'supporting each other through really tough times'

nuttyp

We have tesc0 contract sims, they are £7.50 a month so definatley not expensive. Our home phone line rental, all calls and unlimited broadband is £30 a month. Its not the cheapest but we got free youview tv box with it.

nuttyp

Major drama, DD tv keeps crackling when we are out of the room. And the light flickers.... like something out of a horror movie. Just ran up there and it was all ok. So no idea. Maybe there is something going on, I do know that this house has a bit of a past as in someone hung themselves. Not something I have told my kids tho.

OH is snoring his head off on the sofa, bless him. Watching ant n dec is rather hard tho.

kidcat

Sounds electrical nutty - I would switch it off and leave it off until after the weekend when you can investigate further.

Molly41

Peanut2013 wrote: »

Electric (no gas) £50 Make sure you are on the lowest tariff and ensure that you remain so by regular checking. Obviously try to save energy by batch cooking, ensuring you have full loads of washing and dry outside or on airers. Make sure you keep house warm for baby so perhaps this will have to remain a high cost atm

Water £29

Rent £650 - Check that you are getting all benefits and whether you are eligible for help with rent

Groceries £161.66 (includes nappies and formula) - This can be lower for two adults. Try the grocery challenge. Buy nappies on offer. Dont waste formula by making too much in the bottle. Use powder formula

Mobile Phone (both mobiles) £57.86 - People have advised that you can cut these down but depends if you are tied into a contract

Internet / Home Phone £31.25 - Shop around for deals

Council Tax £119 - Are you eligible for council tax benefit. Remember you only pay 10 months so will have two months at the end of next financial year that you can put towards the next bill and so it will not be such a strain as effectively you pay it over 12 months.

House Insurance £4.75

TV License £24.25 - Does this include sky? Often you can negotiate a lower payment or cancel it if out of contract

Eating Out £58.25 (had 2 friends birthday meals) - Definitely not affordable - can you do eating at home?

Petrol £56.63 - Is this for work? What about other car related expenses? Can you do without a car?

Presents / Cards £17.32 - Can you make or give gift promises such as a meal at home with you?

Entertainment (football ticket, heavily reduced tickets to local zoo) £18.20 - Can be stopped

Other (includes ink to do baby handprints and paint for nursery)
£28.20 Expensive for what it is - you can do this at home for hardly any cost

Baby stuff (includes sleeping bag, bouncy chair and swimming costume, so luckily not every month!)
£45.97 - Did you get these items second hand off Ebay - there are some very good bargains and baby stuff is hardly ever used

Pension £17 (lowest it can be without cancelling)

I 'think' that's everything! I thought we did well for ourself too, apparently not!

Hope this is helpful and not too harsh. When I was a young mum with 4 kids there was not a lot of money around. Babies dont notice what they do or dont have but need love and attention - which i am sure you both give in abundance.

Peanut2013

In response...

Electric (no gas) £50 Make sure you are on the lowest tariff and ensure that you remain so by regular checking. Obviously try to save energy by batch cooking, ensuring you have full loads of washing and dry outside or on airers. Make sure you keep house warm for baby so perhaps this will have to remain a high cost atm

We're currently in contract as only moved in October

Water £29

Rent £650 - Check that you are getting all benefits and whether you are eligible for help with rent

Not eligible for anything other than child benefit

Groceries £161.66 (includes nappies and formula) - This can be lower for two adults. Try the grocery challenge. Buy nappies on offer. Dont waste formula by making too much in the bottle. Use powder formula

We only buy own brand nappies and powder formula. A tub lasts us a week and is £7.99.

Mobile Phone (both mobiles) £57.86 - People have advised that you can cut these down but depends if you are tied into a contract

We both have iPhones so I'm not sure we could get this lower?

Internet / Home Phone £31.25 - Shop around for deals

Been looking into this but appears only virgin offer speeds over 8mb in our postcode which is this price

Council Tax £119 - Are you eligible for council tax benefit. Remember you only pay 10 months so will have two months at the end of next financial year that you can put towards the next bill and so it will not be such a strain as effectively you pay it over 12 months.

Not entitled to a penny Just had our break unfortunately

House Insurance £4.75

TV License £24.25 - Does this include sky? Often you can negotiate a lower payment or cancel it if out of contract

Only the standard. Just started the DD so have to pay £24 for first 6 months.

Eating Out £58.25 (had 2 friends birthday meals) - Definitely not affordable - can you do eating at home?

We do eat home most nights but to eat home for friends birthdays we'd have to offer to feed 30 people

Petrol £56.63 - Is this for work? What about other car related expenses? Can you do without a car?

Unfortunately not. This gets me to my mums, the shops and baby groups. Luckily have company car and they pay for insurance and tax.

Presents / Cards £17.32 - Can you make or give gift promises such as a meal at home with you?

Was a friends 21st do bought something special, plus had to buy 7 Easter eggs for the family.

Entertainment (football ticket, heavily reduced tickets to local zoo) £18.20 - Can be stopped

Football was a one off (£25 reduced to £5) and zoo tickets were groupon deal (£50 reduced to £13) but will prob not re appear.

Other (includes ink to do baby handprints and paint for nursery)
£28.20 Expensive for what it is - you can do this at home for hardly any cost

We did do it at home. Won't be buying more paint as nursery now done and we have ink for future projects.

Baby stuff (includes sleeping bag, bouncy chair and swimming costume, so luckily not every month!)
£45.97 - Did you get these items second hand off Ebay - there are some very good bargains and baby stuff is hardly ever used

All off eBay 2nd hand, except swimmers but will last 6 months. Don't think this will be as high next month.
Pension £17 (lowest it can be without cancelling)

I 'think' that's everything! I thought we did well for ourself too, apparently not!

kidcat

Peanut - most things do depend upon contracts if you are out of contract on anything its definitely worth haggling and trying to get the prices down, mobile phones can be converted to sim only contracts for less than £10 per month, it means you wont be eligible for a new phone but when times are hard and money tight it cant be helped.

NOt sure what you mean about BB is it that only virgin is available in your area? Or is it that they are the only ones offering high speeds? If its the first one I am sure that there will be some advice in the main page article on BB, if its the latter, then if I could buy slow speeds cheaper whilst I was short of cash I would take it and then upgrade when I was in a better financial state.

I have read recently and am sure GQ can confirm if I am right that everyone has the right to pay council tax over 12m rather than 10m its just that councils prefer it over the 10m so dont tell customers. Its worth checking out as it would bring your monthly cost down a chunk.

mcculloch29

I have an iPhone, and I can well understand the attraction but when you are out of contract it may be an idea to revert to something more basic. (Before you cry 'Hypocrite', DS pays for mine as he doesn't pay a massive amount for his rent. ) That will be a significant saving.

merlot123

No need to give up your iphone, tesco do a sim only deal for £12.50 per month 1gb data 5000 texts.
http://shop.tescomobile.com/sim-only#sim-type%5B%5D=IPHONE-SIM&monthly-min=7&monthly-max=22&minutes-min=100&minutes-max=3000

iPhones need a micro sim, hence it being a little more expensive than the standard sim only deal.

If your iphone is locked, you can it unlocked cheaply.

I wouldn't want to be without my iphone, worth every penny of the £12.50 IMO.

MSE is being savvy with money, not necessarily giving things up. Why pay more than one needs.

As from April this year, all councils in England have to offer a 12 month repayment for council tax, whether you are in hardship or not. Every little does help.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255514/Council-tax-bills-paid-12-months-10-rules-overhaul.html

Peanut, your home insurance is low as is your electric, you are doing well in these areas.

Your Internet and home phone is huge, I pay £3.99 for unlimited broadband and £9.99 per month line rental (pay in advance for cheaper rate). It's with talk talk, I know many people don't rate them, but I have been with them for donkeys years and they have been great with us.

Not sure where you shop, if its Tesco, then use club card to get reward, days out or eating out.

If you shop at sainsburys and have a nectar card, try ad points (a nectar card company) they give you points for watching adverts, you can collect upto 250 per week, that is £10 to spend in sainsburys a month, will help with your baby costs.

http://www.adpoints.com/

Also, if you do buy things from ebay, you can collect nectar points too http://www.nectar.com/collect/ebay.points


I hoped I've helped a little, can't help you with food budget, that's one area I'm completely useless at hence me being here!

Could you not come to some arrangement with family not to buy each other gifts/Easter eggs etc, our family did this years ago, saved a fortune. Receiving a card or a text is just as lovely in my opinion (we don't do cards either in my case, but send birthday, Christmas Day texts etc).
merlot123

mcculloch29

Good idea about the sim Merlot TY. May use that advice myself in the future,

Molly41

Peanut2013 wrote: »

In response...

Electric (no gas) £50 Make sure you are on the lowest tariff and ensure that you remain so by regular checking. Obviously try to save energy by batch cooking, ensuring you have full loads of washing and dry outside or on airers. Make sure you keep house warm for baby so perhaps this will have to remain a high cost atm

We're currently in contract as only moved in October

Water £29

Rent £650 - Check that you are getting all benefits and whether you are eligible for help with rent

Not eligible for anything other than child benefit

Groceries £161.66 (includes nappies and formula) - This can be lower for two adults. Try the grocery challenge. Buy nappies on offer. Dont waste formula by making too much in the bottle. Use powder formula

We only buy own brand nappies and powder formula. A tub lasts us a week and is £7.99.

Mobile Phone (both mobiles) £57.86 - People have advised that you can cut these down but depends if you are tied into a contract

We both have iPhones so I'm not sure we could get this lower?

Internet / Home Phone £31.25 - Shop around for deals

Been looking into this but appears only virgin offer speeds over 8mb in our postcode which is this price

Council Tax £119 - Are you eligible for council tax benefit. Remember you only pay 10 months so will have two months at the end of next financial year that you can put towards the next bill and so it will not be such a strain as effectively you pay it over 12 months.

Not entitled to a penny Just had our break unfortunately

House Insurance £4.75

TV License £24.25 - Does this include sky? Often you can negotiate a lower payment or cancel it if out of contract

Only the standard. Just started the DD so have to pay £24 for first 6 months.

Eating Out £58.25 (had 2 friends birthday meals) - Definitely not affordable - can you do eating at home?

We do eat home most nights but to eat home for friends birthdays we'd have to offer to feed 30 people

Petrol £56.63 - Is this for work? What about other car related expenses? Can you do without a car?

Unfortunately not. This gets me to my mums, the shops and baby groups. Luckily have company car and they pay for insurance and tax.

Presents / Cards £17.32 - Can you make or give gift promises such as a meal at home with you?

Was a friends 21st do bought something special, plus had to buy 7 Easter eggs for the family.

Entertainment (football ticket, heavily reduced tickets to local zoo) £18.20 - Can be stopped

Football was a one off (£25 reduced to £5) and zoo tickets were groupon deal (£50 reduced to £13) but will prob not re appear.

Other (includes ink to do baby handprints and paint for nursery)
£28.20 Expensive for what it is - you can do this at home for hardly any cost

We did do it at home. Won't be buying more paint as nursery now done and we have ink for future projects.

Baby stuff (includes sleeping bag, bouncy chair and swimming costume, so luckily not every month!)
£45.97 - Did you get these items second hand off Ebay - there are some very good bargains and baby stuff is hardly ever used

All off eBay 2nd hand, except swimmers but will last 6 months. Don't think this will be as high next month.
Pension £17 (lowest it can be without cancelling)

I 'think' that's everything! I thought we did well for ourself too, apparently not!

I appreciate it is hard to have someone make comments on your finances but nearly everything I have made a comment on you have disregarded

In all honesty if you really need to save £250 a month then you need to get tough with making savings and you need your family support to do so - the Easter Eggs for one?

Are you absolutely sure you are not eligible for Child Tax Credit?

I do know it is hard as I have been in your situation - I was a young single mum to two babies and then had four young children under the age of five so hardly any money. It is still hard now as I still support all my children who are in education and working for the minimum wage. I have had to make some very difficult decisions as my benefits have been / will be culled. There is a very good blog written by Frugal Queen that has won awards and on MSE - this thread makes very good reading, as she is a young mum - especially the way she budgets and monitors her expenses - she also has a blog that links from her name on MSE.