Don't know where to start

katsu

Check all your actual readings for G&E - maybe post them for advice on the utilities board. We have a semi and spend just under £50 combined for both. We have no TV and no TD, but have washing machine, computer on all the time, electric oven, gas CH.

Go check the boiler thermostat - max of 60C, turn down to this if higher. Have you got your CH off now? What times is your timer on to heat the water?Bleed the radiators, line the curtains etc and block draughty gaps. Turn things on standby off at night etc, no lights on in unused rooms.

See if your library lends out OWL meters or if not maybe buy one as your utilities seem very high when you are out all day.

Depth_Charge

CDemir wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2048.72
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 451.01
Other income............................ 200
Total monthly income.................... 2699.73
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 750
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 236
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 88
Electricity............................. 57
Gas..................................... 57
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50.47
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30.5
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 70.93
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 390
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 502.33
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 18.82
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2611.05

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 126000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 136000...(750)......8
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5500.....(236)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 141500....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................1626.01...50........16.9
Sisters Loan...................18500.....284.......0
MBNA CC........................1305......10........16.8
H&M............................31.9......5.........0
Dorothy Perkins................45.95.....5.........26.48
Next...........................288.57....21.43.....25.99
Santander CC...................1253.67...43.85.....18

Hi

As far as the recognised trigger figures go then groceries (or food / housekeeping) and clothing are very, very low.

Electric & gas do not look to high to me either as you have two children.

Nothing for holidays, haircuts or emergencies

Any budget has to be realistic or it will very likely fail whatever course of action you take and you are allowed to eat and live in this day and age.

Maybe have a look at the CAB & CCCS debt remedy tools below to give you some idea of your options etc. (The CAB one gives guideline expenditure allowance figures)

https://debtremedy.cccs.co.uk/start.aspx

http://mymoney.nedcab.org.uk/moneyadvice/

If in any doubt get full independent advice preferably from a free agency such as CCCS, CAB & National Debtline.

Take care & best wishes

rising_from_the_ashes

Gimpsdad wrote: »

am I the only one who thinks £150 per month for groceries and £20 per month for clothes is far too low?

Clothes maybe but it depends on how good a wardrobe full the OP already has & whether the older child's clothes can be passed down to the younger one etc

Re groceries - errr actually no not particularly if you bulk buy when on offer, cook from scratch etc.

There are many families of 4 on the Grocery Challenge who manage on around £200 / month incl toiletries (and nappies etc) and cleaning stuff.

FireWyrm

It is perfectly feasible to feed two adults and two children nutritious healthy meals for £120 a month. I know, I do it. Stop shopping at the big 5 and even without changing your core groceries, you'll save 40-60% on an average bill right there. Change your habits slightly and your savings will be even more apparent. Shop smarter by taking advantage of the mark down systems most shops use and you can make everything stretch just a little more. It's not a myth, the supermarkets WANT you to believe they are the only option and they alone charge the cheapest prices when in reality nothing could be further from the truth.

We had this discussion quite recently and it was demonstrated that you can get 3 meals for 4 people out of one chicken. Do that with other meats in other ways and that's how it's done. There are plenty of examples and discussions on the Old Style board with lots of tips to help. We've all been brainwashed by advertising to believe we are buying time saving things, but the reality is that no actual time is saved versus the old fashioned methods and you are paying a hefty premium for the illusion of simplicity and ease. Don't be fooled by the advertising, it is cleverly designed by experts with the sole purpose of extracting as much money from you as possible. No business is doing YOU the favour and more likely, you are paying way above actual cost for the privilege.

Gimpsdad

The last 2 posters make very reasoned and logical arguments as to how grocery budgets can be cut. I'm not going to argue, as they post that they do it and for that I take my hat off.

They fail to mention though as to WHY it should be done. The inference is that by doing so creditors can be repaid in full quicker. Fine, to a point. Someone mentioned trigger figures earlier. Trigger figures from the OR's office, which is a Government department, indicate that living on such low amounts is neither feasible nor sustainable.

God knows I knock CCCS enough, but even their figures, which are bought and paid for by creditors with a vested interest in getting back as much as they can as soon as they can, indicate that this is an unrealistic budget.

Others may urge the OP to live like a monk or nun forever and a day to feather greedy creditors nests, but I urge the OP to take care of the family first and worry not a jot about said greedy creditors.

thehappybutterfly

CDemir wrote: »

Ex has said it's all my problem, he is not even paying the minimum csa payment (I've been on to them).

Completely at a loss, been selling all my jewellery today to get some supermarket shopping

Will try and knock the dent out of my car tomorrow and have a go with some tcut, get that sold (lucky me the loan is actually same as value)

Thanks for your replys

Your ex sounds like a s h i t - you're well rid. You kept him for three years and you're getting the blame for getting into debt? Can you get any money out of him? Are you getting the full range of benefits? What about childcare - does your employer operate the childcare voucher scheme where you buy vouchers tax free? Sorry, I'm not 100% sure whether all emplyers offer this scheme or not.

You don't look like you've got a lot of wiggle room in your outgoings so it looks like you need to increase your income - BY YOUR EX MEETING HIS FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS!

FireWyrm

Gimpsdad wrote: »

The last 2 posters make very reasoned and logical arguments as to how grocery budgets can be cut. I'm not going to argue, as they post that they do it and for that I take my hat off.

They fail to mention though as to WHY it should be done. The inference is that by doing so creditors can be repaid in full quicker. Fine, to a point. Someone mentioned trigger figures earlier. Trigger figures from the OR's office, which is a Government department, indicate that living on such low amounts is neither feasible nor sustainable.

God knows I knock CCCS enough, but even their figures, which are bought and paid for by creditors with a vested interest in getting back as much as they can as soon as they can, indicate that this is an unrealistic budget.

Others may urge the OP to live like a monk or nun forever and a day to feather greedy creditors nests, but I urge the OP to take care of the family first and worry not a jot about said greedy creditors.

Thank you for your reasoned opinion, but to answer one of your questions, it is not a case of 'living like a monk' at all. We are not deprived by any manner or means, we do not go hungry, neither of my children are in any way undernourished. I also don't live like this in order to pay off creditors although god knows I have a few of them. I am in fact (by the standards of most on this board) very well paid indeed. I could and am paying my debts off quickly because I can, but it's nothing to do with squeezing money out of my budget in order to service my creditors. I do this simply as a personal protest against the rampant and blatant theft perpetrated by our consumerist society. The supermarkets are there to make money and they do so by employing the most underhanded tactics. We as a society have been brainwashed and indoctrinated into an entirely artificial way of life that does nothing other than line the pockets of the great and good. However, since I earn my money and our government extorts nearly half of it out of me before I even see it, I have decided that I am going to get off this never-ending cycle of survival and nothing more. Most people on this board work to pay bills and nothing more. I work to pay bills because I must, but that doesn't mean I cannot have a few of the finer things in life along the way by being prudent with my monthly spending.

The figures for survival that the likes of CCS have come up with indicate that £120 a month for food is barely above starvation level, but the person who set this figure is really a product of the same society that have lost the skills of their parents. I know for a fact that £120 a month is adequate and I could, if I was even more prudent in places, cut this further. This is quite comforting to me as I know that if adversity should befall my household and I was forced to live on government mandated aid, I could without a doubt not only survive but live well on what others consider to be an absolute minimum. By learning the skills of my mother and grandmother I am reasonably well prepared for most adversities in the future. It's nothing more than any competent adult should aspire to. We all attend school and are taught to read and write. Budgeting, savvy shopping, cooking, growing and making are all skills that should be learned as children and honed to perfection as adults.

You advise the OP to 'take care of family', a sentiment with which I completely agree. To be able to not just survive, but live is a most valuable skill and one that will benefit her family directly in the long run.

As for 'greedy creditors', I agree up to some extent, but I would point out that the money was borrowed in the first instance and creditors require that this money is paid back eventually. Since I suspect you are going to argue that the OP ran the debts in order to live, I wish to draw your attention to my argument above. If the OP had perhaps employed a few of the bits of advice in this thread in the first instance, I think perhaps that the damage would not have been so bad in the first place. We run debts out of laziness, personal greed and social pressure to conform to certain levels of expectation, to have certain things that indicate your success regardless of reality. Rarely have I seen a truly genuine case of hardship resulting in debt. Indeed, PDL debt is by far the most common form of debt these days and yet by their own figures, around 75% of borrowing is for so called 'frivilous' reasons. That is a truly terrifying level of debt that could so easily have been avoided. As a child of a somewhat financially dysfunctional household I can tell you categorically that many people these days will simply not even contemplate the levels of 'deprivation' that would free them from their debt burden far faster. How many people would be truly prepared to dispense with a TV for instance? Why do we even need these things? just stop...and think about it. Do you have a TV because you are entertained by it, or because all households in the UK have one and you would be 'deprived' if you did not?

I'll leave yo to think about that.

Gimpsdad

Reasoned argument.

My only gripe would be that if the OR and or CCCS used your budget to calculate living expenses then we would all be in trouble. This seems a reactive measure, not a proactive one, despite your logic.

OR figures, to remind you, indicate a REASONABLE standard of living, and nothing more. You indicate that the figures you use are achievable. For you, and maybe some others, I am sure that they are. For the vast majority of people they are not.

I don't decide that, OR and CCCS guidelines indicate it to be so. I do not believe in penalising families by making them live on unsustainable budgets. Especially if normal budget guidelines are non too generous in the first place.

You may, and you may also believe passionately in paying back unaffordable debt by living on an unsustainable budget. I don't, nor does the OR, nor does the much beloved (of this forum) CCCS. I do respect your view though.