a little help needed...

Loulou2010

right hubby starts a new job in january. we survive on just his wages. the only benefits we get are child tax credits and child benefits. he is reluctant to go down that route so your help would be much appriciated.

we dont know yet what his monthly salary is. he'll earn a basic £14,000 a year plus commision.

we dont have any debts and want to avoid getting that way...


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1280 rough guess maybe less/more
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 467
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 133
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 85
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 22
Telephone (land line)................... 35 phone/internet/cable tv
Mobile phone............................ 40 two mobiles
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 rough estimate
Clothing................................ 15 thats clothes for our ds
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 30 nappies/wipes
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10 yearly prescription wihich works out around £10 a month
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1397

any advice would be great

laisbojar83

Hi Lou,

The first thing I would do is reduce your husband`s wages, only count his base salary. Divide it by 12 and you get 1166, before taxes. if you can work within that, then whatever comes from commission is a bonus.

Also, your groceries can be reduced. We are a family of 4 and spend around 280 a month, including toiletries, cleaning and laundry.

Gas seems quite high as well, are you paying arrears? Maybe, you can turn the heating down in rooms that less used.

30.00 on haircuts, seems a lot to me. My 2 sons and hubby cut their hairs for 18.00.

Nothing on entertainment, is that really accurate? How old is your DS? I would add some there, for the odd trip to the soft play centres, etc.

I am sure someone else will come along with some great suggestions.

Good luck and well done xx

L.

Tixy

Hi

His net basic is going to be around £970 a month on £14000. How much guarantee do you have he will get another £200 net in commission? If you are not sure about the commission then I would try to see if you can make the months balance without the commission at all.

Have you reworked how much you benefits you should get with this new wage? That looks like you only have child benefit in so far - isn't that £20 per week? so £87 a month?
I'd expect you could get tax credits as well. Do you get any benefits? JSA or anything?

As your figures stand at the moment it looks like you have a shortfall of £117.

So looking at your costs to see what could be reduced.
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 85 this looks high - do you have arrears? have you shopped around to see if you can find a cheaper supplier or a better tariff?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 22
Telephone (land line)................... 35 phone/internet/cable tv are you tied in to this? if you went for freeview instead you could reduce this to around £20pm
Mobile phone............................ 40 two mobiles
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 rough estimate This is probably going to be the easiest area to cutback. There are people with a family of 5 managing on around £250 so hopefully you should be able to do this for £200 for the 3 of you.
Clothing................................ 15 thats clothes for our ds
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 50 This is quite high -do you shop around at renewal time for the best deal?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 is a car essential? its costing a lot in maintance, insurance etc compared to the amount of miles you are doing. Could OH commute without a car?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 30 nappies/wipes
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10 yearly prescription wihich works out around £10 a month
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 30 can you reduce this at all? go a bit longer between haircuts etc or try a training college? (its not that high but obviously when you have a shortfall you need to reduce whatever you can).
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0

Just a few things I can think of to start with. Obviously if you can get more benefits etc then things won't be so tight.

Loulou2010

laisbojar83 wrote: »

Hi Lou,

The first thing I would do is reduce your husband`s wages, only count his base salary. Divide it by 12 and you get 1166, before taxes. if you can work within that, then whatever comes from commission is a bonus.

Also, your groceries can be reduced. We are a family of 4 and spend around 280 a month, including toiletries, cleaning and laundry.

we do spend a lot here.... thats one area we'll have to cut back in

Gas seems quite high as well, are you paying arrears? Maybe, you can turn the heating down in rooms that less used.

we switched over from a pay as you go and they under charged for a few months. hopefully this should go down pretty soon

30.00 on haircuts, seems a lot to me. My 2 sons and hubby cut their hairs for 18.00.

we have a mobile hairdresser come to us every 6/8 weeks - could probably get it cheaper

Nothing on entertainment, is that really accurate? How old is your DS? I would add some there, for the odd trip to the soft play centres, etc.



I am sure someone else will come along with some great suggestions.

Good luck and well done xx

L.

thanks for your input

tbh - he doesnt really go to soft play and things like that - tend to take him to local woods etc more often than not if he goes somewhere like that its paid for by someone else

Lokolo

I agree that £300 a month is a lot, I spend £100 a month in my house but I do eat a lot and I do tend to buy the household stuff (washing up liquid, sponges etc.etc.) as well, for 5 people.

But you did say it was a rough estimate. Do you pay on card or cash? If so you could look at old bank statements, add up all the ones which have Asda/Tesco etc.

Your electric and gas is the same as my house (5 bedroom though with 2 bathrooms!), so yours might be a bit lower.

Also your OHs income after tax would be £965....

And good luck

Loulou2010

Tixy wrote: »

Hi

His net basic is going to be around £970 a month on £14000. How much guarantee do you have he will get another £200 net in commission? If you are not sure about the commission then I would try to see if you can make the months balance without the commission at all.

Have you reworked how much you benefits you should get with this new wage? That looks like you only have child benefit in so far - isn't that £20 per week? so £87 a month?
I'd expect you could get tax credits as well. Do you get any benefits? JSA or anything?

we get child benefit (currently £10 a week) and child tax credits (£10 week)
As your figures stand at the moment it looks like you have a shortfall of £117.

So looking at your costs to see what could be reduced.
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 85 this looks high - do you have arrears? have you shopped around to see if you can find a cheaper supplier or a better tariff?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 22
Telephone (land line)................... 35 phone/internet/cable tv are you tied in to this? if you went for freeview instead you could reduce this to around £20pm
Mobile phone............................ 40 two mobiles
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 rough estimate This is probably going to be the easiest area to cutback. There are people with a family of 5 managing on around £250 so hopefully you should be able to do this for £200 for the 3 of you.
Clothing................................ 15 thats clothes for our ds
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 50 This is quite high -do you shop around at renewal time for the best deal?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 is a car essential? its costing a lot in maintance, insurance etc compared to the amount of miles you are doing. Could OH commute without a car?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 30 nappies/wipes
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10 yearly prescription wihich works out around £10 a month
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 30 can you reduce this at all? go a bit longer between haircuts etc or try a training college? (its not that high but obviously when you have a shortfall you need to reduce whatever you can).
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0

Just a few things I can think of to start with. Obviously if you can get more benefits etc then things won't be so tight.

car insurance - that was rough guess. will double check it with hubby tomorrow

car maintence - cost about £1000 this year in total (mot, service, tyres etc) - could put less aside.... using public transport would involve a bus then train - costing more

haircuts - could probably be done cheaper

thanks

Loulou2010

Lokolo wrote: »

I agree that £300 a month is a lot, I spend £100 a month in my house but I do eat a lot and I do tend to buy the household stuff (washing up liquid, sponges etc.etc.) as well, for 5 people.

But you did say it was a rough estimate. Do you pay on card or cash? If so you could look at old bank statements, add up all the ones which have Asda/Tesco etc.

Your electric and gas is the same as my house (5 bedroom though with 2 bathrooms!), so yours might be a bit lower.

Also your OHs income after tax would be £965....

And good luck

the gas and electric are definately right... but the gas should come down pretty soon

we pay a mixture of card and cash. its not something we have had to monitor and just brought things in dribs and drabs. sometimes we could do a shop for a little as £150 and that will last a month and just get fresh stuff as needed. will start to keep better track of what we spend

jackieglasgow

Join the grocery challenge on Old Style, and try the cheap family meals website for cheap recipes.

Loulou2010

jackieglasgow wrote: »

Join the grocery challenge on Old Style, and try the cheap family meals website for cheap recipes.

stalker

i'm my way over there