Help needed to cut down outgoings - SOA included.

immoral_angeluk

My maternity leave ends in May and I won't be going back to work because of childcare. I've already started the ball rolling to do childminding but am only in the first stages so I've twigged my SOA to include our bills as they are now but our income as it'll be when my leave ends as that's what I'm aiming towards cutting the bills down to accomodate. I've already thought of a few things that I'll write down the bottom but I know there'll be people out there who can help me with more ways of cutting down our outgoings.

Income -

DH's wages - £850 min (But normally around £887-£900 depending on how much overtime he does. He's currently looking for another job.)
Tax credits - £432 (Based on the £108 a week tc told me we'd get if I left work.)
Child benefit - £120.80 (As it's going up next month.)

Total income - £1402.80

Outgoings -

Bills-
Rent (Housing association) - £296.46
tv licence - £11.37
Water - £25.77
Council tax - £99
Gas/Electric - £65.50
Car insurance - £33.78
Boxclever - £36.59
Dh mobile - £25ish
My mobile - £10ish
Contents insurance - £4.47
Bt phone and broadband - £30
Food - £180
Petrol - £30
Car tax - £11.45
DH money for work meals, travel to work etc - average £88 (about £4 a day)
Toddler group £1.50 a week - £6
DH driving lessons - £76

Debt repayments -
Welcome car finance - £160.50 (3 1/2 yrs left 24.1% :eek: )
Dh Citi card - £42 (Balance £1413 limit £1500 27.9%)
My Barclaycard - £20 (Balance £833 limit £900 19.9%)
My dotty P's card - £19 (balance £480 limit £1,700 24%)

Total outgoings - £1270.89

Leftover - £131

Notes:
We've had the new water bill but not the new council tax bill so it will be more than this.
Dh is currently learning to drive but his test is on tues so if he passes we won't be paying out for lessons but based on quotes I've had car insurance will go up by about £15 a month.
Mobiles are in a contract until october
bt is in contract til June and on cheapest option.
food is for 2 adults, a 2 yr old in nappies and a newborn baby on formula
According to entitledto.co.uk we won't be entitled to any housing or council tax benefit because of how much tc we'd get.

Here's what my plan is so far to cut down our outgoings

1. Change water bill to 12 months instead of 8 - Saving £8 p/m
2. Change council tax bill to 12 months instead of 10 - Saving approx £15 p/m?
3. Buy new tv and cancel boxclever tv rental - Saving £36.59 p/m
4. Get new (and cheaper!) phone/broadband provider in June - Saving ?
5. Get annual usage from scottish power so we can look for cheaper gas/elec - Saving?
6. Pay off Dotty P's card before mat leave ends - Saving £19 p/m
7. Get chest freezer off freecycle so we can bulk buy bread deals etc - Saving ?
8. Dh to pass driving test so no more lessons - Saving £76
9. Shop around for cheapest car insurance when dh passes - Saving £0 as will still be more expensive than before.
10. Use mobiles less to keep bills down til contract is up in Oct - Saving ?
11. Potty train our eldest??? Saving £20 p/m on nappies

Potential saving at least £154 a month (Haven't included the potty training as she isn't ready.


Would appreciate any other ideas anyone has... Thanks in advance!

joeblack066

Hi IA! Only thing that I would suggest is apply for the Housing and Council Tax benefits anyway...........even if you get a small award it's better in your pocket than theirs! And thay are also useful in that they open doors to other things as well. How old is baby, as my DS and his GF lost out on the £500 Surestart grant because they didn't know they were entitled to it until too late. Baby must be under 3 months when you apply, and you are entitled to it if you are on higher than the basic family element of TC. TTFN!!

immoral_angeluk

joeblack066 wrote: »

Hi IA! Only thing that I would suggest is apply for the Housing and Council Tax benefits anyway...........even if you get a small award it's better in your pocket than theirs! And thay are also useful in that they open doors to other things as well. How old is baby, as my DS and his GF lost out on the £500 Surestart grant because they didn't know they were entitled to it until too late. Baby must be under 3 months when you apply, and you are entitled to it if you are on higher than the basic family element of TC. TTFN!!

Thanks, we've already had our surestart grant. Will definately apply for the hb/ctc anyway in that case! the worst that can happen is they say no!

joeblack066

Thats right IA, and they might just say yes!!

pk2007_2

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Total income - £1402.80

Outgoings -

Bills-
Rent (Housing association) - £296.46
tv licence - £11.37
Water - £25.77 (is this on a meter?)
Council tax - £99 (can you pay this over 12 months?)
Gas/Electric - £65.50 wait for martin's tip don't switch right now but you might be able to save a bit more here
Car insurance - £33.78
Boxclever - £36.59
Dh mobile - £25ish can you cut this down
My mobile - £10ish as above
Contents insurance - £4.47
Bt phone and broadband - £30
Food - £180
Petrol - £30
Car tax - £11.45
DH money for work meals, travel to work etc - average £88 (about £4 a day) this could be cut down by taking a packed lunch
Toddler group £1.50 a week - £6
DH driving lessons - £76

Debt repayments -
Welcome car finance - £160.50 (3 1/2 yrs left 24.1% :eek: )
Dh Citi card - £42 (Balance £1413 limit £1500 27.9%)
My Barclaycard - £20 (Balance £833 limit £900 19.9%)
My dotty P's card - £19 (balance £480 limit £1,700 24%)

Total outgoings - £1270.89

Leftover - £131

Notes:
We've had the new water bill but not the new council tax bill so it will be more than this.
Dh is currently learning to drive but his test is on tues so if he passes we won't be paying out for lessons but based on quotes I've had car insurance will go up by about £15 a month.
Mobiles are in a contract until october
bt is in contract til June and on cheapest option.
food is for 2 adults, a 2 yr old in nappies and a newborn baby on formula
According to entitledto.co.uk we won't be entitled to any housing or council tax benefit because of how much tc we'd get.

Here's what my plan is so far to cut down our outgoings

1. Change water bill to 12 months instead of 8 - Saving £8 p/m
2. Change council tax bill to 12 months instead of 10 - Saving approx £15 p/m?
3. Buy new tv and cancel boxclever tv rental - Saving £36.59 p/m
4. Get new (and cheaper!) phone/broadband provider in June - Saving ?
5. Get annual usage from scottish power so we can look for cheaper gas/elec - Saving?
6. Pay off Dotty P's card before mat leave ends - Saving £19 p/m
7. Get chest freezer off freecycle so we can bulk buy bread deals etc - Saving ?
8. Dh to pass driving test so no more lessons - Saving £76
9. Shop around for cheapest car insurance when dh passes - Saving £0 as will still be more expensive than before.
10. Use mobiles less to keep bills down til contract is up in Oct - Saving ?
11. Potty train our eldest??? Saving £20 p/m on nappies

Potential saving at least £154 a month (Haven't included the potty training as she isn't ready.


Would appreciate any other ideas anyone has... Thanks in advance!

hi Sarah
first of all, well done on forward planning.
1. try using quidco to shop around for insurance - you'll get some cashback;
2. your car is working out to be a big expense. do you use it enough at present to keep it?
3. what about other expenses like b'day/christmas etc?
4. can you ebay some stuff?
5. have you tried pigsback to get some vouchers towards boots/days out shopping? there is a great thread on freebies explaining what to do - takes a few minutes a day
6. meal planning and bulk cooking .........perhaps you already do this

good luck!!

immoral_angeluk

pk2007 wrote: »

hi Sarah
first of all, well done on forward planning.
1. try using quidco to shop around for insurance - you'll get some cashback;
2. your car is working out to be a big expense. do you use it enough at present to keep it?
3. what about other expenses like b'day/christmas etc?
4. can you ebay some stuff?
5. have you tried pigsback to get some vouchers towards boots/days out shopping? there is a great thread on freebies explaining what to do - takes a few minutes a day
6. meal planning and bulk cooking .........perhaps you already do this

good luck!!

The water is a bill. the mobiles are already on a cheaper deal from when our contracts were last up. Will definately sign up to quidco..
We can't get rid of the car until we clear the finance. If we can save up £2000 we can pay it off in a year and a half but no sooner. plus Dh is looking for another job and if he gets one out of the area he'll need it. We've already ebayed tonnes and don't have much left! Already signed up with pigsback Have £9.20 so far! We only buy what we need for meals and are planning on getting a chest freezer so we can bulk cook too.

yorkshirecath

please tell me how you manage to only send £180 a month on food.
There are 3 of us and we send in excess of £300!
Cheers!

immoral_angeluk

yorkshirecath wrote: »

please tell me how you manage to only send £180 a month on food.
There are 3 of us and we send in excess of £300!
Cheers!

Well, we buy pretty much tesco value everything except certain things. We also shop around for things like toilet rolls etc and only buy what we know will be needed for meals etc. We shop between tesco and iceland and only buy what we need instead of buying loads of things on impulse. Look out for deals and things as well. We also don't buy ready meals,

Flashdaisy

Hi there

I have a 2 year old who is still in nappies and lately I've been buying Wilkinson's own-brand value nappies to use in the day and they've been fine, we've had no leaks from them so far. They're a bit cheapy-looking but no-one sees them lol. I think they're £1.80 for 20 nappies. DD even wore one overnight the other night when I'd run out of Huggies and it was fine. Might only save you a couple of quid a week but might be worth a go?

Bunnyinthelights

IA,
Sorry I can't help but I just wanted to say AGAIN that you are a wonder!

IA for Prime Minister!!!

Bunny x

DavidHM

You can probably knock a bit off the phone and broadband by shopping around; similarly for the contract mobiles - is there a cheaper or lower use plan he could switch to without cancelling the contract altogether? Alternatively would you save money with "free" broadband through Orange, TalkTalk or Sky?

As for the car - if it's on a hire purchase agreement you can hand it back with nothing owing once you've paid half the total credit price. Obviously that's only worth doing if you owe more than it's worth (or will once you've reached the halfway mark).

Can your OH get a bike and cycle to work? Buy a cheaper TV (£300 instead of £500) and use the saving to get him on a bike. Plus he gets exercise and an (even) better body...

Given that your OH is 28 I'm not sure that car insurance will go up. Just make sure you shop around and then Quidco. Quidco should more or less pay your next contents insurance - it seems very cheap already so well done on that

Given your fondness for Tesco Value I doubt that you'll save much by bulk buying - probably not enough to pay for a freezer and all the electricity.

Other than that though I think you're pretty much there...