SOA - any help would be appreciated

nomorespending

Thanks for all the help
And advice. The 0 percent cards are all at 0 percent, til feb, march and June.so I'll work on the highest interest ones first this month and next.I've listed loads of stiff on eBay which if it sells should he'll over Christmas as we'll be going out for meals twice ( which is twice more than usual!) so I'll make sure no take puts in December but also hoping I'll have money in paypal I can transfer to find the extra spending.
I know my food bill is huge for two of us, and I've been shopping online at asda to keep it to £45 per week, but then every few weeks I seem to need to do a big shop for cleaning products loo roll etc which bumps it up. The pet food I always get the cheapest, 12 Tins are usually ten pounds the dogs eat 14 between them per week.. I would love to find a cheaper supplier so will start looking for online pet supplies as suggested. I have just renewed my car insurance and did cut it from a renewal figure of 1200 to 650 ish which I though was brilliant!! I didn't go through a cash back site though!! Should have come on this site first! ;( ah well. I have to have 1st class business use hence the high fee. With the Internet , phone and tv it was 75 per month, we cut our tv package to just sports and this dropped the 3 down to 50.
Tied in with sky now, bit to be honest if it's possible I'd prefer to find extra money elsewhere as my partner doesn't spend money on clothes or going out, we don't buy beer in for the weekend or anything, his treat is the sports Chanel and we enjoy watching the football together. I agree about the presents..it is ridiculous the amount we spend on presents. We have agreed not to buy for some family this year and I'll try and speak to the test about cutting the cost per gift a bit. Thanks for all the help. Lots to think about. Where do I go from here.. Is there a specific thread I should join to keep ne on track- I asked if I could join the long haul one, any others you'd recommend?

Poosmate

You don't need to post another thread, just keep us updated on this one if you like. There are always people around to offer help and support and keep you on the straight and narrow.

You might want to try this site:

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

to give you a plan of action for paying off your debts in the most efficient and cheapest way. Play around with it and add an extra £5er to your payments and see what difference it makes - you'll be amazed!

Well done on paying off your overdrafts. Have you tried keeping a spending diary to find where your spends on nothing are going? It's amazing how a magazine, a newspaper, a can of coke, a coffee, a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar can add £10's of pounds to your general spends. That old saying "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves" is so true (choc bar 55p, crisps 45p = £1 per day, even if only on a weekday is £20+).

Good luck,

Poo

sugarcube84

Loads of people recommend a spending diary, i dont do one but only because i ask myself some questions before i buy stuff now

- have i got anything at home (especially applys to food/drink/snacks)
- is it essential
- can i get it cheaper elsewhere

I have managed to cut back my spending loads, in fact ive probably gone too far i stopped hubby buying a drink in asda the other day saying that we would stop at aldi on the way back and buy a big bottle rather than a can for the same price! Poor hubby was dying of thirst!

Have you signed up to some survey sites i find thats a nice way of earning some extra money either for treats or presents.

Could you not change the type of dog food that you feed? Dry works out cheaper and you can always soak it in hot water if they dont like to crunch also are there any country stores/horse/animal feed suppliers around you? They often do there own brand which is normally good quality for the price.A place near us does a 25kg sack for £11 its what all the gundogs etc get fed and they seem to do well on it.

findingmyownway

Have you thought about how much your OH contributes to all of this?

You mention that some debts are joint, but if I am understanding correctly then he is keeping £400/month of his wage for 'petrol', yet petrol is included in your SOA too at £160/month.

Only you know if you are a couple commited to solving this together or not. If you are. I think you need to do a joint SOA with all your income and outgoings on. Sit down with OH and let him see where all the money goes. Then perhaps both of you take £100 ish 'spending money' for the month and the rest is allocated on bills/debts.

HAYLEY8005

No more i agree the food bill for 2 is huge i spend that for 2adults and 2 children which does include cleaning, pack lunches etc for cleaning try poundland or wilkinsons if you have one near by with regards to the dog food change them onto complete its a lot cheaper and also better for them anyway the tins are just mainly water. Also i think your buildings and contents is expnsive so have a play around on some comparision websites and do a combined policy .

nomorespending

Hi,
I think the first plan of action needs to be to reduce the food bill, find a cheaper pet food supplier and and keep a spending diary. My oh doesn't have any spare cash - if he dies he gives it to me for extra payments off the card or overdraft. He pays the water, his car insurance, petrol etc and his petrol bill is double mine ad he travels much further for work. He budgets carefully and rarely had any money left which is a problem because if something goes wrong - ie with his car he has to kend the money off ne to repair it:( he doesn't have an overdraft facility or credit cards and it's important he doesn't take time off work- he couldn't do his job without a car.
I spent 116 in sainsburys on Saturday - I did buy 20 pounds worth of kitchen spray and floor cleaner - flash because it was £1 per bottle which is cheaper than sainsburys own- I thought I was being money saving!!! I still
Have dishwasher tablets I bought in bulk on sale in october 2010, they were less than half the current price.
Food is a problem because I'm not a good cook and I have no confidence cooking, I'm not one of those people who can make something tasty out of
Left overs ! I can make good slimming world currys, spaghetti Bol, pasta dishes and special fried rice ( slimming world) apart from those I can do omelette and easy stuff like baked pot and beans., I need to do a Neal planner and use up the food in the freezer!!!
Part of my difficulty is I work so many hours I can't shop around because the local shops like pound shops are shut when I get home from work, and I work most weekends too. I'm often tired and not focussed or prepared so I needc to be better at this too!! Will write myself a plan of action., but not tonight it's neat half 12 and I'm up at 6 . Thanks to everyone whose offered suggestions I will definitely take them on board and report back.
Nms x

nomorespending

Ohh finding my own way... The £160 per month on my SOA is just my petrol (diesel).. My oh uses at least £50 per week ..

LandyAndy

nomorespending wrote: »

Ohh finding my own way... The £160 per month on my SOA is just my petrol (diesel).. My oh uses at least £50 per week ..

Don't worry.;) That is why the SOA is such a useful tool. It lays things out so you can see them and gives you a chance to review each item and, as you just discovered, spot errors. Finding errors and omissions is fine at this stage. Having faced the problem the next thing is to gain as much understanding of it as you can:).

Do you use Excel? For many years I used an Excel sheet to forecast our cash flow up to 2 years into the future. It was incredibly helpful in spotting 'tight' spots months in advance and also recognising the maximum amounts that could be paid off credit cards in any month.

Absolutely

LandyAndy wrote: »

Do you use Excel? For many years I used an Excel sheet to forecast our cash flow up to 2 years into the future. It was incredibly helpful in spotting 'tight' spots months in advance and also recognising the maximum amounts that could be paid off credit cards in any month.

Totally agree with this point. I've even got a spreadsheet already fully prepared for 2013 . But it has really helped me budget and identify months when money will be tight (January, June, Sept and Dec are the offending months!).

OP, good luck with reducing your debt. I was left with a lot of credit card debt when I left my OH, but now I am debt free apart from my mortgage. It's taken YEARS! but it can be done and there's some great advice around here.

nomorespending

thanks for this... I have spent a couple of hours on my spreadsheet plans for December ( yes i've ony done one month!!). Its all very complicated as i have 2 bank accounts - because moved to santander and then some of my direct debits stayed with lloyds so now i have two... Basically I need to look at things now that don't come out every month - like car tax and MOT and car repairs alarm repairs etc etc and factor those in. That can be tomorrows job!! but i've made a start so thats made me feel a bit more positve!! Petrol too! ... will report in with progress tomorrow night!