Help-good kick needed

beckseven

I keep posting on here with good intentions but have had such a bad month this month that any good I have done in the past 4 months will have been undone. My overdraft is at it's limit of £1500 and i don't get paid till the 23rd-I've also spent all my shopping vouchers so will have to use my credit card to do the shopping. I know this is all my fault because I have mismanaged my money this month and wasted it. I have put my statement of affairs below and any help to reduce some of this would be gladly taken. My husband pays the mortgate and the bills and I am meant to manage the rest which I should be able to do but this month I've failed badly so need a good kick up the backside to get me back on the straight and narrow.
Monthly Incomings:

My salary(I have nursery vouchers of 243.00 and £300 of Asda vouchers taken from this sum) – 1430.66
Benefits - £79.05

Total – 1509.71

Monthly Outgoings:

TV License - £10.99
Mobile Phone - £33
Food - £300 (this is paid to me in Asda vouchers because I save £15 a month getting this from work
Car Insurance - £22.30
Petrol - £70
Nursery fees-271.80 (I also get 243.00 taken from my pay for the remainder
Specsavers-£10
Pet insurance-£19.38
Credit cards-£100
Husbands spending money-£200 (not negotiable to reduce this)
My spending money (which I use for clothes, toiletries, saving for holidays etc and the leftovers go towards paying off debts)-£160

Total: £1,421.09

Difference from this normally goes on odds and ends-probably frittered away

Storm

Right, the vouchers thing is confusing me a bit... so your actual take home pay is £902.66 right? Plus the benefits = £981.71. Taking the voucher elements out of your SoA your outgoings come to £897.47 (I don't think you'd actually added in the pet insurance as my tally didn't quite match yours)

This is obviously quite tight, and the first place I'd have a look at is the pet & car insurances - search around to see if you can get a cheaper deal. Is the mobile on a contract? If so see if you can reduce the package until the end of the contract & then go PAYG & only let yourself put on £10 a month max.

Have a look on the OS board for ideas of how to reduce the shopping budget - menu planning etc helps enormously here, and if you can get that down you should have ample left to buy all your toiletries too (and probably some clothes for yourself & the kids too)

As there's just under £100 a month that you don't know where it goes try keeping a spending diary for a month, and note down every parking fee, bar of chocolate, newspaper etc that you buy - that way you'll be able to see where it's going.

Finally (whew! I hear you say) you've said that it's not negotiable for your husband's spending money to be reduced - does he know you're trying to pay off these debts, and is he helping with them at all?

Good luck!

lynzpower

how many are you feeding - 300 quid in asdas looks an awful lot!

why are you paying hubby 200 quid, yet YOUR money at 160 goes to pay for hols?

Kaz2904

Does hubby have a job and therefore his own money? You could be a bit sly and say I need shopping DH but I'm not feeling very well- I have ovary ache. Can you get the shopping for me?
He then goes to get 5 days worth of food.
Or be totally honest with him and say I just don't know what I've done with the food money this month and I need enough for 5 days. Sort out 5 budget (real real budget) food days ie 1 bag porridge and 12 pts milk= breakfasts and tea/coffee. 2 loaves bread and 1 packet cheese, 1 packet tomatoes= lunches. 1 massive bag pasta 3 tins tomatoes 1 packet of mince 1 net of onions 3 large baking potatoes 1 lettuce 1 tin tuna 1 tin sweetcorn 1 tin baked beans 1 cauliflower 1 bag carrots 1 bag of beansprouts
There you have pasta bolognese- half it and add the baked beans and some chilli powder next day to have chilli jackets and salad (use a sliver of your cheese on top). Tuna pasta bake. Cauliflower, carrot, fresh tomato and cheese sauce with pasta (kind of like a carbonarra). Then get all of your crunchy left over veggies cut them thin and small and make a big veggie stir fry. 5 days meals for £18.07 according to the Tesco website. Their mature cheddar is bogof as is bread. I know it's not ideal but it is easily repayable next month and will focus your mind! HTH, Kaz.

beckseven

Thanks so much for your helpful replies. My take home is 902 without the vouchers-it does get quite confusing! I've written a to do list on things to reduce-mobile and pet insurance(my dog's 8 years old and arthritic hence a big hike in the monthly premium this year!). I have a big problem with my husband with money. He thinks that because I work 4 days a week because I like to have a day off with my 14 month year old I should have less spending money. This is a relationship problem really as he thinks I should work full time and maybe sorted over a longer period but is too long a story to go into here! i'm going to tackle my spending first and then sort our joint finances out when i'm in a better situation to bargain with him! I know it sounds terrible! It's my responsibility to get the shopping and I would not dare to let him do the shopping because he would spend £600 a month! I know I can cut the £300 right down (I'm ashamed to say I'm feeding just 2 adults and a 14month year old baby and a dog with that lynz!) and then have vouchers to spend on petrol, kid's clothes etc. Thanks so much Kaz for your shopping ideas to get a really cheap shop to tide me over until payday. i've copied it and am going to use it tonight.

Kaz2904

How did you get along then what did DH say or did you not tell him? I hope you do manage to get sorted and I will say that I have definately found meal planning is the way to go to cut the shopping bills. My max budget is £300 and that includes getting DVD's and all alcohol. It also includes buying meals out if we go out and buying clothes. TTFN, Kaz.