I dont know where it started, but it has to end now SOA..Please help

Heyman_2

threemuttleys wrote: »

the £1500 is the Oh (after tax) £500 is my maternity pay, have sent off the form, so fingers crossed we will get something.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I reckon you should get the Child Tax Credit portion of Working Tax Credits. They also give you a one-off payment for your first Child under 1. So it should work out to be about £1000 for the year (pro-rata) paid monthly-ish.

You may even get more, depending on how much you were being paid when you were at work.

That should help you!!!

Phone bill/broadband is insanely high - we currently pay under £20 a month for our line rental/broadband and calls, using the combination of Primus, 18185.co.uk and Plusnet as mentioned on the site here. Make sure you get them through cashback sites as well to grab some more cash i.e. switch to Primus through Uswitch, but click through to Uswitch from Topcashback, they currently pay £10 for a home phone switch - not much but at least it's something!

LandyAndy

Income £2081.
Expenditure £1627.
Debt repayments.368.

Surplus = £86.

So you are spending at least £87 more than your SoA suggests if you feel things are heading in the wrong direction.

Time for a spending diary?

LandyAndy

Five birthdays in April?

Tough. Tell them you can't afford anything this year (poss exception for your son if he is young:)).

LandyAndy

ceejaydee23 wrote: »

three muttleys, i know it may sound strange, but sometimes you find actually filling the car up to its full potential will save you money in the long run, as the car isnt frequently getting to empty so picking up the crap at the bottom of the tank. my other half has a small drive to work 15 mile round trip, and we get through roughly £45 in a fortnight. for a 1.25 3 door fiesta!

Filling your car up may be a good idea because you don't drive out of your way to fill it as often but the bit about crap at the bottom of the tank is an old wives tale.

jonjamie1970

ceejaydee23 wrote: »

three muttleys, i know it may sound strange, but sometimes you find actually filling the car up to its full potential will save you money in the long run, as the car isnt frequently getting to empty so picking up the crap at the bottom of the tank. my other half has a small drive to work 15 mile round trip, and we get through roughly £45 in a fortnight. for a 1.25 3 door fiesta!

Not quite true, all cars have filters these days which stop this happening, if you are driving on a full tank then the car is heavier hence costing you more to move around.

jonjamie1970

LandyAndy wrote: »

Filling your car up may be a good idea because you don't drive out of your way to fill it as often but the bit about crap at the bottom of the tank is an old wives tale.

Beat me to it, LandyAndy is correct

LandyAndy

jonjamie1970 wrote: »

Not quite true, all cars have filters these days which stop this happening, if you are driving on a full tank then the car is heavier hence costing you more to move around.

But it isn't much. The difference between filling a car and running it to empty and half filling it and running it to empty is, on average a quarter of a tankful = say, 15 litres = about 12 kilos. You'll save a lot more by making sure your tyres are pumped up properly if they aren't.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

As LandyAndy says... the "crap at the bottom of the tank" talk is not true.... modern fuel tanks plus fuel filters to filter bits out... just wouldn't happen.

As above... if the petrol station is out of your way, or you are likely to run out near expensive stations then a big fill is better. However.... filling little bits at a time (if you do pass the cheapest filling station regularly) means your car is lighter = more fuel efficient = cheaper to run.

OP you didn't put anything in for car maintenance. Given that you put the car's value at £900 i'm guessing its quite old... I assume you aren't saving anything towards insurance / mot / repairs etc and just finding the money when they come due? Or did you over budget the car tax to account for some towards this?

EDIT:

Too slow typing and the guys above beat me to it.

bugslet

King Elvis, get rid of the critters:eek::D, couldn't do that myself - be living in a caravan first:o.

Have 5 mutts myself and have never paid insurance on them and in a lifetime of owning multiple hounds have only ever had one that has needed anything major and that wasn't so major that it wasn't less than if I'd been doling out loads of money on insurance.

of course if the breed (s) you have do have lots of health problems or something that is ongoing, you may want to keep it, but i thought I'd pass on my experience.

LandyAndy

KingElvis wrote: »

For me the critters would have to go and know from experiece that even a 1.6 S40 Volvo can guzzle fuel into the low 20s MPG

Like I said, it may sound tough but the zoo would have to go to Greggs (kidding on the Greggs)

I agree but some people view dogs as at aleast as important as their spouse and children.