners salery is £950 after tax. she puts in £550. But she also pays for petrol (when she gets it) on her own account, same with food etc.

I understand she's earning less than you - but you're putting 85% of your salary into the joint account and she's putting 57% of hers.

Maybe you could do a joint budget for all the household bills (including a food for you both and car expenses that you both benefit from) and work out a fairer split that will leave you each with a equal percentage of your salaries.

illmonkey

well, like i said, shes putting that ammount in, but proberly spends upto £200 on her personnal card anyway.

Its not about who puts in more, or trying to get my share down! its about not being able to afford things enough to live.

climbgirl

dudleyboy wrote:

I think the problem is probably spending £150 on things like a vacuum cleaner, when you can get a decent one for about a third of the price, getting a passport when you can't really afford to take a holiday overseas, and using more heating just because it's October when really sticking a jumper on will probably do the trick.

You may think my suggestions are being a bit tight but i'm not the one £20k in debt.QUOTE]

These are the things that really jumped out for me too. You're probably not spending your money in the wisest possible fashion when you do have it to spend, hunting round for the bargains etc. It's the kind of thing that takes time to really get the hang of, but you need to think about every single penny you spend - do you really need to spend it? If you do, is it the best possible price?

all_hours

samgoffe wrote:

well, like i said, shes putting that ammount in, but proberly spends upto £200 on her personnal card anyway.

Its not about who puts in more, or trying to get my share down! its about not being able to afford things enough to live.

That's why you need to do a joint budget so you can work out together how much you have left over. The £200 she puts on her own card for joint expenses should also be included in the budget so you can work out where you can cut back.

notes

Cant help much but must stress that paying service charge to management company comes in as one thing that MUST be paid ! I am director of management company and know that in some cases failure to pay could mean you lose the leasehold to the management company and still owe the mortgage company ! BUT, i doubt if in reality it would get to that stage as you would get time to pay. And then first having charges placed on property etc.
I know if a resident told me they were having trouble then i would give them a few months at least 8 to 12 months to get on track before even thinking of going above route.
Have you asked for more time. I would say to someone in your situation to set up a standing order to cover current monthly payments and then you keep paying us the arrears within 12 months. But ultimately its up to the management company.

calleyw

Think you need to do a Joint SOA.

How far is your OH travelling to work as £130+ with car sharing is a lot of money.

You say you got rid of sky but you have listed it on your SOA as £10. Get a freeview box.

You are spending £25 a month on a mobile phone. Go PAYG and only use it in emergencies.

Those would free up £35 a month with out much pain. That is £420 a year.

You don't say how much you spend on food. I budget and spend up to £100 this month it is going to be around £50 ish. And no we don't eat ready meals. We have salmon/tuna/steak once a week. Joint on a sunday be it freshly cooked or left over meat the following week.

I think the two of you need to keep spending diaries to see where you money is going.

Why don't you get a joint account and you each put some in to cover joint expenses such as mortgage etc.

Your water seems high can you have a meter put in as I pay about £73 for 6 months for two of us on meter.

Car insurance is high have you checked to see if you can get it cheaper.

All the best.


Yours


Calley

illmonkey

She travels around 20 miles each way, but we obviously also use the car on weekends too. Also, its a MINI, so its not the best MPG!!

Im not ditching The sky at £10 a month. If i buy a free view box, its still spending more money!

Also, cant go without my phone, or go onto PAYG, if i did that, our house bill would rocket.

Food varies, but we usally do 2 big shops a month, £50 a pop. then a few topup shops a month too.

We have a joint account, which is where everything comes out of, but still also have seperate accounts we have a little bit of money in, for things like presents etc.

Car insurance is very good, £660 for two 20 year olds on a 4 year old mini!

This afternoon im looking into changing our household suppliers, shave some money from there.

nidje

"Im not ditching The sky at £10 a month. If i buy a free view box, its still spending more money!"


If you've had your Sky contract for over 12 months you should qualify for FreeSat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/digital/tv/tv_nonsubs.shtml

You get quite a few channels inc. BBC3/4 News 24, ITV 2 and Sky News.

Nx

bargainbetty

If you can't give up your mobile phone, could you talk to your provider about switching to a better tariff with free minutes/texts? I know that t-mobile do one for £25 per month that includes 200 minutes and 100 texts....

I have something similar, and reset my call data every month so I can make sure I know how much I have used, and try to use up every damn minute rather than pay elsewhere. You could also check to see if BT have a call plan that limits call charges. My mum has one that means she can call any landline off-peak for 5.5p for an hour.

Other than that, I have to agree with the posters who have discussed spending habits. I kept a spending diary for a few weeks, and was stunned by what I spent. Lots of incentive to shop around a bit and save money.

illmonkey

I have FreeSat, im paying for Sky+. There is usally 2 things i want to watch at once, so it makes my (limited channel) tv viewing easier.

I have got a great deal on my phone, they lowered my tariff payments but kept me on the same contract if i took it out for 18 months. So i pay £25 for 400 minutes and 200 texts. I dont go over that either!

I actually wrote a database for storing all recipts and spends. When i started doing it, it seemed OTT, but alais it seems i need to start using it again!