Help with budget please

toria27

I have been reading posts on here for a while now and just want to say well done to everyone for trying to sort out there debts.
I am not in a huge amount of debt but do feel I need some help in order to avoid getting into it as I can easily see that happening. There is me OH and 13 month old DD.

Here is my SOA

INCOMING
OH wage £1924
Child benefit £69.80
CTC £41.61

Total £2035.41

OUTGOINGS

mortgage £1050
water £28.69
electricity £18 (have switched to lowest)
gas £75 (have switched to lowest)
council tax £106.4
tv licence £10.99
fuel £50
car tax £18.75 (2 cars) need both
car insurance £28.75 (2 cars)
other car (mot's, services etc) £33
house insurance £23.76
life insurance £92.37
unemployment, disability & critical illness insurance £48.95
child savings £20
food £160
house phone £18
Internet £14.99
mobile £20 (contract as get 1500 free minutes a month)
Annual pass to farm/park £7
Birthdays £25
Christmas £25
dentist £8.33 (just for check ups)
Holiday fund £25
prescriptions £6.80
clothes & shoes £50 (average over 12months)
entertainment/going out £30

Total £1994.78

£40.63 left a month which can easily go towards dentist (can't get NHS),more prescriptions, or emergencies for the house etc.

Owe parents £2670 have already paid them £5000 back

I am hoping someone will be able to offer some advice on ways to cut outgoings down as we don't seem to be able to put enough aside for emergencies for the house, Just needed to buy new washing machine, garden fence, front door and boiler, let alone paying family back what we owe.
I am struggling to find work which will fit around childcare at the moment but am looking everyday. I do ebaying, mystery shopping and cashback sites which all help, havn't included them in budget as they go towards things for the house.

Many thanks

lady_fuschia

Hiya, I'm not really what you'd call one of the experts but wanted first to offer support- even small debts can be a burden, and say there were a few things that stood out even to my non-expert eyes!
-water- are you on a meter? (It may be that you're not any better off, but its worth checking. It seems very high to me)
- disability etc insurance- can you get a better deal on this?
- child savings- £20. Are you sure you can really afford to do this at the moment? If you put the money towards paying debts you'll likely be saving on the interest you're paying and be able to save more for him in the long run. Compare the interest rates- usually you make less on savings than you pay on debts.
-Pass to farm/ park. DO you really use this enough for it to be worthwhile? Could you switch to free days out (picnics in the park, woodland walks, day at the beach) instead?
- phone/internet- have you looked at talktalks free broadbrand package? I found it saved me about £20 a month.
-Mobile. Do you always use the free minutes? If not, you might still be better on PAYG
-Birthdays £25 a month? How many people do you have to cover? Could you cut this down any, unless you have a huge immediate family it seems wuite a lot. How much do you spend per person? Are you buying for people like workmates or neighbours for whom a card might be sufficient?
- I know you say you need the two cars, but is there really no chance that you could cope with one (I know its not always an option, but its worth giving some thought)

Just some ideas

toria27

Thanks for the quick reply lady_fuschia.
I have looked into getting a water meter but it would work out more Oh has a very manual job and as I have a messy toddler I do 2 loads of washing a day, dishwasher goes on x2 and we have 2 showers a day also.

Annual pass to park/farm is already paid for and we bought it as it costs £28 each for a year as opposed to £8.70 each per visit and we do go several times a year so it is worthwhile and our only family day out that we pay for.

Can not get cheaper insurances due to OH's job health etc.

Neither of us really want to stop paying into DD savings account but of course would if became necessary.

I am on BT for phone and pay £12 a month for this and I use 1899 for all calls during the day which has already cut £30-£40 pounds off our quarterly bill.

Birthdays and Christmas don't think we can go much lower we have 6 neices and nephews, 2 brothers & 2 sisters only spend £5 on each of them though £50 on daughter and £20 on each parent,have 2 freinds again £5. we also spend £50 on each other (which includes a meal out etc), the rest goes towards christmas dinner and birthday parties.

Mobile - I will look into doing PAYG but as I am on such a good tarriff I am wary about switching it only costs 50p a day.

OH won't give up his car he has only just finished re building it after 6 years!! as it is a classic mini. It is more used to go to shows which is his hobby and his insurance is only just over £100 we did only have 1 car for the past year but really struggled with it as I was having to drop him off at work at 6 in the morning and pick him up at 6 and this was disrupting DD.

My parents are willing to wait for what we owe them as they know it is hard for us. At the moment we are paying them back through ebay selling etc.

I hope it doesn't seem like I have just dismissed your ideas, as all of them are welcome and thanks a lot for taking the time.

Serialdieter

Hi

I'm quite new myself and still learning, so I'm sure the experts will be along soon with some good advice. You've made the first step by joining.

toria27 wrote:

Here is my SOA

INCOMING
OH wage £1924
Child benefit £69.80
CTC £41.61

Total £2035.41

OUTGOINGS

mortgage £1050 Is this the best deal you can get? seems high, but I know that depends on area
water £28.69 this seems high, are you on a meter?
electricity £18 (have switched to lowest)
gas £75 (have switched to lowest)
council tax £106.4
tv licence £10.99
fuel £50
car tax £18.75 (2 cars) need both
car insurance £28.75 (2 cars)
other car (mot's, services etc) £33
house insurance £23.76 is this the best deal you can get?
life insurance £92.37 - this seems very high
unemployment, disability & critical illness insurance £48.95 - this seems high
child savings £20 it isn't easy, but this isn't necessary
food £160
house phone £18 does this include calls?
Internet £14.99 can you get a better deal elsewhere?
mobile £20 (contract as get 1500 free minutes a month) Do you actually need 1500 free minutes a month, if not change to payg.
Annual pass to farm/park £7 Do you use this enough to make it worthwhile? or could you do cheaper options. Given your dd is so young, she won't know
Birthdays £25 £300 per year is a lot on birthdays
Christmas £25
dentist £8.33 (just for check ups)
Holiday fund £25 £300 off your debtprescriptions £6.80
clothes & shoes £50 (average over 12months) £600 is a lot on clothes etc - I know kids shows are expensive. If you need a lot of prescriptions then perhaps look at a pre-payment.
entertainment/going out £30 £360 per year, seems high to me.

Jx

CLAPTON

firstly you really need to include everything in the budget...if you spend buying 'things for the house' then they need including in the budget..are there any other things not inlcuded

secondly, well done on budgetting for car other, xmas, presents etc . Are you actually saving the 108 (=25+33+25+25) in a savings account so you have it when needed? similarly is the 50 for clothes being saved?


your basic problem is really the large amount of mopney your mortgage and related costs ..over 60% for your net income. is the mortgage rate a competitive deal?

its unclear why two cars are essential if you are not working

your life insurance is enormous...is this actually a saving scheme as well as life insurance.

saving for the child at the moment makes no sense until you clear the debts and build up a decent emergency fund

mrslawrence2003

Serialdieter wrote:

Hi

I'm quite new myself and still learning, so I'm sure the experts will be along soon with some good advice. You've made the first step by joining.



Jx

i thought the unemployment and critical illness etc was pretty cheap - my husband and i were quoted over £100 when we looked into this and we were both young, fit and healthy!

toria27

Our mortgage rate is only 4.59% we owe a lot as very expensive area
I don't have enough prescriptions to warrant prepayment unfortunatley, have looked as my mum has this.
I do buy a lot of clothes from car boot and ebay but this is still what it comes to for all 3 of us, shoes are one of the main problems as I have broad feet and can not just buy any shoes so they tend to cost a little more and you know how quick childrens feet grow!
I havn't seen a better deal for internet I went with the one martin recommended on her for unlimited broadband don't know of another?
The holiday fund is staying too at the moment as we havn't been away for 3 years and OH is getting a bit depressed he works 6 days a week 57hours and is also on call at night for alarms etc. so we really want to get out of the country as soon as we save enough.
Entertainment- we havn't actually spent that for a long time we don't really have anyone to babysit for us and the money has gone on essentials for the house. I don't think we will ever have the chance to spend that!! lol so yes that is £30 a month saved.

Storm

The biggest area I can see for cutting back is the food bill - £160 for 3 people per month is a lot! The moneysaving old style board has lots of tips for buling out meals cheaply, alternatives to expensive cleaning products etc, so might be worth a look.

The clothes bill is also high (though I appreciate that kids grow so fast they go through clothes like anything!) Could you sell off the outgrown clothes on Ebay and maybe even look there for new ones? You could end up with barely having to spend out each time if you can recoup your money!

With the child savings - I know ou'd hate to stop this, but you could instead look at doing something like the £2 saving club that some people on here do, so instead of a regular amount you put aside every £2 you or your OH gets and bank that once a month? Or reduce your payments for the moment to £10?

toria27

Money for presents and car, clothes etc. do go into an ISA so is there when we need it.
I didn't really know how to post costs for things for the house as they were one offs ie. £850 for new door to be fitted (we had 8qotes) new washing machine £280 new fence £1000!! a lot I know but garden is over 100ft long and we had it fitted for us, it was the cheapest deal around.
My car is our family car and OH is his hobbie for shows only just got it running and doesn't cost a lot mine is the main expense.

toria27

I have posted on old style board for help to cut back food bill further as I really don't seem to be able to do this. I know a lot manage on less than me so I know it can be done and I will try harder! I already meal plan and cook from scratch etc. any other tips welcome though.

black-saturn

Heres my four penneth. Some of these things may have been repeated or may be really obvious:

mortgage £1050
water £28.69 This is really high. Switch to a meter and limit your water useage. Showers instead of baths, wait till washing machine is full before using it, wait till sink is full before washing up, leave a bucket outside in the rain for flushing the loo
electricity £18 (have switched to lowest)
gas £75 (have switched to lowest) This is high again. Try to grill things instead of put the oven on, put a jumper on instead of the heating
council tax £106.4
tv licence £10.99
fuel £50
car tax £18.75 (2 cars) need both
car insurance £28.75 (2 cars)
other car (mot's, services etc) £33 Do you need a car? It's a really high expense that some people can live without. Could you walk, cycle or jog to your destinations?
house insurance £23.76
life insurance £92.37 Cash this in and pay it towards the debts then carry on paying your premium off the debts each month. Once the debts are paid up you can start it again.
unemployment, disability & critical illness insurance £48.95 As with life insurance
child savings £20 As with life insurance
food £160 Go on the Old Style board to find out how you can cut your food bills down. I'm a family of 3 and I spend £43 a month. I'll put my menu planner links at the end of this post
house phone £18
Internet £14.99
mobile £20 (contract as get 1500 free minutes a month)
Annual pass to farm/park £7
Birthdays £25
Christmas £25
dentist £8.33 (just for check ups)
Holiday fund £25 Try a Sun newspaper holiday next time they are running the promotion.
prescriptions £6.80
clothes & shoes £50 (average over 12months) Try ebay, charity shops and boot sales. Sell back on ebay anything you don't wear anymore and use the money to buy new stuff
entertainment/going out £30 Depends on how much you want to sacrifice as to whether you give up or reduce this

My meal planner threads are as follows:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2340412&posted=1#post2340412

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=157526&highlight=black-saturns+menu

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=236481&highlight=shave+soa

Also have a good look round your house and gather up anything you don't use anymore to sell on ebay. It's amazing how much you can get for dvds you never watch, cds you never listen to, videos you never watch, clothes you never wear, books you never read etc etc. Also if you want to buy anything look on ebay for it. It will probably be cheaper on there. Then if it's something you can sell on sell it back again on ebay. This makes the actual price you paid for the item quite small. I use ebay as a DVD rental service in this way.