Newbie in need of some help

dfwnewbie2011

Hello,
Me and my DP/OH have just started renting our first house together and are finding it very hard, I am basically a stay at home mother but do 5 hours a week at £5 an hour so my salary is never guarenteed. Therefore my DP is the only real source of income in the house. We have our DS who is 16 months old and I love him and want to keep a roof over his head. But right now I am struggling to do so - all our rent is paid and we are in no arrears on that but I have some unpaid bills and due to a change in situation we now have income which is less than our outcome.
I would love some advice on what I can change and I know there are a few things I could do but any other suggestions are greatly welcomed. I am planning on cutting off our sky which is £40 a month and maybe the phone/internet which is roughly £26/£36 depending on the amount of calls made (this might mean my mobile bill is higher but I am on p&g).
Here is my SOA any help/suggestions welcomed.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 70 This is estimated as I can earn nothing in a month I get paid hourly and dont work in school holidays due to my line of work
Partners monthly income after tax....... 730
Benefits................................ 480
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1280
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 625
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 140
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 25 Can be slightly more or less this is an average usually between 20/30
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 40 I know this looks high but I paid over 6 months rather than a year - I have 2 months left of it - this meant I paid less (slghtly)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40.5 Am planning to get rid but had to put this in
Internet Services....................... 6.25 add on to phone bill but did it seperate as its the same every month anyway
Groceries etc. ......................... 220 usually £50 a week - this includes nappies and wipes - then I do small shop of milk once a week which is about a fiver...
Clothing................................ 10 completely made this number up as I do buy clothes so does my partner but not sure how much we spend
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10 again this is made up I havent got a clue how much I spend on pressies a year so this is a guess
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 20 we dont go out much but have been out a couple of times for birthdays so again estimated
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1336.75

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Bank charges...................100.......0.........0
Unpaid bills...................300.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........400.......0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,280
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,336.75
Available for debt repayments........... -56.75
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -56.75
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -400
Net Assets.............................. -400

dfwnewbie2011

just realised my SOA didnt work to well - will re do that in a sec x

thefoolonthehill

do you have no debt apart from the 400 owed on bills and bank charges?

Can you get a job on a sat or an evening while your partner is at home with the baby?

may seem drastic but could you move to a different house where the rent is lower or speak to the council about a council house?

sorry don't mean to sound uncaring. good luck!

dancingfairy

A few thoughts:
1) are you entitled to any more benefits? you can check on the entitled to website I think or Martin has a benefit checker on here somewhere...as your income is very low and this is causing the biggest problems.
2) your gas and electric look a wee bit high - have you checked everything is off as much as possible eg overnight, everything is energy saving etc and you are on the best tariffs.
3) can you pay your council tax over 12 months to make budgetting easier - some councils allow this but not all do.
4) Cancelling SKY will certainly help.
It's certainly tight.
Best of Luck
df

kittiej

Hi OP

Have you asked Sky how much it would be to transfer to them for phone and internet? You could downgrade your package and still have the other services from them.

dfwnewbie2011

Thanks all for replying, in answer to the questions...
1) if I want to move the landlord/agent has said that I will need to pay set up and admin fees of £460 + rent untill they find a new tenant which is great IF they find a new tenant before our lease is up (7 months of rent left to pay) as we were thinking of moving back to our parents and then trying for a council house as where we are this is probably the cheapest rent here.
2) yes I only owe £400 but really dont want it to get any bigger and getting a job is an option but I would lose out on benefits so would need to find a job that would earn enough iyswim.
3) Sky dont provide phone in our area so we have our phone and broadband seperate - but I am willing to let go of both if I have to (would prefer to keep phone and internet but have a freeview tv so would still get some channels)
Thanks again

dfwnewbie2011

oh sorry forgot to say - I am going to check the benefits I am entitled to on here now Thank you for that suggestion x
and will make sure I check all my G+E before I go to bed xx

atush

First of all congrats for getting here when your debts are so low.

Second, clothing spend is too high.

3, you need to sort our some more work for yourself. Part time evening and weekends and leave OH weith baby or grandparents etc.

4, try to sell some things on ebay (hard to do if you get rid of internet though?)

dfwnewbie2011

Thank you
Yes I know I made it up really but still sure we spend too much....I was thinking of doing a bootfair too? has anyone done one and have any tips for me? x

RAS

What if the Local Housing Allowance for your area? Are you entitled to any help with the rent check www.turn2us.org.uk ?

You will struggle to get the LL to release your from the tenancy early without substantial payments. If you do, you MUST get the agreement in wrting from the LL.

atush

I haven't but I did just try ebay for the first time on a free listing week. But you only pay to list if item is over 99p. I listed 13, sold 3, gained 12+ quid after postage. Someone on here did a boot sale the other week and came back with 80 quid.

I agree I would chek you aren't entitled to more benefits.

If your work is uncertain, not enough hours and unsecure I would suggest you look for part time work elsewhere. Office cleaning, pub work, whatever you can find.