My SOA- advice please.

Jellybean88

Hey!

Are you sure your not entitled to more benenfit? I get 440.91 a month from wages and I get more TC/WTC than you do. I do pay some towards my rent tho. Are you in employment or are you on IS or JSA?? I only ask because you don't pay any Rent or CT. You can check your entitlement on entitled to. (can't post link)
It's just me and my DD in our household. We pay £24 on water. Your landline is high, you can get pay monthly sims that have 300 mins plus on them, unlimited texts etc. They price from £15 upwards (depending on usage), I think tesco have a good one for their network. I don't use my landine, if your net includes free eve/weekend calls only use it for them. I will be doing this when my contract ends. I also shop in lidl, it's more than halved my shopping bill, with a biggish shop in tesco or sainsbury's for meat, they both do 3 for £10 on selected meat, You can batch cook meals and freeze them, freeze any left overs, or roll on to the next day.

Keep a diary of everything!Down to the last 1p, it all adds up!Take drinks/snacks out with you for yourself and children, make a pack-lunch. Eating out always cost so much more, even a sandwich and drink x 3!!Also check out netmums its a really good website with some fab ideas!xx

kazwookie

Yep get a book and write EVERYTHING you spend down, even 50p here and there for you and the kids.

Then have an add up, and adjust your soa as need be.

Good luck

WantToBeSE

Hi Jellybean- i am on JSA. I havent included HB & CT under 'benefits' section of my SOA, as i also left out rent & council tax.
I think i may have put my CTC into the 'monthly income' section by mistake?.

OK, my plan this month will be to write down everything i spend, and i hope this will uncover where that money disappears to!

asparagus1968

hi,at least you have a "surplus" ! in theory anyway:)

my thoughts:
1.keep a spending diary,list every penny!
2.internet/landline-look for better package-eg.i pay talktalk £24 ish a month for both
3. water usage-keep an eye on it,that seems really high.you can get (for free) a water hippo from your water company(or,i just filled a litre plastic pop bottle and popped in in cistern) this reduces the water used every time you flush.also the water company will give you(again free) other gadgets that will save you water(and money) go to their website.
4.meal plan,stock checks of freezer and cupboards to do your shopping list by,stick to the list.this was my biggest change and biggest area of money saving.
5.look at the up-your-income board?daily clicks/surveys all add up.

good luck,am sure your spends diary will be a real eye opener!!

Jellybean88

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Hi Jellybean- i am on JSA. I havent included HB & CT under 'benefits' section of my SOA, as i also left out rent & council tax.
I think i may have put my CTC into the 'monthly income' section by mistake?.

OK, my plan this month will be to write down everything i spend, and i hope this will uncover where that money disappears to!

I see...Buy a notebook and it keep it on you. We're only human and can't remember everything we spend . Try setting yourself a weekly budget too. Good luck, I will be following your post

DCFC79

When you pick soemthing up to put in the basket or trolley think to yourself do you really need this or its so much ££ is there not a cheaper option.

fantastiyk

Hi WantToBeSE,
I had a read and think you're doing really well.
I found keeping an actual record of what I spent was very illuminating. A pound here and a pound there soon added up. I keep a record of my spending on Excel on my computer, I update it from the receipts after each shop. It worked out very well for me as I only started this mid May and then the banking problems with RBS started mid June, if I hadn't been keeping a record of my spending I would have been lost. And its for your eyes only, you don't have to tell anyone where the extra money was going. I got my eyes opened with how much I spent on others, have been cutting that down lots since I realised from my spending diary. And have gone cold turkey on buying things for people because it was the done thing. I can wish them well but I don't need to buy a card or give them money or a present to prove a point.

Also child benefit for two is £134.80 a month, perhaps if you are finding things tight in other areas, that's a lot for presents.

I used to have all these methods for allocating certain money to things too, but since joining on here I've had to realise that what I would like to do isn't necessarily what I can always afford to do.

If you look into combining your internet and home phone you should make some savings.

Good luck with it.

WantToBeSE

Thanks for the advice so far.
In regards to my CB everymonth, i dont really want to touch that if possible as it is used to cover all big expenses for the kids (xmas, birthdays, friends birthday party fund, school uniform- expensive now the oldest is at high school-, clothes, shoes, school shoes etc). But i will be keeping an eye on how much i spend from it, and use some if necessary.

vasseur

Different people have different methods of keeping track of everything they spend. I use a small cashbook that I keep in my handbag. I write down all the money that's coming in (when it comes in) and then I write down everything that i know is going to be paid out - even if it's not coming out for a couple of weeks or so. That way I know exactly how much I will have in the bank. I tick each item off as it appears on my online banking. What the bank says I have and what I know I've got left over are rarely the same but at least I know what my exact position is.

This works for me but more organised people use excel

WantToBeSE

I am not computer literate, so your idea sounds like a better option for me- thanks polesalot!