How can I reduce my bills?

SunshineButterfly

I am not sure if I am posting this in the correct place.

I do not have much money left each month to save. I really really want to save!

My biggest silliest outgoing is to perfect homes. I have paid them a lot already, so would rather not give the items back and lose out on all the money I have already wasted with them!!

I have called them and if I pay off the earliest item by paying £390 then my payments to them will go down by £9 a week.
Not sure if thats worth it, as in the long run will save all the interest etc?

My income is...(this is all weekly)

Student loan 93.00
Student grant 105.00
CB 33.00
CTC 113.00
Childcare grant 72.00


My outgoing is... (also weekly)

Childcare 84.00
Rent 133 (this is 500 a month plus 75 a month to cover arrears)
Gas 10.00
Electric 10.00
Water 6.00
Perfect Homes 30.00
Phone 10.00 (in contract)
Travel 24.00
Internet 5.00 (in contract and needed for uni)
Household 93.00 (food, toiletries, etc)

(Just realised I have missed off TV license too grrr).

Any amount left per week is £11 which is not much when you have childrens uniforms to replace / buy... birthdays to save for.. day trips out etc etc.. or for emergencies if something breaks.

Am I missing something here?

tyllwyd

Is your phone £10 per week or per month? If it's per week, that's a big chunk of your income. Also internet, is that really £5 per week?

For the perfect homes payment, how much do you owe in total, what's the interest rate, how long will the payments run for?

SunshineButterfly

My mobile is £41 a month.
My internet is £19 a month because I was offered half price due to my mobile phone contract with them.

PH's I owe A LOT. I am currently considering buying a new TV and asking them to take theirs back.. as would save me about £900 in the long run and thats if I bought a NEW TV... I could probably get one second hand for even less.
But I am not sure if it works like that... if I decide I want to give them 1 item back and keep the rest?

chili1496

how many people are you actually on about in your budget above is this just yourself or others?
i ask because i think £93 a week on food and toiletries is alot.
£41 a month on a mobile is just bloody stupid.

what is cb and ctc excuse my ignorance but i just got in from work and cannot think what these abbreviations are for?

Upsidedown_Bear

chili1496 wrote: »

how many people are you actually on about in your budget above is this just yourself or others?
i ask because i think £93 a week on food and toiletries is alot.
£41 a month on a mobile is just bloody stupid.

what is cb and ctc excuse my ignorance but i just got in from work and cannot think what these abbreviations are for?

CB is child benefit and CTC is child tax credit.

OP - I also think £93 a week for food/toiletries is a lot. Have a look at the Old Style broad - they know everything there is to know about making the pennies stretch especially with regard to food.

~Beanie~

I'm guessing that cb=child benefit and ctc=child tax credit.

How many children do you have and how old are they? I also think that £93 pw is a lot!!

SunshineButterfly

I have 2 children aged 3 and 5. I am in a contract with my mobile, so will end up paying for it either way.. therefore I may aswell use it? I have phoned them though and tried to get them to reduce it. The best they could do was £36 a month.. but thats still less than I was paying.

Perfect homes from Monday (or whenever they can collect the TV) will reduce to £7 a week rather than £30.

The £93 is over estimated because I was including necessities in there that I would not have to buy every week or month... like school shoes when they need replacing, travel costs to school and back once they go back.

But 1 adult and 2 children the budget is for. Maybe I can look at reducing that?

opinions4u

During a financially stretched period a few years ago we cut the shopping bill by around 20% by removing anything that was a treat / dessert.

No crisps, biscuits or pudding - with one exception: Buy whichever biscuits are on offer that week (but cost less than £1).

Restricts the kids to one biscuit a day. Big it up as treat time. They'll buy into it as a positive, you'll be a bit thinner and your spare cash a bit higher.

My waistline has suffered since we reversed this policy as the financial squeeze eased.

DragonQ

So are you a full-time student? Any chance of getting a job in addition? Beyond what others have mentioned, I can't see much you can reduce. Student loans and grants aren't designed to support children.

tyllwyd

The mobile is an obvious place to save as soon as the contract runs out. And does the internet cover phone calls and line rental as well? Even if it does, there are cheaper deals out there, so you need to shop around as soon as you are out of contract.

Downgrading the tv sounds like a much better idea. I think you need to sit down and work out exactly how much you owe perfect homes, and what you will be paying them per week and for how long, so you understand exactly what the position is.

Your travel costs are £24 per week - is there any scope for reducing that at all?

Maybe with your household budget you need to split it, so you have one budget for what you need day to day like food, and then you put some aside every week so that when things like school shoes need to be bought, you have got a savings account to help.

cabbage

Hi

Do you get any child maintenance fro the children's father? If not then why not?

Btw I think you are doing well keeping your head above water.

Are there any food banks nearby?