Help with making ends meet

wigwam

Hi Emmy roo,

Have read both of your threads - my you got some stick on the other thread - but I feel the people here are trying to help you, and does not look to me like RAS is annoyed.

The benefit cuts are sadly a way of life - I'm a single mum earning £45,000 and have just lost my CTC ( albeit only 40 pm) and will be losing my child benefit this time next year. Also work i public sector so under pay freeze.
I went for many years working when friends were on benefits having a greater disposable income than me - but its an investment and worth persevering as when your children are just a bit older you can reap some added benefit - all those childcare costs in your pocket!!

I have decided to act to cut down my personal debt levels as for "the privelidged ones" like us things are going to get quite tight. Although I thought I'd been living beyond my means - but now I see I've been just wasting cash for some time.

regarding your SOA: All of the budget cuts people have suggested seem pretty reasonable, and if you implement these changes then you should make up the necessary shortfall.

If you do have sky ( not judgeing as I have a monthly cinema card!) can you not get an all in internet / phone package also? Worth calling them. I would also get onto the gas / electric people and cash in your overpayment.

What worries me about your situation is not really the here and now, as I think you can make the necessary cuts, painful as they may seem. Its almost a given that the base rate will rise at some point this year and that will put you even deeper into the red. I would therefore look at trying to make more savings than necessary and pay off those cc's pretty quickly to give you some breathing space for when the inevitable rise comes.
Good luck and hope you dont mind my comments!

Shelley84

Just a note about the 'free 15 hours' childcare. As far as I know, this isn't only for council run nurseries. My DS (now 5 and at school) went to a private nursery between 10 months and 4 years old and from the age of 3 he got his 15 hours free a week, they just deducted it from my monthly fees.

Worth checking this out, though you say you are in Scotland, we are in England so maybe it's different.

theoretica

The bottom line is that you need to find at least £90 more a month according to your SOA.
£20 typo on car insurance costs - painless.
£50 sort out your OHs overdraft - this is wasted money not getting you anything. You might want to get some of that £750 back from the gas and electricity people to do this. Be firm with them, it is your money, and why are you paying them anything when they owe you so much? Should be painless with self discipline from OH.
This leaves £20 to find (+ any more to make life easier).
Many people manage grocery shopping for families your size, and ages, for much less than you are paying. This, as has been said, would be a good place to start. We know you don't feel you are spending liberally here, but we know other people manage on half or less of what you spend so it can be done.
Also check out the rules on child care places, would it work out cheaper if your 4 year old went to the school even if you paid someone to take him there and back? Could you change your hours on your half day so you could take him there and collect him that day?
Do you and OH always drive in a fuel efficient way and know where the cheapest petrol stations are?
Could you find some way of bringing in income on the days you are not working. Child minding perhaps?

Malazenby

Unfortunately I can't give good advice on cutting expenses, but if you need a way to make some extra money on the side, there is a new website called Varolo that just became public this week. At first glance it may look like a cookie-cutter scam, but it is 100% legit. The basic idea is that advertisers pay the website to post ads (movie previews/tv commercials, etc), and in turn the website pays a percentage of the fee to the people that choose to take the time to watch the ads. The main income is based off the referral program. 10-15 min a day on average (you could be doing it right now in fact). If you are interested go here: varolo.com/village/MA575 and watch the intro videos, then hopefully join up and tell your friends

Seanymph

Hi there, I haven't seen your other thread, and have only just started reading myself, because I've sold my business and as I shan't work for a while we NEED to be saving shortly.

I think people have given you some great ideas here - but think your budget is squidgy around the clothing figures - I suspect if you did the diary thing your figure would be higher, I know from my own work that putting what you 'think' you pay isn't necessarily what it is (I too need to keep the diary). But especially with children, clothing is a cost because they grown so quickly!

I also defended my housekeeping budget with sharpened sticks, but generally that's the most flexible part.

Anyway, the point of my post was about the childcare - and I've two things to say. The first is that in protecting their current placement you compare the cost of a childminder with their current nursery - but then say the 15 hours free are at your homelocation. Can you not get someone to take your child for 'breakfast' and 'drop off' which will only be an hour or so, then use the free afternoon - and have them do pickup? so only incurring two hours rather than an entire shift?

Or maybe you could drop off locally and your husband could adjust hours and pick up?

I was paying more in childcare than I was earning. And a really bad accident meant I had to stop. I struggled, but you can always work from home, adjust your ambitions, study (most colleges have creches), buy or start your own business.

I had a lot of my identity rolled up with working, the entire creche run and earning was very important to me. But when I was forced to give up work other things became important - spending time with my children, teaching them manners, knowing all of their friends, offering a before school breakfast to kids whose parents worked.......

They were one and two when I stopped working - they are now 16 and 17 and I've worked from home all their lives. I STILL know all their friends, they still share with me, we are still really close, and I'm still here when they walk through the door from college. Don't underestimate the hours spent invested in your children, and your relationship with them.

Going back I'd PAY to have that time with them - but before I wouldn't have given it house room.

I don't think you are not listening, but I do think we all get 'set' in our views, and our way of life, and have fairly rigid standards and beliefs - and it's hard to change that. And we struggle when people challenge that. It's worth giving yourself some credit and getting hold of the fact that you could change things drastically and cope fine - you are smart enough to make a go of things in a different direction if you needed to.

I'm not challenging you, just offering that if you sit quietly, and look deep, some of the values driving you to work at a loss (and the petrol used would drop too, so would the lunches, coffees, and clothing needed for work) - if you look deep into that there may be another way that will not only save you money, but can pay off in other directions. I've always worked - but it has never cost me money since I gave up the full time job, and I don't regret it at all.

belfastgirl23

As someone who jumps on and off the oldstyle wagon at different times, I'd just like to echo what others have said about it being possible to make cuts in grocery bills etc. It is amazing (and shameful) how much you can spend without thinking. And I was like you, I did keep an eye out for BOGOFs etc. But I think true oldstyle is a different mindset, it's setting a budget and shopping within it rather than thinking about what food you'd like and hey presto there's your budget

I know the thought of cutting your budget in half is really scary, but if you were to even shave £50 off it for the next while that would make a difference. Certainly with other measures it would put you in teh black rather than the red.

The one really painless saving for me was cleaning products. Yes I do need washing powder, washing up liquid, bleach and dishwasher tabs. And I do have a special occasions antibac spray that I use once in a while. But I've cut way down on the amounts of them that I use - one tablespoon of washing powder per wash is fine. And rather than using fabric conditioner I use white vinegar (about £3 for 5L at a chinese supermarket). I also use stardrops for most of my basic cleaning, you water it down and it lasts forever and costs I think about £1 a bottle - so long since I bought one I can't remember even though I use it daily It's also possible to cut back on toiletries - some OSers are very clever about putting value soap in regular containers etc so that the family don't know they've downsized

I do think this is something to consider - at least take a look and see what you think you could do. Don't feel that it's either down to a £200 budget or nothing, any saving you can make is still a saving.

Also your life assurance is crazy which is great because it's an obvious savings route.

And as for your childcare :eek::eek: jeez that does seem really expensive for part time care in the regions!! But I know that this is a balancing act.

Good luck!