Newbie here looking for advice.

Mummy_Sarah

We dont have a backgarden so last year I putting the radiators on a lot of the time to dry clothes, yes i do tumble dry a lot but a lot of the bill breakdown was gas. Im estimating it to go down in 2 months as I have used next to nothing gas and been coping with extra blankets and such. I cant send my little girl packed lunches until she is in year one she is in reception at the moment so one more year. The nursury thing is really close to my heart and I know what your saying is right but I feel like a crap and rubbish mum if i stopped him going as he loves it there and his developing really well. I am going to see about cutting the sessions down through. Playgroup is £7.50 a session x

northerntwo1

I do feel for you - I am a Health Visitor and normally recommend Play Group if parents can afford it - even sacrificing other things but as you do not have much to play with finances wise you may need to reconsider. I cannot see anywhere else you can make savings if honest.

Mummy_Sarah

If I was to get a part time job would I be able to claim any vouchers towards play group/creche for my son. Iv been told that i would need to work a minimum of 16 hours to be able to qualify? Im not sure if you would know the answer to this or not.

BigAunty

That SOA is best posted on the Debt Free wanabee board. They can explain how to do it, I think there is some wizard or link you can use.

That's really only a basic budget - there are a lot of other incidental costs which are missing (car repairs, MOT for starters).

More than 10% of your disposable income is spent servicing debt. If you got a grip on that, it would free up an extra £165, plus making packed lunches for your daughter when she's out of reception classes would bring it up to about £185, binning Sky = £237 and halving your energy consumption/cheaper tariff/binning prepayment if you have this would be £330 extra.

If you organised structured play sessions at home with your sons friends or at their places, this would free up £418 - you don't have to pay money to develop your sons social skills, the same ones can be learned for free. If you took a part time job, this might bring in an extra £100 a week (but do model the impact of this on benefit withdrawals on the Turn2us online benefit calculator). That's potentially £818 extra in your household budget each month, bringing up your weekly £74 disposable income closer to £280.

It looks like you had big childrens parties, a holiday and a Christmas that you couldn't afford if after overtime, you are still £1500 down. With some modesty on those expenditures in the first place, you would not have an overdraft, for starters.

The DFW and Old Style moneysaving forum is where you should be spending your time. The Special Occasions board will have info on how to organise cheap childrens parties. Post a 'wanted' ad on your local Freecycle/Freegle/Freeshare site for a family size tent for next years summer holiday.

[Deleted User]

If you could get a part time job you may be able to claim childcare tax credits.