my financial stuff for scrutiny :-)

loobyloo1980

Monthly Income:

basic wages £1110.28 net
child tax credit £307.75
child benefit £110
maintenance £300

TOTAL £1828.03

Monthly Outgoings:

rent £400
council tax £86.66
water £21.50
electric £40
gas £37
tenants insurance £14.81
TV licence £10.49
SKY £19.50
nursery £182 (which I get to claim back from Uni)
phone £23 (BT option 1 line rental and calls from Homecall)
internet £17.99
mobile £10 PAYG
contact lenses £18.50
shopping £325 (inc. food, cleaning prods and nappies)
ballet lessons £13

TOTAL: £1224.40
TOTAL INCLUDING DEBTS: £1653.40

LEAVES £174.63

DEBTS:

current and active credit:

catalogue 0% int, balance £3,300, current monthly payment £200
index flexible account, 32.9%, balance £287.77, current monthly payment £14
capital one, 29.9%, balance £1000, current repayment (min £48) we pay £100

debts with payment plans in arrangement and no interest charges:

thames credit, balance £5654.65, payment £50 monthly
council (housing benefit overpayment), balance £607.70, £5 per month
carphone warehouse, balance £402.12, £5 per month
DSS (income support overpayment), balance £800, £20 per month
Wescot credit, balance £2626.70, £35 per month

£429 per month for all debts

loobyloo1980

right, it seems my £370 was incorrect, it's only £174 as I was previously taking into account overtime earned.

I now know where it all goes, we have been saving £50 a week for our wedding you see. However, that is nearly done with now as the big day is round the corner and all on saved money, not borrowed!!!!

Also have had passports to buy this month which was expensive, but if anyone can give me any ideas on my debts and outgoings, I would still be grateful ?????

Spendless

loobyloo1980 wrote:

Monthly Income:

basic wages £1110.28 net
child tax credit £307.75
child benefit £110
maintenance £300

TOTAL £1828.03

Monthly Outgoings:

rent £400
council tax £86.66
water £21.50
electric £40
gas £37
tenants insurance £14.81
TV licence £10.49
SKY £19.50
nursery £182 (which I get to claim back from Uni)
phone £23 (BT option 1 line rental and calls from Homecall)
internet £17.99
mobile £10 PAYG
contact lenses £18.50
shopping £325 (inc. food, cleaning prods and nappies)
ballet lessons £13

TOTAL: £1224.40
TOTAL INCLUDING DEBTS: £1653.40

LEAVES £174.63

Are you getting the best deal for gas,electric,phone,internet,contact lenses?

Do you need your mobile phone?

Sky - could you cancel?

Shopping- if you look on the oldstyle board there's several threads running about cheap meals, eating from your stock-cupboard, a monthly grocery bill challenge. Have a look to see if you can cut down here.

If you could cancel/reduce any of these bills you'd have more money to throw at your debt.

loobyloo1980

Spendless wrote:

Are you getting the best deal for gas,electric,phone,internet,contact lenses?

Do you need your mobile phone?

Sky - could you cancel?

Shopping- if you look on the oldstyle board there's several threads running about cheap meals, eating from your stock-cupboard, a monthly grocery bill challenge. Have a look to see if you can cut down here.

If you could cancel/reduce any of these bills you'd have more money to throw at your debt.

I doubt I am getting the best deal for my gas and electric to be honest, because of the way I choose to pay. I pay weekly standing order as we are paid weekly and it is easier for us. Also cannot change provider as landlady wants it to stay as Npower.

Phone wise, I was recommended Homecall by a friend and thought it was a good deal, but could look into it. Internet, well I haven't seen many cheaper ones but I chose to upgrade an existing account under the 12month subscription. My mobile I only use for texting and to be honest don't put a tenner on every month, or use a tenner every month, but I allow for it as I use something and the minimum top up is £10. I suppose I could look at alternatives for both phones, but my mobile is O2 so would need to stick with O2 tariff, I'm sure there is a better one now.

I have cancelled sky in the past, and would again as a last resort if I was in negative figures.

My contact lenses are the cheapest available for my prescription and type of lens at my opticians. I have had probs with my eyes and would not want to go changing around on cost - it's my sight at the end of the day and I trust my optician.

I don't know where the shopping goes though, this is one area I really could do with help on. I'm one of these who goes to tescos for milk and bread and spends £40!!! I will definately take a look at the section.

Thanks for your tips xxx

loobyloo1980

I have been on uswitch and changed my gas and electric to seeboard (hope my landlady doesn't get annoyed :-) (there's nothing in the tenancy about changing, she just said that it was through them and she had passed on our details) If she gets annoyed I'll change back :-)

Anyway, its saved £150 a year :-)

Confused about the home phone ones though, they recommend I switch to talk talk but I looked at that once and wan't impressed. Anyone know anything about the post office phone service??

JonSimmonds

loobyloo1980 wrote:

I have been on uswitch and changed my gas and electric to seeboard (hope my landlady doesn't get annoyed :-) (there's nothing in the tenancy about changing, she just said that it was through them and she had passed on our details) If she gets annoyed I'll change back :-)

Anyway, its saved £150 a year :-)

Confused about the home phone ones though, they recommend I switch to talk talk but I looked at that once and wan't impressed. Anyone know anything about the post office phone service??

My landlord just passed on my name to npower, and he said to me its up to me to switch, its just the company the last guy was using, so long as the bills get paid they dont care, I use the british gas online thingy as that gives me a discount for paperless billing plus so long as the bill gets paid ASAP they give you a discount on the next bill

do you really need sky? if the kids want something more than BBC1/ITV etc you considered scrapping sky and getting a freeview box?

As to your home phone, do you use it alot to call people or is it people calling you? I mainly use my mobile for calling out to people(i got a good deal when i upgraded my contract!!), my landline is there so people can call me, work out what you spend on calling people and at what time of the day then compare the different phone companies out there for the best deal

Im not a expert on the debt side of things but im pretty sure its best to pay as much of the money you asign to debt to the account with the highest intrest rate untill thats paid off (min payment on the others) then work your way down to the account with the least intrest, over time it could amount to you saving a fair bit over the year

Debt_Free_Chick

If she gets annoyed I'll change back :-)

A difficult one this, but your tenancy agreement doesn't prevent this so you haven't done anything wrong. I can't see it makes any difference to the landlady who supplies your energy.

If she objects, I think you should talk to her (calmly) and explain that (1) you don't want to pay any more than you need to (2) the energy companies don't care if you're customer or not and (3) you could do with saving a few quid in view of the wedding expenses. That last one should play on her sentimental heartstrings a little ;-)

You can definitely get that food bill down! We spend about £100 a month for two adults. Re cleaning stuff - plenty of cheap home remedies do the trick or Lidl/Aldi/Netto unbranded stuff is dead cheap and very good. A bottle of cheap bleach will often do the trick, in place of loo cleaner especially!

Keep going .. you're getting there

Malestrom

I would think you could save a small amount on your phone bill and changing your utility suppliers is also a good move. However, your biggest saving is going to be on the weekly shop. £325 per month for shopping is pretty high to be honest, our family of four manages on around £200 per month and thats excessive compared to what some board members are managing on. I think you could probably knock around £100 a month of your shopping bill without too many problems. Add that to your utility savings and the original £175 surplus per month and you'll have about £300 per month spare. If you include your previously mentioned overtime then its closer to £500 a month, which is £6000 a year!! Thats your debts of £14,679 paid off in two and a half years. However, that doesn't take into account interest and the fact that you don't want to become a hermit for the next few years!

Ok, for 3 months you become a hermit, you stay in, no takeaways, no anything. That £500 a month needs to go straight onto the Index account, pay it off and close it because the interest rate is phenomenal. The remains go into the Capital One card, also a very high interest rate. You're already paying £100 a month, so this will be cleared in a further two months. You don't necessarily have to close it as having a credit card can be very useful, but anything you put on it must be cleared when the statement comes in. That now gives you an extra £114 to play with. Ok, now that becomes your 'fun' money. Thats the money you have each month to spend as you want. No need to be a hermit anymore.The other £500 stays as 'debt money'.

At this point, all your remaining debts will be interest free. If the catalogue isn't interest free for life of balance, that gets paid off next. If it is, then pay the smallest debts first. Clear the Carphone Warehouse, Council and DSS over the following 4 months. Thats another £30 a month, so then move on to Westcot and pay them at £530 a month - they'll be cleared in 5 months, giving a further £35 to add to your 'debt-money', and on it goes. At this stage, you would have cleared Index, Capital One, Carphone Warehouse, Council, DSS and Westcot in less than a year. The other debts work the same although being larger they will take longer to clear.

This is obviously based on an ideal world. You may not get overtime. You may have unexpected bills, and so on. However, I hope that it shows that you can achieve what you want and you don't have to sacrifice everything.

Good Luck!

Penny-Wise_4

For your home phone have you read martin's article on 18866? i'm with them, find its a good service and really cheap.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1095003038,99872,

Poppy9

Will your marriage affect your TC & maintenance?

loobyloo1980

Malestrom wrote:

I would think you could save a small amount on your phone bill and changing your utility suppliers is also a good move. However, your biggest saving is going to be on the weekly shop. £325 per month for shopping is pretty high to be honest, our family of four manages on around £200 per month and thats excessive compared to what some board members are managing on. I think you could probably knock around £100 a month of your shopping bill without too many problems. Add that to your utility savings and the original £175 surplus per month and you'll have about £300 per month spare. If you include your previously mentioned overtime then its closer to £500 a month, which is £6000 a year!! Thats your debts of £14,679 paid off in two and a half years. However, that doesn't take into account interest and the fact that you don't want to become a hermit for the next few years!

Ok, for 3 months you become a hermit, you stay in, no takeaways, no anything. That £500 a month needs to go straight onto the Index account, pay it off and close it because the interest rate is phenomenal. The remains go into the Capital One card, also a very high interest rate. You're already paying £100 a month, so this will be cleared in a further two months. You don't necessarily have to close it as having a credit card can be very useful, but anything you put on it must be cleared when the statement comes in. That now gives you an extra £114 to play with. Ok, now that becomes your 'fun' money. Thats the money you have each month to spend as you want. No need to be a hermit anymore.The other £500 stays as 'debt money'.

At this point, all your remaining debts will be interest free. If the catalogue isn't interest free for life of balance, that gets paid off next. If it is, then pay the smallest debts first. Clear the Carphone Warehouse, Council and DSS over the following 4 months. Thats another £30 a month, so then move on to Westcot and pay them at £530 a month - they'll be cleared in 5 months, giving a further £35 to add to your 'debt-money', and on it goes. At this stage, you would have cleared Index, Capital One, Carphone Warehouse, Council, DSS and Westcot in less than a year. The other debts work the same although being larger they will take longer to clear.

This is obviously based on an ideal world. You may not get overtime. You may have unexpected bills, and so on. However, I hope that it shows that you can achieve what you want and you don't have to sacrifice everything.

Good Luck!

Thanks so much for posting this. It does make perfect sense and I know once the wedding and honeymoon is out of the way we will be better off straight away. The shopping, I am guilty of overspending i know. I try and try to keep it low, but boyf works shifts which make meal times vary and feeding kids isn't always an easy task. I have stopped giving baby tinned food and I make my own dinners for him. I am dieting so my food consumption is lower. Thing I don't understand is I buy tesco value on most stuff, tesco own brand on others. very few things are branded, and we don't eat particularly extravagent meals. However, baby wipes, cream and nappies add up to a small fortune - but these will be gone in time. Don't buy ready meals or anything like that either, and always try to get stuff on multi buys. We dont get takeaways and don't eat out, always stock up cupboards on value beans etc. I think I will start keeping receipts and see exactly what I'm getting that is unnecessary.

I often think about using the overtime towards debts but am always concerned they will see it as a sign I can afford to pay more. It tends to get used to buy clothes and shoes for kids. You suggestion seems very logical and very easy in theory. We have discussed things and decided that until the wedding is out of the way, we realistically can't do much about the debts. However, we can do something about the shopping. To be honest, one week out of three I spend far less coz boyf isn't here for meals :-)

Wish me luck, and thanks for a wonderful plan :-)