My Turn

rchrisp

My salary - £1062.22
Partners salary - £0

Total - £1062.22

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £303.33
Council Tax - £93
Gas - £25
Electric - £83
TV License - £10.99
Phone - £20.00
Mobile - £25.00
Food/Grocery - £200
Bus - £49
Water - £42
Internet - £12.99
DVDs - £12.49

Credit Union - £100 (loan for £4330; revolving credit overdraft [£300] and £10 savings)
HSBC Managed Loan - £80 (about £1500 left)
Co-Op Credit Card - £20 (balance around £1000, APR 9%)
Egg Card - £20 (balance £750, APR !6.9%)
Dorothy Perkins - £20 (balance £440, [limit £630] APR 29.9%)
Debenhams - £5 (balance £110, [limit £250] APR 29.9%)
La Redoute - £20 (balance £220, unsure of APR)

Total: -£59.58

i've recently applied for a 0% with tesco to transfer cards but was turned down. the food bill flucuates as i pay all my bills first, and use whats left to eat. i do a lot of ebay so mostly make up the shortfall and have recently applied to 10 mystery shopping companies. any ideas? OH is not entitled to any benefits as i apparently earn too much.

pollyanna24

Does your partner stay at home because of children? Then there should be benefits. If not, then maybe your partner could get a part time job to help out somewhere?

rchrisp

Partner is ill and cannot work. he is apparently not entitled to any benefits as he hasn't had enough NI contributions due to being in college and illness. he cant get income support because i earn too much. we have no kids. he's on a year long waiting list for medical help.

Dolly_Smith

what is wrong with him, if you don't mind me asking? It seems a bit harsh that he's not entitled to anything despite being medically unfit to work. Has he been declared medically unfit?

rchrisp

he has. he has chronic Avoidant Personality Disorder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidant_personality_disorder sums it up 100%) and is on a NHS waiting list for psychotherapy. we were planning on going private if he got benefits to help him quicker, but that's now out of the question.

he was told he'd be entitled to Incapacity for Youth, however due to a loop hole (he was in education at age 22 and not when he was 21) he is not entitled to it.

Storm

Hello!

I'm not one of the 'experts' but here's my 'non-expert' opinion on your SoA:

Mortgage/Rent - £303.33
Council Tax - £93 Can you get a reduction as OH not got any income?
Gas - £25
Electric - £83 This seems very high, esp when combined with the gas bill
TV License - £10.99
Phone - £20.00
Mobile - £25.00 Can you go to cheaper tariff or PAYG?
Food/Grocery - £200 Could be reduced for 2 people
Bus - £49
Water - £42 This is high, would a meter be cheaper?
Internet - £12.99
DVDs - £12.49 This could go, there's free trial of DVD rental services on places like Quidco

You also haven't got a budget for birthdays, haircuts, odd expenses like stuff breaking etc.

I would start with checking you're getting the best deal on your utilities, down grading your mobile tariff & investigating a water meter.

I'm disgusted that your OH can't get any sort of benefit when he's got a medically recognised condition - are there any support groups for the condition that you can talk to?

Storm

oops_a_daisy

Hi there rchrisp and welcome to DFWannabees
well done for posting and Im sure you will get some good advice to help you. Just a few points
1. Your electric sounds high - is that because of arrears ? can you look into switching to a cheaper supplier ( dont if you have arrears though because you will have to pay them off if you switch.)
2. Are you on a water meter or rates - if you are not on a water meter you would probably make savings as there are only 2 of you - I pay about £22.00 per month for 2 of us
3. Money saving old style is brilliant for meal planning to bring down your food costs. I spend £125.00 per month for 2 and we do not go without in fact I think I need to go on a diet with all this proper eating.
4. I think there is a web site that you can go to to find out if you are elligable for benefits - hopefully somebody will post the details on here for you to have another try. Seems very unfair that you husband gets nothing.
5. Hopefully somebody will be able to give advice on moving your debt to lower interest rates. I am not sure how strict Tesco are so dont know if you would have better luck elsewhere. The cards that you need to prioritise for paying off first are your store cards as they have the higher interest charges. Hopefully somebody will post the link to the snowball calculator so that you can put all of your details in to work out how long it will take to pay the debts off
6. You can get free trials for DVD's but be careful that you cancel them before the end of the free trial so as not incur charges.
7. good luck with the mystery shopping - there is a thread on mortgage free wannabee calle the great 'bit on the side' hunt which has some other good tips for an extra income.
8. you havent included in your SOA anything for dentistry, prescriptions, hair cuts, christmas or birthday presents. Just to point out that these things do come around so need budgeting for too.
9. Mobile - can you switch it to pay as you go and only use it in emergency ?

all the best and good luck - OOPS

HairyHandofDartmoor

I think you could spend a lot less on food for 2 people. Value products are worth a try. I used to be snobby about them but when I actually tried them I was surprised at how good they are. You could probably get the bill down to £100 per month for 2 of you. Cooking from scratch, if you can manage that, is also very money saving.

Good luck with giving up smoking. You already know it will save you money, but it also makes you feel very smug for being so strong minded when you manage to give up!

oops_a_daisy

Im not an expert either :rotfl:

HairyHandofDartmoor

Oh sorry, my mistake, you don't smoke. I will read more carefully next time!

newlywed

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote:

I think you could spend a lot less on food for 2 people. Value products are worth a try. I used to be snobby about them but when I actually tried them I was surprised at how good they are. You could probably get the bill down to £100 per month for 2 of you. Cooking from scratch, if you can manage that, is also very money saving.

I agree. I used to turn my nose up at value tins of chopped tomato etc. Now I just buy the cheapest. Plus I stood today at the meat section debating what works out cheapest for the amount of meals we could get out of it!!

Check out the Old Style forum as cooking from scratch does save lots. Lots of great tips there. Have reduced my shopping bill by over £60 a week (2 adults + 2 kids) just from applying the tips and thinking before I buy the food I fancy!!