Satement of Affairs - help reducing costs please

FrugalDeb

Hello all

I have heard today that my ESA has been stopped (I have CFS/ME and am unable to work). I had a DWP medical a couple of weeks ago and apparently scored no points at all, despite being very limited in what I can do and for how long. I will be appealing against the decision, but realise this will take some time and in the meantime need to make some cutbacks. Our finances could do with an overhaul in any case, really, especially as I have a £2000 overdraft I would like to get rid of.

Anyway, here is our SOA, copied over from the budget speadsheet. All suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks!
Debbie

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,036.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) (For three phones). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.50
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216.67
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Congestion Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.50
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fun money (cinema etc occasionallly). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Personal money. (20 each per month for two of us)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complementary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.50
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes .(£20 per month each for 2 of us) . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,036.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,949.95

LMCD

From what I read.....I have put in red

FrugalDeb wrote: »

Hello all

I have heard today that my ESA has been stopped (I have CFS/ME and am unable to work). I had a DWP medical a couple of weeks ago and apparently scored no points at all, despite being very limited in what I can do and for how long. I will be appealing against the decision, but realise this will take some time and in the meantime need to make some cutbacks. Our finances could do with an overhaul in any case, really, especially as I have a £2000 overdraft I would like to get rid of.

Anyway, here is our SOA, copied over from the budget speadsheet. All suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks!
Debbie

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,036.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) (For three phones). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 Do you need three?
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.50
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49.00 have you tried dual fuel??
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216.67 how many people are you buying for? I don't spend as much as this I have five in my home...
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport
how many cars is there in household
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Congestion Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.50
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.00 have you tried alternative makes from the one you buy or sought out bulk buy deals
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fun money (cinema etc occasionallly). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Personal money. (20 each per month for two of us)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complementary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 every month?
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 are you on a dental payment plan?
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.50
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes .(£20 per month each for 2 of us) . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00 do you always need new clothes?

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00 tabloids and celeb gossip readily available online for nowt...
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,036.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,949.95

Would be able to help more on idea of how many people you are feeding, where you shop and also on the car situation...how many.

FrugalDeb

I should have been more clear about a few things obviously
The three mobile phones are for three people - myself, my partner and my student son.
We already have duel fuel.
Food budget is for me, my partner, 19 year old son and more often than not, his girlfriend.
There is one car, A Volvo. My partner uses it for work and we use it evenings and weekends. In fact, some months this is nearer to £300 with the recent increases in fuel prices.
Pet food. We buy own brands and take advantage of any deals.
The £13 for newspapers is for a couple of newspapers a week that we buy specifically for the crosswords, which is our weekend treat.
We are both need new clothes at the moment, and to be honest I have just added in that £20 a month each in the hope that we can save up for some. Same with the dentist, at the moment we just don't go unless in pain, and the payment is always a problem.
Haircuts for two of us, costs us £20 each every two months.

Thanks
Debbie

LMCD

hi,

cool...is this the cheapest insurance you can get? have you tried all the comparrison sites??

Also the shopping budget is still high - do you meal plan at all? what sort of stuff do you buy - maybe you need to look at that as am sure you could widdle it down at least by fifty quid...

I appreciate your son is a student but have you suggested to him about getting a small part time position somewhere? he could contribute to the household.

fair enough about the crossword - but you could simply buy a book full of them for under two pound or so in the supermarket...I know you are saying a treat but £13 seems a bit daft for that but you will know within yourself where you can make cuts essentially and non essentially...

maybe just doing a diary of what you spend your money on, what is used and what isn't....will maybe show you a few things you never properly considered...

maskerade

Could you use public transport instead? Your car seems to be one of your biggest expenses.

Also, your son is an adult so presumably his girlfriend is too... shouldn't she be contributing towards the food?

FrugalDeb

Thanks again, LMCD

I thought £50 on groceries a week was pretty low for 4 adults. Any advice on getting it lower than that?

the_cat

FrugalDeb wrote: »

Thanks again, LMCD

I thought £50 on groceries a week was pretty low for 4 adults. Any advice on getting it lower than that?

TBH I agree - I spend about the same as you for 4 adults (but includes 3 meals a day for all of them) Not entirely sure that it is fair for you to be subsidising the girlfriend though! The odd meal here and there would be no problem, but pretty much full time is taking the proverbial IMO!

As you live in London, you presumably have good public transport options.. I would seriously consider using these and getting rid (at least downgrading or using MUCH less) of the car. You are spending a huge percentage of your income on this

LMCD

this is me on a week just thinkin of the top of head:

three meats for a tenner in supermarket.
frozen fish/scampi roughly bout £3 and bag of frozen chips is £1.50 there abouts.
bread and milk n butter £5 max
potatoes always on offer in local store...£1 a mini bag of charlotte new potatoes, other ones £2 tops?

some nights do the meat n veg, some nights do pasta and sauce and garlic bread or pasta bakes.... always have stock of pasta in....buy the sauce when needed including when on offer...you could also do omlettes for tea?

veg is at 50p each in A supermarket also at Aldi they always have special
deals on.... roughly weekly spend maximum say £35ish?

but sayin that I don't buy 'family deserts' although once a fortnight I buy the yoghurts in and cereal....hardly buy crisps but buy the snack stuff for sons packlunch on £1 specials (he be 5)

where do you shop? do you buy weekly or monthly?

always check the reduced bits you can make a lot of savings esp on meat and freeze on same day, same with bread for toast and I have got big boxes of washing powder reduced too...

Thats just my way though...hope this helps?

BFM

loads of free crosswords, soduku and other puzzles of all different types available on the internet. much cheaper than paying for a newspaper.

my fave at the mo is kakuro

http://www.krazydad.com/kakuro/index.php?size=15x15

but i cant believe that you can't find something suitable on't web.

[Deleted User]

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,036.00 Sorry, it's not clear is this your current income, or the income you have been recieving until now, or the income you will be recieving in the future? If this is current income will you be recieving the same income until the appeal process is complete? Or will this reduce?

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) (For three phones). . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 60.00 Are you in contract - if so see if any of them will allow you to downgrade a tariff. If out of contract compare PAYG and SIM only deals - some very good ones for £10 pm
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.00
Home Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.50 (would combining home phone and internet be cheaper? Should get both for approx £20 pm depending on usage)
Cleaning Products/Cleaner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 (Check own brands and pound shop offers)
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00 Check that you are on the cheapest tariff for your area - often online and duel fuel are cheapest : Check USwitch - if cheaper to switch, check cashback sites for caskback deals (Quidco, Onepoll, Topcashback etc)
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49.00 as above
Council Tax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118.00 Ask your council if you can spread the payment over 12 months instead of the usual 12
Overdraft Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Mortgage/Rent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216.67 - Try dropping brands, meal planning, batch cooking, look at cheaper supermarkets (Lidl/Aldi), and check out the old style board for tips

Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00 Are all jounreys essential? Can you combine trips?
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Car Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85.00 Check comparison sites at renewal
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Congestion Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.00

Debt Repayments
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.50 How much left to pay? What's the APR? And how many payments left?
Personal Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00 How much is the outstanding balance? What's the APR? And how many payments left? - Is this the minimum payment?

Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 What does this cover? Any way to reduce?

Entertainment
Fun money (cinema etc occasionallly). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Personal money. (20 each per month for two of us). . . . . . . . 40.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 Any way to reduce? Do you have a college nearby that will do trainee cuts for cheap/free? Or go an extra week or two in between cuts
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.50
New Clothes .(£20 per month each for 2 of us) . . . . . . . . . .40.00 Perhapse drop to essentials only, look in charity shops, e-bay etc

Big One Offs
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 Every month?
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00 The news and other info is available online, perhapse buy a book of crosswords for a couple of pounds a month instead


Total monthly income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,036.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,949.95

Hi, I have made some comments above - hope they help.

D9

joolsybools

Running a car is very expensive, do you really need it? (read need not want). Not sure whereabouts you are in London but maybe you could consider getting rid and joining a car club/hiring as and when. I suppose it depends on what public transport costs your partner has for work. Could he cycle? I know quite a few poeple in London who have got rid of their cars and find it ok.