Im sinking - financially and mentally

[Deleted User]

Well I agree it is hard regards the Xmas presents however maybe if you tried to make it clear that as you won't being participating this year that it would make you feel bad to receive something? Or I don't know if you can bake but maybe gifting homemade cakes or gifts of that nature? I can't bake either so maybe a bad suggestion.

In terms of you Barclay card is it0% or are you paying interest?

What is your plan in terms of paying down the debts, maybe paying of the smaller ones first whilst maintaining min payments on card and your loan. So getting rid of sky save 50 a month so fridge paid off in 2 months then that 75 towards your dad plus 50 you already pay is 125 so that is paid of in 5 months so in 7 months you can the be paying card at a rate of about 250 a month

Sorry getting carried away there:-)

phoenix_dragon

Hi MsKex, I've put some suggestions:

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,565.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 224.00 (80pm child benefit and 56pw tax credits)
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Child maintenance from ex-partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.00 - how long is your contract for? Can you get this reduced?
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet (inc with SKY). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home phone(inc with SKY). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner (food shop) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00 - this is quite high, can you switch providers?
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 No overdraft
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.50 - can you switch to a fee-free bank account?
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.05
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618.00 (17 yrs left)
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00 - can you get other quotes for this?
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.08
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sickness insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.53
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180.00 (tend to do a £80 big shop at Aldi then £25pw for bread/milk/fruit/veg - child pack lunches)
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 (£5 bottle of wine at the weekend)

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.17 (bus fare)
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00 (Barclaycard/Min payment is £126 = Owe £5,275) - what is the APR for this account?
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264.14 (Tesco loan - 4.5 years left = Owe £13736)
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 Cant afford a car
Bank of Dad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 (Owe £600)
Fridge Repayment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 (Owe £147)

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 (1 cat, inc in food shop)
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 (not pay yet but next month he turns 5 so will have to pay bus fare to school)
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Son's Swimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Son's Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Son's School Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00
Son's Kids Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.80 (goes to a breakfast/after school/holiday club)

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56.00 (inc phone/internet/sky - apparently I dont have a TV aerial so cant get freeview, need to check this) - look at getting an aerial fitted so you can get freeview, but meanwhile can you reduce your package at all?
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 (odd days out or save up for a trip)
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00 (weightwatchers - hoping to push myself to gold member so no longer pay) - how long do you think it will be before you become a gold member? can you use online support threads instead for motivation
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 (probably too less as theres always childrens parties etc to go to)
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,039.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,073.27

How many children do you have?

alannadrama

I understand it must be hard having your kids dad being a bit all over the place. I don't think it's unreasonable in asking him to help you out over the summer though. I never asked for help either, coming on here was my first step...

Now, forgive me for jumping to conclusions but you've had a loan from your dad so your parents don't seem to mind helping out if time of need? Can they do childminding duties for a day or two a week?

Another way... there will be lots of uni students studying child based courses, could you go on Gumtree and get a nanny? You should be able to get them for quite cheap as they are students and would love the opportunity.

Freeview - NO EXTRA COST! Just the cost of the box (but most new tvs have it fitted in them now). We just pay for TV licence, phone and internet, a total of £30 a month.

One thing that I think is important, never give up your social life. You need your friends and your rest bite. Don't feel guilty about wanting to go out coz then you'll just ruin your night out anyway. Now that the weathers better, buy a bottle of Aldi wine and get over to your mates for a BBQ when you can!

Best thing to do, reach out to your friends and family. There's no shame in it.

wannabee_in_credit

Hi...
Do you keep a spending diary at all? I found it really helpful for all the little things that suddenly would add up to fifty quid or more. Coffee here, magazine there etc. It made me far more aware of what I was spending.

You can still live within your means and enjoy your life whilst paying off debt. I do (most of the time) - it's about changing your outlook on life. It's absolutely fine to tell people you're not doing Christmas gifts this year, or do homemade as the above poster says. I did cakes, chocolates, chutneys and scarves last year and I am the least creative and talented person in the world.

How about you give yourself a weekly allowance for extra spends? £30/£50/£5 whatever you can afford. Draw it out of the bank on Monday, and when it's gone it's gone, until the next week.

Keep coming on here - there's loads of fantastic advice and support from the people here. I wouldn't be where I am without the forum.

I wish you lots of luck.

exarmydreamer

Do you have a spare room you could rent out, you could get a tax free income from it and it does not affect your Child Tax Credits etc but will change your Council tax if you pay single person. Depending on where you live, some lodgers are just looking for a room for Monday to Friday (they go home at the weekends) or students for term times. Remember to check your mortgage/insurance paperwork, some have clauses for lodgers.

Actually your Council tax does look high, is it single rate as you are on your own?. Have you asked if you can pay it over 12 months instead of 10 months, (most councils will do this).

I agree with the spending diary, I've had one for years and find it very useful. Good Luck .

theoretica

Your life insurance looks rather high too - have you shopped around for this?

I know kids grow, but £32 a month? Can you get hand downs from slightly larger kids, school fetes, charity shops, ebay and grandparents?

Mobile phone - how long do you have on the contract? If you keep the same phone rather than upgrading you can probably cut this with a pay as you go or sim only contract.

Food shopping - I am sure a visit to the old style board here would help you cut this. For example buying special packed lunch things in little packets is usually an expensive way of eating.

zenshi

I have Freesat which you don't need an aerial for, it goes in your Skybox and uses the dish. I've had it many years now so not up to date on the cost but it always used to be a one off payment. Mine was only £30. Will have quick look and see if I can get a link for you

Snowy_Owl

MsKex wrote: »

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,565.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 224.00 (80pm child benefit and 56pw tax credits)
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Child maintenance from ex-partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet (inc with SKY). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home phone(inc with SKY). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner (food shop) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 No overdraft
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.50 do you really need this bank account? Over the year this will cost you 78 pounds
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.05
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618.00 (17 yrs left)
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.08
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sickness insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.53
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180.00 (tend to do a £80 big shop at Aldi then £25pw for bread/milk/fruit/veg - child pack lunches) This can come down - have a look at the Oldstyle board, look for coupons, try for freebies etc
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 (£5 bottle of wine at the weekend) won' begrudge you a treat!

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.17 (bus fare)
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00 (Barclaycard/Min payment is £126 = Owe £5,275)
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264.14 (Tesco loan - 4.5 years left = Owe £13736)
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 Cant afford a car
Bank of Dad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 (Owe £600)
Fridge Repayment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 (Owe £147)

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 (1 cat, inc in food shop)look for& stock up when on offer when on offer - our two like the dry stuff so try to stock up & use over the leaner months
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 It's a long shot with your income but try asking about free school meals. Otherwise , pack lunches - this is for you too!
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 (not pay yet but next month he turns 5 so will have to pay bus fare to school) Will he be able to get free school travel?
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00Ideally you should be saving a wee something when you can to cover yearly check-ups, flea/worming treatments and for more serious things. We don't have insurance but have a pot of money for them - it's there for when we need it but if we don't, we still have it
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Son's Swimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Son's Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Son's School Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00 What's this used for? if paid to the school - what do they use it for? Is this necessary?
Son's Kids Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.80 (goes to a breakfast/after school/holiday club)

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56.00 (inc phone/internet/sky - apparently I dont have a TV aerial so cant get freeview, need to check this)
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 (odd days out or save up for a trip) Do research - free days out, cheaper cinema tickets, vouchers, team up with your friend who has a kid - picnics, days at the park - could also be good for support for you being with another mum!
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00 (weightwatchers - hoping to push myself to gold member so no longer pay) Understand that those who use this and other clubs benefit from the social support so don't want to rule this out. However, also look at online support etc!
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 (probably too less as theres always childrens parties etc to go to)
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,039.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,073.27



[/FONT]

Make the most of freebies.
Use vouchers / coupons / offers
Menu plan

Try some of the other boards for advice

Hope this helps and good luck - you've taken the bull by the horns before the SHTF! - Well done!!

MsKex

Wow thanks for all of your comments and time in helping me out, I really appreciate it. With all your suggestions I have created an action plan for me to do tomorrow.

In terms of you Barclay card is it0% or are you paying interest? I recently applied for a 0% card transfer but got rejected, probably because of the high amount owing? Bit scared applying for another in case it affects my credit rating (currently “good”) - I pay about £70 interest though

What is your plan in terms of paying down the debts, maybe paying of the smaller ones first whilst maintaining min payments on card and your loan. This is a great idea thanks, I wouldn’t have thought of doing this, I always assumed you should pay a bit more than the minimum payment.

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.00 - how long is your contract for? Can you get this reduced? I’ve been on O2 for about 3 years, I’ve never really thought about changing the contract to get cheaper - will look into it.
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00 - this is quite high, can you switch providers? Im going to ring British Gas in the morning and say I want it reducing or going elsewhere. Ive been with them 8 years so have never switched before.
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.50 - can you switch to a fee-free bank account? Don’t wish to change bank accounts - this is that insurance cover you have for stolen cards/passport/phone etc.
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00 - can you get other quotes for this? This is Homeserve, I used to have British Gas Homecare and they used to charge £47. Not sure who else to use.

Now, forgive me for jumping to conclusions but you've had a loan from your dad so your parents don't seem to mind helping out if time of need? Can they do childminding duties for a day or two a week? Unfortunately my parents both work although my mum is doing 1 day a week during summer holidays but I still have to pay the childcare figures mentioned after taking that into account (would be more otherwise). The money owed to my dad wasn’t a loan, he just gave it to help out )I.e. on holiday in spain I asked if I could borrow £100 and he transferred £300 into my account and told me to have a good time. I know you will look at that as a gift but I don’t I feel like that, I want to pay him back. Every time I try and offer him £50 instalment he won’t take it.

Do you keep a spending diary at all? I don’t but I really should - as of tomorrow!

Do you have a spare room you could rent out. I have a spare room - I just wouldn’t have a stranger living with us, having a young son with me, if I was on my own then I would definitely consider it.

Actually your Council tax does look high, is it single rate as you are on your own?. Have you asked if you can pay it over 12 months instead of 10 months, (most councils will do this). I do currently pay over 10 months, I quite like having 2 months free in Feb/Mar but I couldn’t tell you what that money goes on! I will ring council in the morning and get it changed.

I know kids grow, but £32 a month? Yeah this does look excessive, I kind of do a quarterly shop for winter/spring/summer/uniform/football etc. I need to re-evaulate.

MsKex

zenshi wrote: »

I have Freesat which you don't need an aerial for, it goes in your Skybox and uses the dish. I've had it many years now so not up to date on the cost but it always used to be a one off payment. Mine was only £30. Will have quick look and see if I can get a link for you

Appreciate this - thank you