Please help me

mike_the_rate_tart

Hi,

I've just recently joined this board as part of my all-out assault on my debts.

I thought I had things sorted, and I'm on a good wage, but I must be going wrong somewhere as I never seem to have any money left at the end of the month. See my signature for current debts which compared to a lot on here don't seem very high at all. My parents are charging me 4% interest on the money I owe them.

I earn ~£3,000 per month net, and here are my outgoings every month:

Mortgage: 1,132
Car 1: 360
Car 2: 140
Gas: 40
Electricity: 30
Home insurance: 18
Council tax: 116
Parents loan repayment: 150
Life insurance: 53
BT: 35
Wife's housekeeping (for food, clothes/ nappies for our 1 yr old daughter, her mobile etc): 400

I also need around £360/month petrol (I drive 750 miles a week just to get to work and back in a diesel car) and about £100 a month cash to buy lunch with.

I've just had to change my car for a new one as I drive a high mileage and my existing car is on it's way out. We live in a village with a very poor bus service so had to buy a car for my wife, hence the car # 2 payment every month.

My current calculations above show me that I have less than £20 spare a month and I'm sure I must be able to improve on this...

Please can you help me economise!

lynzpower

well the obvious thing for me is that you are living beyod your means here, ( yesssss I know thats obvious) but in order to economise, youll need to make some hard choices.

1) if your wife isnt working why does she need a mobile, cant she just get a payg sim?
2) if your wife is at home, can she not cook from scratch, I expect that you should be able to cut the housekeeping down to 250 if not below. Me & My OH are spending 100 pcm on food/ toiletries/ cleaning. Yes, we dont have steaks often, but we do eat very well, and a lot is cooked from scratch - its infinately cheaper. we buy value where possible ( not meat tho) and eat plenty of fruit & veg and a fair amount of organics .We waste nothing.
4) why do you need to spend 100 quid a motnh on lunch? We taker in sandwiches from home, leftovers for the moicrowave ( chilli/ curry etc) or even if we cant be bothered to make lunch at home a tin of beans & some bread! Beans on toast at lunch is nutritional, if your colleagues nose, then tell them that you are watching your diet
5) can your wife work? even if its just weekends or evenings some income is better than nothing - take in ironing? Or some ad hoc babysitting or childcare?
6) can your wife as she is at home help sort out stuff for ebay or do a car boot sale?

Skint_Catt

Can you not get a train to work? That's an extortionate fuel bill!

Check out the Old Style board for your wife. What about TV licence, water rates, birthdays etc?? Do the car figures include tax, mot, service and insurance?

Catt xx

Storm

There's some things missing off your SoA that you need to budget for each month, even though some will be yearly expenses - MOT, Car tax, insurance, TV license firstly, and also things like Christmas, birthdays, holidays etc. I'm guessing that this is where the credit card spending has come from, when things come around that haven't been budgetted for. Have a look at Martin's budget planner spreadsheet (on the debt free tools at the top of the board) to check you haven't forgotten anything.

Keep an eye on Martin's utilities articles to figure out when's the best time to compare suppliers to check that you're getting the cheapest gas & electric. What rate is your credit card at? Can you get this onto a lower rate/0%?

£500 a month for food (housekeeping + you lunches) for 2 adults & 1 child is high - this can definitely be cut down by a lot, but this will only work if your wife is aware of the situation & is willing to do her bit. As Lynz says, as she's not working currently then talk to her about the shopping budget, cooking from scratch etc.

You haven't got any child benefit listed - I realise you won't get tax credits etc with your salary level, but I thought everyone got CB?

sammy115

Couple of things immediately stood out to me. I have three children (2 teenagers and a baby) and I don't spend £400 per month on food. I am currently spending about £60 per week and that includes lunches for my OH and me. We both work full time and cook every meal from scratch. Try the Old Style board for hints and tips.

Also you need to start writing down what you spend EVERY penny goes to. You will be surprised.

SunderlandBlackCat

mike_the_rate_tart wrote: »

£100 a month cash to buy lunch with

:eek: Thats more than my total spend on food in a month even if I have a couple of takeaways as treats.

I have a mini fridge under my desk & take all my lunch stuff in at the start of the week so I'm not tempted to go out & spend.

AJolly

£100 a month on lunch is far too much in my opinion, you should easily be able to get packed lunches included with the £400 you have for food thats alot of money to just spend on food and nappies a month even for 3 of you.

If your wife is at home why does she need credit on her mobile? she has the house phone and if she does go out people can still call her if she has a PAYG. Have a £5 emergency credit on it just incase something was too happen while she was out.

Is it possible to drive to a train station near you and use a train to get to work, if the car is needed for work talk to them and get them to pay your petrol as 750 miles A WEEK is just stupid even if it is a well paid job. Possibly find a job closer to home.

raq

hi there

we are a family of 5 and spend between £55.00 and £65.00 a week on food, and yes we do eat well. Okay I am now at home so no longer rushing around to and from work so I have the time to do casseroles and cooked meals from stratch. Also my mother-in-law will cook us a curry or a chilli for the week. If and when the children does need clothes we shop at Tesco or next clearance and believe me they are never scruffy looking. Gone are the days of Marks & Spencer full price , mothercare full price and so on.

Nothing to do with me but one thing I wanted to point out is does your parents know how much debt you have ??? Reason am asking is that there charging 4% for the loan. How do you and your wife feel about this ???

sanfrancisco

Why has no one mentioned the cars???

At 500 per month, that is 1/6 of your income. EXTORTIONATE!

Sell the cars and buy cheaper ones, not with car loans. Does your wife even need a car?

mike_the_rate_tart

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies so far. There are a few comments here that have started me thinking.

I missed one item off my SoA which is the £200 per month I (try) to save to cover off the car expenses (insurance, tax, servicing) for both cars. My wife does need a car as we live in a village with only an hourly bus into town. This is a small bus that can only accept max 2 prams so if there are already 2 prams on the bus my wife won't be allowed on and will have to wait another hour.

There is no way I can get a train to work - I live in Winchester and currently work in Bristol and there is no direct train. Driving is the only feasible option.

Re. Sanfrancisco and the cars...

I need a decent new car as part of my job involves visiting prospective clients and I can't be seen turning up in a shed on wheels. Part of my £3k package is a car allowance which I use to cover the monthly finance payments. Besides we have NO savings at all and both cars are on finance so a) we don't actually have a car to sell (doubtful that we'd be able to sell them for more than is owed on them) and b) how can we not buy a car on finance with no cash in the bank

Thank you for all your positive comments so far though, I will check out the "Old Style" section for some tips on how my wife can economise a bit more at home, however a rough breakdown of where her £400 a month goes is:

£70 per week shopping
£25 per month phone contract
£40 petrol

the remaining £80 will be eaten up by clothes/shoes for us all, presents for people, other costs that invariably crop up month to month. I think of all the areas this is the one where we can make most inroads. We always cook from scratch and NEVER eat ready meals or take aways and the usual shop is Tesco. None us wear designer clothes so Tesco/ ASDA etc. supply most things already.

We do get CHB but at £69 per month that gets eaten up within a week on my petrol (average of 3 tank fills a week at ~£35 a go)

The CC is currently on a 0% balance transfer deal, and I will rate tart that for as long as I can.

mike_the_rate_tart

If I'm leaving home at 6.30am every day and not returning until > 7pm every day as much as I want to I doubt I'll be able to make my own lunches on a regular basis.

However what I'd never thought of is shopping in Tesco at the start of the week and storing my food in the fridge. We have a microwave in the office kitchen as well so perhaps I can start to make in-roads here. Will give this a go when I'm back in next Tuesday.