£30 til payday again and sick with worry!

jcr16

the only thing i really know about is food budgets. were a family of 5 and i spend around £200-£250 a month. but i don't work so i have time to shop around and cook meals from scratch which saves money.

while i think £600 is alot , if you have no fridge or freezer i imagine your doing alot of day to day shopping which costs more.

If you spent £500 one month the other £100 would buy you a fridge, then the following month cut down to £400, that £200 would mend your toilet.

do you have a freecycle ? you will proberly be able to pick a fridge a freezer up for free, ok it won't be the best looking. but it will work.

Don't give yourself a tiny food budget as it will seem impossible. try to shave a bit off at a time,

make a meal planner, ( i don't know what food you like so i'll so with a typical one for us)

mon ~ spag bol
tue ~ devilled sauages and rice
wed ~ jacket spuds, cheese and quiche
thur ~ home made pizza
fri ~ lasagne , chips and garlic bread
Sat ~ curry
Sun ~ Roast

Breakie will be toast or cereal , generally 1 box last a week, but i buy two or 3 so we have variety. we eat 1 loaf of bread a day ( pack lunches for 3, and sandwich for me and youngest) bread is 50p a loaf at morrisons.

by writting a meal planner it helps you stick to your list, you know you have everything you need for you meals and you don't get to the evening when you come home and think , i'm hungary what can we eat, don't know , Lets get a takeaway ( not saying you do, but i did,lol)

we like casseroles, stews, home made pies, toad in holes. a real variety and by doing the meal planner i can give us variety on a budget.

i hope this is of some inspiration for you. pop over to the money saving old style board for more idea hun. it is full of them.

ps, You can do it, you can sort yourself out and it might seem impossible now, but when your down there is only one way to go and that is up. Big hugs x

rising_from_the_ashes

Sakina wrote: »

Also re gas/electric - our house in a 4 bed detached and we are VERY frugal with gas/electric but have terrible insulation - single glazing on one whole wall of our lounge floor to ceiling and open chimney into lounge.

re loft insulation - very worthwhile investment & there can be some very good offers around:
extra thick & covers around 8m2 for £5 http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=20001&partNumber=790810&Trail=searchtext>INSULATION
or
thinner for a top up layer and covers around £13m2 for £15
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10186452&fh_view_size=12&fh_eds=%3f&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3c%7b9372016%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372050%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372230%7d&fh_refview=lister&isSearch=false
I put an extra layer in my loft last year (2nd product - got them for £9.99 on offer and only needed 3) and it's made a huge difference so def £30 well spent!


Edit - 2nd link won't work for some reason: search B&Q for Knauf Space Combi-Roll Loft Insulation 100mm

narabanekeater

also ask for the reciept for any prescriptions you buy till it arrives. Im sure you can buy it online via DD

pelirocco

Sakina wrote: »

Sorry just saw the other posts - to clear things up: Council tax is paid over 12 months. Pet food is included in groceries too plus I included her worming tablets/flea tmt, food supplements in that too and puppy class/agility club fees, totals around £60 a month probably. That will go down soon as she's stopped puppy school at £10 a week and starting agility at £3 a week and as is now older can go onto 3 monthly worming cycle instead of 1 monthly. She is fed on raw food which is cheaper than normal food and doesn't eat a great deal anyway!

I didn't know about the prescription certificate - that sounds incredible and will save so much money! I will look into that straight away.

Also re gas/electric - our house in a 4 bed detached and we are VERY frugal with gas/electric but have terrible insulation - single glazing on one whole wall of our lounge floor to ceiling and open chimney into lounge. Those are priorities to get sorted when share funds come in. Share scheme matures once a year or once every other year, should be getting roughly £2500 in Nov this year then same year after etc.

At £300 per month you should be getting more !

honeybear68

Hi Have you thought about prepayment prescription certificate I pay 10.40 per month over the year, this may be worth looking at.

Sakina

pelirocco wrote: »

At £300 per month you should be getting more !

Its split into different 3 year share plans - £50 scheme a, £100 scheme b, etc so different schemes mature at different times.

whiteguineapig

i was going to suggest freecycle as well, if you join your local one then check everyday, there often seems to be freezers given away on ours

savingcaz

Hi, well done for posting i'll put my thoughts in red on your SOA.


Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 400
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 367 (car loan finishes Nov 2012 when we will own the car)
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 180
Electricity............................. 60 - can you shop around? use cashback sites to get some more money off.
Gas..................................... 56can you shop around? use cashback sites to get some more money off.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40 (inc sewerage)
Telephone (land line)................... 25 (quite expensive can't you go on a combined package?)
Mobile phone............................ 40 (for both contracts)
TV Licence.............................. 20 are you paying it by direct debit? if so it is only £12.40ish per month!
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60 (quite expensive can't you go on a combined package?)
Internet Services....................... 15 (quite expensive can't you go on a combined package?)
Groceries etc. ......................... 600 (includes cigarettes) Very expensive for 2 people?? Where do you shop? What sort of things do you buy?
Clothing................................ 10 is this accurate? do you really only spend £120 a year on clothes?
Petrol/diesel........................... 350
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 70 (both cars)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 140 (6 prescriptions pm plus over counter medicine I also have to take) I know someone has mentioned a pre payment certificate https://www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/ppcdd/patient.do buy it now. 12 months one i think is £10 a month? means you don't have to miss your tablets. What i don't get is your perscription should be £43ish per month so what are you spending almost £100 on over counter meds a month. If you need them get them perscribed!
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 17
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 147 (BUPA cover OH has through work he won't cancel it as I see a consultant 4 times a year on it and have several medical problems - I have suggested we cancel!)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50 (goes into a savings acct I can and usually take from when overdraft limit hit and use as end of month cash)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2757


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 287500
Shares and bonds........................ 8000 (OH's work share scheme - can't take from until it matures)
Car(s).................................. 9000
Other assets............................ 3500
Total Assets............................ 308000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 200000...(400)......0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 16000....(367)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 216000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Barclaycard....................2000......34....... .0
Mint...........................500.......12....... .0
Capital One....................300.......7.........0
Total unsecured debts..........2800......53........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,700
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,757
Available for debt repayments........... -57
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 53
Amount short for making debt repayments. -110

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 308,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -216,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,800
Net Assets.............................. 89,200

haycorns

Speak to your GP about giving up smoking - you would probably get the patches or whatever for no cost, plus support too

The best thing about the prepayment certificate is that you can have as much medication as you need without having to worry. Pay for this single prescription now as it will only make things worse if you stop .

Get the prepayment straight after payday as your health comes above everything else in the list of priorities.

DansMum_2

You said that your windows are only single glazed. You could get some window insulation film which would be a temporary measure and may help to insulate against drafts, which would bring the heating down... Most of the big diy places have it. Try putting a big piece of board over the fireplace to stop the cold air draw up the chimney.

Do you have stuff that you could list on ebay?