Need help with my budgetting/

Bloomberg

Mummy_Sarah wrote: »

I really dont understand why we go through much gas and electric. The only reason could be that our house is big and spacious (i live in wales and lucky to get a lovely house for 450 a month) But downstairs we dont have carpet flooring. Our kids are always cold in the winter months so I keep the house on 18 on the thermostat. I turn it off randomly throughout the day to try and keep costs down. I have for weeks tried turning it off through the night but my kids wake up feeling cold with runny noses and coughs and I feel guilty and have started putting it on 16 through the night. My son is 2 years 5 months and be going to school in September so will save £20 a month as I will be paying for dinners not playgroup fees. I know some people who dont pay for playgroup and they take their children there everyday. But we need to as dean works. Wow super monkey thats really cheap. How much is line rental do you know? Do they still accept you if you are already with them for this new deal? Bloomberg, I looked into doing a child minding course but can only tolerate my children. Hopefully there may be a slim chance when my little boy is in full time school I can find a part time job. But my partner has been trying to switch jobs himself for the last year so not sure whats out there xx

My apologies, maybe I did not explain what my friend's wife does very clearly. She looks after the children from her own house which means that she is always available for her children too. Her situation is similar in that her husband works shifts in addition to the odd brief spell away. I hope this helps. All the best.

PollyOnAMission

supermonkey wrote: »

Why is your gas & electric so high?
Sky - there is a Primus deal at the moment for Phone line & Broadband which works at £10.24 a month saving you £40 a month. If you get a freesat box and you can continue to enjoy TV, you'll just lose a few channels.

Or cheaper still, keep your old Sky box and you'll still get lots of channels for no cost Although you'll lose any recording/pausing facility.

Mummy_Sarah

PollyOnAMission wrote: »

Or cheaper still, keep your old Sky box and you'll still get lots of channels for no cost Although you'll lose any recording/pausing facility.

you dont have to send the old box back to sky?X

MK55

No you can keep the box, as long as you're out of contract it is yours

MK55

Also, ring your energy supplier, ask them how much KWH you used in Gas and Electric over the last year, and ask them what tariff you are on and if you switch would you be charged a cancellation fee.

Once they give you this information headover to Uswitch and put your yearly KWH in and see if you can save some money there... you could save a lot and even if just £50 that would pay for a day out for you and family!! good luck

leanne82duke

As your income is low is your child not entitled to free school meals? X

Mummy_Sarah

Hi. We are with Scottish Power at the moment we have the fixed price deal until April 2014. My contract with sky have been finished a while.
Leanne82duke Only if we were on income support, employment support allowance or job seekers. x

sharpe106

How much do you use your mobile when you are out and about? If not much you could use the mobile as your main home phone and just get a cheap pay as you go for when out and about

Mummy_Sarah

My partner has the mobile to take to work, if his car breaks down or something happens and he needs it for an emergency. We like the fact of having a house phone because its free for our parents to ring us and we talk a lot, and also for other people to get in touch its cheaper. xx

Nicole1971

You are really doing well to be so careful with your money - so well done!

Re days out, I find that by saving up my Tesco vouchers, I can use the points on days out for the kids and things like meals at pizza express. We got a really good deal with them for car insurance too and this also added more points for tesco vouchers.

I would hesitate to get a credit card - I think it is too easy to overspend with one.

You should be able to get a better deal with your energy bills - we fixed ours until March 2013, saving £300 a year! Also your phone when that conrtact expires - we got our mobile phone through Tesco (more points!!) and it cost us £7.50 per month, 3000 free texts and 100 free calls a month. No initial charge for the phone.

Do sign up to the moneysaving newsletter emails - I read the religiously every week to see if there is any more I could be doing! It also tells you how to do things like switch supplier etc... We were on a more expensive tarrif for ages!

Good luck!