Help with making ends meet

iamana1ias

corbyboy wrote: »

The £1080 for childcare every month seems way too high to me. If you work 18 hours per week what days and times do your children go? I only have 1 child but myself and my wife both work full time and manage to only spend £270 per month on childcare.

Would it be possible for your inlaws to donate some of their time looking after their grandchildren rather than money?

Why are your bank account charges so high?

It's not £1080 for childcare - it's £830 and the grandparents pay £250 of that. The OP has said that they have no family near them.

climbgirl

The really obvious expense is the childcare - ask yourself is it really worth paying over £800 a month when you're only bringing in £650? You are paying to work as others have pointed out.

Obviously this is your choice to make and whatever you choose to make is fine. But that is the obvious expense to cut back on.

I think you could revisit things like cable TV as well. Personally, I think things like this are a huge waste of money as there are plenty of free options for TV and entertainment these days with things like the Iplayer and 4-on demand.

It is of course a personal choice and if you decide to stick with it, that's fine. But it is an area you could cut back on spending without really noticing a great deal of sacrifice.

Byatt

Slightly different perspective from me, an older woman who gave up work (outside the home) to care for my DD. Women need to have a link to the workplace as long gaps/staying at home are often very detrimental to their future employment when the children grow up. All my experience from years ago, starting an internet business and including graduating with a good degree more recently, are of minor importance when asked *when* was I previously employed!

imogen-p

What ages are the children? As from age three they are entitled to 15 hours per week free child care which will help to bring down your child care costs.

You're nearly £90 short per month, but it shouldn't be too bad to make up.

You're already going to save £50 on the gas/electric, so need another £40.

My suggestion would be cut back on the £30 lottery, either stop or go down to £10 pcm, so saving £20.

You could probably cut the grocery bill down a bit. (My own grocery spend for 2 adults and one toddler is about 200pcm) It's tough at first, but if you say cut back by say £10/15 per week to begin with. The easiest way to do it is drop a brand, by buying cheaper brands of basic things, like value veg - like cheaper potatoes and carrots they don't look perfect, but they taste the same, as they usually come from the same source as the more expensive ones.
Maybe try to have one veggie main meal per week as meat tends to be expensive. It's money saving and good for you at the same time.

If possible could you and your husband take packed lunches to work? as it tends to a lot cheaper to do this than buy ready madesandwichs at a shop each day.

Saving £10/15 per week is a saving of £40 to £60pcm

With the lottery(£20), gas/elec savings (£50) this should be enough to cover the £90 short fall.

It would be an idea to shop around for buildings and contents cover, I managed to get mine (for 2 bed semi) for 13pcm, I would imagine there are a lot of other equally good deals out there to be found.

Also would it be possible to get the change you Sky package to the Sky one that includes the internet and telephone, as that would be cheaper than having it from three seperate providers.

rachbc

Is giving up work an option? Itscosting you £200 more than you earn in childcare alone, and you could maybe then drop to I car/ cut fuel costs and on a lower income you may get more tax credits anyway. You could also still use your 15 hrs of free childcare once the children are 3 - in fact are you not getting this anyway to reduce your childcare costs? As you are public sector could you take a career break so the option is there to return once one of the children goes to school?

How much CTC were you getting before?

RAS

What age are the children and will you get some free chiold care when they reach 3 years old?

EmmyRoo wrote: »

Hi all,

I've posted on the Tax Credits board about my money worries now that tax credits have been cut so much. Unfortunately I received a lot of unpleasant comments from people who think we earn enough not to need benefits & must be squandering our fortune on an extravagant lifestyle for which we expect government help.

Having seen the comments - wow.

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 649.38
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2011.9
Benefits................................ 245 (this is an estimate of tax credits using HMRC calculator, not sure what they're actually falling to, plus CB)
Other income............................ 250(my in laws pay this directly to nursery to help with costs. We have no family living close enough to help with childcare)
Total monthly income.................... 3156.28


Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 647.9
Council tax............................. 151
Electricity............................. 65.5
Gas..................................... 65.5 (gas & electricity from same provider, have requested direct debit drops from £131 to £80 per month as we're £750 in credit at the moment.) - good
Telephone (land line)................... 24.08 - this should be lower - aim never to make calls that cost during the day for a start and use your free minutes for long -distance calls
Mobile phones (cheap & basic)............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20 (I don't think this is much to ask when we don't go out to the pub or for meals etc) - At the moment, you really need to get rid for a year or two
Internet Services....................... 16
Groceries etc. ......................... 433 - I appreciate that costs in Scottish towns and villages can be higher but this is very high. Really, you should be aiming for a maximum of £300 and most people would argue £250
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 303 (see work travel distances above) - can you reclaim any of this from work?
Road tax................................ 29.71
Car Insurance........................... 74.21 - this is high
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 37.92
Car parking............................. 5
Childcare/nursery....................... 831.77 (this is for 2 kids, 2.5 days a week. Works out at approx £4 an hour, the cheapest childcare there is here. Can go for a full day or half day, can't collect them earlier to lessen costs or anything.)
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (dentist etc).... 1.67
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 6.67
Buildings & contents insurance..................... 33.8
Life assurance ......................... 116.62 - this is absolutely huge. You should definately be able to cut this by 75%. You need to ask what sort of commision that IFA recieved for selling you this deal. S
Other insurance......................... 18.55 - you do not need the card insurance - get rid
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 - sorry but you do need to be more inventive and reduce this. When you are in town, look for cheap pressies
Haircuts................................ 25 - I think your explanation costs £17 but I assume OH and the kids get cuts as well?
Entertainment........................... 30 (this includes lottery & postcode lottery - have to think positively!) Again, I appreciate that your options are fewer, but you need to indentify all the free stuff and use it.
Holiday................................. 0 (haven't had a holiday, home or abroad, for 3 years.)
Emergency fund.......................... 25
Total monthly expenses.................. 3134.27


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 155000...(647.9)....6.5%?
Total secured & HP debts...... 155000....-.........-
(mortgage is made up of 130000 on a tracker 0.5% above base rate, which we ported from previous house, and 25000 at 6.5% I think. Doubt we'd get anything better at the moment.)
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................4500......90........5.9 for the life of balance
Credit Card....................1100......11........0 till Jan 2012
Credit Card....................750.......10........0 till Aug 2012
Where is your OD?
Where is his OD?
Bank account fee/overdraft costs........ 55 - this is a priority
These are probably costing you more the credit cards at the moment.

Since all these cards are on balance transfers, what doy ou use day to day?

Total unsecured debts..........6350......111.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,156.28
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,134.27
Available for debt repayments........... 22.01
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 111
Amount short for making debt repayments. -88.99
[/font]

You can find this and start to sort out the ODs as a priority.

EmmyRoo

Hi,
Thanks for your replies, there have been some good suggestions that I'll definitely look into.

To answer your queries:

Childcare - our childcare is as cheap as any other options in the area, it costs under £4 an hour per child. Local childminders are £4 an hour per child. The kids go from 1-6pm on my half day, 8-6pm on my full days, and we can't cut this down due to travel times/working times. The nursery my children go to while I'm working isn't affiliated to the local council (they've tried numerous times but council claims there is enough affiliated provision in the local area already) so we can't get any money back from the free 15 hours thing. My eldest (nearly 4) goes to school nursery when I'm not working but can't go when I am at work as there is no way to get him to/from the school to childcare. Very annoying but there it is. I'm not moving them from a nursery they've both been at since 10months old to somewhere that is affiliated to the council where they know no-one and is in a less desirable area and not particularly handy.

I've considered a career break as you're right, I'm paying to work at the moment. Problem is I don't think it would make a difference to our money. Losing my pay wouldn't make a difference to TC as hubby's pay would still be £35k gross a year. Also, I couldn't give up my car as I'd be totally isolated and go mad, plus if I did although it would make big savings I'd need to get another car after the career break and where would the money come from for that? Any saving we'd make during the career break would go on costs of living.

Byatt's comments about taking time out from working being detrimental to your career are part of the reason I don't want to give up work. Plus I'm contributing to a pension which I don't want to give up on. Public sector recruitment freezes mean I'd not be able to get my job back and probably couldn't get back into the council full stop. I also love the job and hope it'll be something I can develop into a decent career in the future when I am able to work full time again. I just have to get through the next year of 2 kids in nursery.

Cars - the car insurance costs should read £54.91 and are for 2 cars. I think it's pretty reasonable given what some people are quoted these days. Mine's £21 a month and hubby's is £35 cos he's had an accident and a speeding ticket in the last 3 years.
We don't have a 4x4 it's a zafira. We need it cos we travel to family several times a year incl. xmas which means we need loads of luggage space.
I hear what you're saying re. getting cars that are cheaper to run and we have thought about that, but the only way we'd be able to afford to buy different cars is to trade in ours for cars that cost the same or less, which would surely mean getting older cars than the ones we have now, which could only be a false economy as the servicing costs/likelihood of them breaking down would be much higher.
We can't claim back travel costs from work as they're not payable on home to work mileage. We do claim anything we use for meetings etc.

The haircuts cost is just for me,:shocked: I do my husband's and kids' hair. I will cut this down.

Overdrafts - the £55 bank account fees is what our overdrafts cost us. Mine is A&L, charges 50p per day up to a max of £5 a month. Hubby's is halifax and charges something stupid like £1 a day for authorised and £2.50 a day for unauthorised overdraft. He's not as good with money as me (bane of my life) so often goes over his limit hence why this cost is so high. We do need to get him another account.

Groceries - this cost includes nappies for our youngest, all toiletries and household cleaning products, pet food etc. I use a gift card which I top up at a 5% discount through my employee benefits scheme (another benefit of working). I always do a shopping list and buy only what we need (my husband laughs at me getting 2 carrots and one parsnip and things but it saves loads of money and waste!). I buy own brands/smartprice products where I can and always cook from scratch. I make my own bread and often make biscuits/cakes instead of buying them. My husband and kids take packed lunches, i buy 2 sandwiches a week when I'm working. We try to eat chicken only a couple of times a week and rarely eat pork/beef. The rest of the time we have veggie, quorn or pasta sauce with bacon etc. I'll certainly look at that website though, thanks for the link.

Thanks for your help.
x

RAS

Hi

Sorting out the OD with OH is pretty much essential. If he has £5 overdrawn (authorised), then the APR makes payday loans look cheap.

I am really worried by your response on groceries; the stark fact is that millions of families your size have to live on less than half what you are spending, including buying nappies, toiletries and household cleaning products. In fact the last two are the biggest waste of household money going. For many of these families the link provided offers a chance of finding money to sort out rent arrears, save for presents etc.

If you can bear serious advice, post up the full details of your next couple of shopping trips on the Money Saving Oldstyle forum with your meal plan and ask people to comment. Because you really really do need to cut £100 off that bill as a matter of urgency.

As for your nearly 4 year old, is there no-one local with whom you could drop him off, who could take him into school nursery?

EmmyRoo

RAS wrote: »

I am really worried by your response on groceries; the stark fact is that millions of families your size have to live on less than half what you are spending, including buying nappies, toiletries and household cleaning products. In fact the last two are the biggest waste of household money going.

What do you suggest I use to clean the house and ourselves? You say toiletries and cleaning products are a waste of money like there's an alternative? I assure you I'm not spending a fortune on brand name cleaners and hundreds of unnecessary toiletries, only the basics and own brands at that.

RAS wrote: »

For many of these families the link provided offers a chance of finding money to sort out rent arrears, save for presents etc.

Did you miss the point of my post? I need to find extra money for childcare, mortgage payments, presents etc.

RAS wrote: »

If you can bear serious advice

It feels like you're annoyed with me for not taking this seriously or something? The way I'm worrying about our finances that the moment feels very serious to me.
All I was meaning by what I said about groceries was to let posters know exactly what I was already doing to cut the costs, to avoid duplication in advice. Sorry if you this wasn't clear.

RAS wrote: »

As for your nearly 4 year old, is there no-one local with whom you could drop him off, who could take him into school nursery?

Unfortunately all my friends who don't work either don't drive/have access to a car during the day or have too many children of their own to fit mine in their car too. He'd need to be driven a few miles from school nursery to childcare until I came home from work.

Thanks.

RAS

I have to go shortly.

I am not annoyed. What I realise is that you have a good income, are in trouble and do not appear to undersrtand that statistically you are spending an awful lot more than most famileis of your size on housekeeping. If your OH lost his job, you could well be looking as £200 per month to cover all your housekeeping.

Since this is the one area where there is scope to reduce your budget until you get the ODs under control and just get the budget to balance, you have to tackle this. Once the elder child is in school you can start to address the debts.

In the absence of details it is impossible to advise exactly where you can make the cuts. I would seriously recommend going over to the Old Style forum and listing your cupboard contents for a store cupboard and then ask for help with the cleaning materials. Check out threads on stardrops.