Head out of the sand and eyes wide open

headoutthesand

Right - i've been a visitor here for a while and only joined last month. I've posted a few times here and there but feel that i need a DFW blog/diary.

Please feel free to add all sorts of comments and advice as i really could use them.

i'll give you the run down on my persosnal life and then post my SOA.

I'm married but seperated (only just and it might just be temporary), have 2 kids aged 3 and 4 months. DS1 starts nursey in September. He will be in every afternoon from 1pm - 3.30pm. DS2 is still on formula milk and clothes wise, we have all the stuff from DS1 in the loft. Same goes for baby must haves.

I'm on maternity leave at the moment and getting my full salary (stop looking at me with those green eyes) and OH is suspended from work on full pay.
We are missing his regualar overtime as a result so things are tight. I work the odd shift here and there at a family business giving us an extra £32.50 a week extra, but it's not every week i get this.

We have lived in this house for 4 years and have a secured loan on it which we took out last year to pay off debt, buy a car, get work done inside and out. I cannot take a payment break from my mortgage cos of the SL unless i pay Picture £250.

I have tried Ebay but ended up out of pocket cos no-one bought my stuff, we are trying a car boot on sunday and have loads and loads to sell.

Here is my SOA:

My wages - £942
OH wages - £960
Extra Shift - £65 (works out at 2 shifts a month)
Child Benefit - £120.80
Tax Credits - £84 (but will soon change)

Outgoings:

Mortgage - £400 Halifax fixed rate till June 08 4.3% (overpaying by £9 each month £66,876 os over 22 years
Mortgage policies - £22.55, £28.65 and £25.43 (the best we can get - checked 2 weeks ago)
Capital 1 Mastercard - £210 % £6100 os
Barclaycard - £35 £873 os 24.9%
Nationwide - £70 £2302 os 16.6%
Egg - £50 £2,250 os 21.9%
Picture - £256, £23386 os 9.4%
Next - £100 £1000 os not sure of rate but not worried this will be cleared in full at the end of June

Fridge Freezer policy - £6.25 (ends Sept)
TV Licence - £11.37
Scottish power joint fuel - £90 (just swapped via uswitch)
Diamond - £41.85
Telewest - £100 (broadband, tv, phone - tied in till March 08)
Gym - £26 (don't use it - going to cancel)
Council Tax - £114
O2 - £15 (best contract on offer)
Virgin B&C - £29.87
Scottish Gas boiler cover - £34.99 (really, really needed)

Petrol - £60
Shopping - £200
Menage - £20
Sister - £35 £100 os 0%

Total income - £2171.80
Total outgoings - £1981.96
Leftover - £190.80:eek:

If we have £190.80 left over, why are we skint before the month gets into double figures and why have we started getting bank charges again?

I hate being responsible for all the money.

As i said i have split with DH (for the time being - fingers crossed we work things out) so for the time being we will still be a couple financially.

Tax credits say i have to apply as a single person now so i'm guessing i'll get more tax credits when the form comes through.

Please feel free to advise....

CLAPTON

well probably the reason you are always skint is that you have left lots of things out of your budget

a. start keeping a spending diary and write down absolutely everything you spend.
Maybe you spend on magazines, haircuts, socialising, coffes, lunches .. just write everything down you ill be surprised how everything mounts up

b. also look at all the yearly or one off things you spend on e.g. car insurance, tax, MOT, servicing, repair allowance, clothes, xmas, birthday presents.. with these you need to work out the yearly figure and divide by 12 and add to your budget and of course you need to actually save up for these things each month so you have the money available when its required rather than just put it on the OD or CC.

Sea78

HI - big hugs for you hon. I hope you manage to work it out soon.
The Scottish Gas cover seems high - we have British Gas boiler cover for £16 a month - could you get this?

Perhaps start a spending diary - writing everything down might help you see where things go? Also, how about MOT savings? Car tax? Presents too - christmas and birthdays - that could explain some of the money disappearance.

Will your OH be backa t work soon or could the suspension lead to no job? Sorry to be nosey!

Look forward to seeing your progress

Sea xx

Sea78

Cross posting Clapton

Midnight_Sky_2

hi hon, well done for posting. You'll get loads of support and help here. Like Clapton and Sea, I can't speak highly enough of a spending diary - but you must write down everything you spend - you'll soon see where the pennies go and just how quickly they mount up to pounds!

Am I right in saying your Next account finishes at end June? In that case you would have another £100 to chuck into the mix. Gas Boiler cover looks dear, can you look around and see if you can get this cheaper?

Is there any penalty for leaving Telewest - could you speak to them and say there has been a change of circumstances and you can no longer afford this? You could try laying it on really thick and explain that you have two very young children and that by continuing with Telewest you are putting yourself in debt - might be worth a try?

Get over to the OS board you'll get some great ideas for money saving.

Good luck and keep posting to let us know how you're getting on.

Midnight

newmum1

Your gas boiler does look real expensive, is that all they cover im with british gas and it covers eletricals, drains plumbing and so on, and i think i pay about £40 per month.

headoutthesand

Thanks for your replies.

The Scottish Gas cover is for boiler, electrics, drains etc which we have had to pay out a lot on in the past so i'm guessing we will get our money back in the long term.

Telewest is high as we have still to get a bill from our new package. WE have just got a new V+ box and a box in the bedroom. The package we have should work out at £63 a month for unlimited broadband, Talk all the time phone tariff, XL TV package, V+ box and 2nd box.

I will cancel the 2nd box but when i tried to cancel the package i was told i would need to start paying dearer for everything else. The phone is ideal as i am on maternity leave and use the phone all the time during the day. I would downgrade this if i had a decent mobile reception at the house and take advantage of OH minutes but since i don't and he's not here at the moment it's a bit hard.

I know we should start saving for the yearly occasions but at the moment i feel as though we need to clear a bit of the debt to free up some money to do this.

When there is a birthday coming up we usually buy it from next and put it on the card but i have been very, very good and not spent onthis for 3 months.

We are due backdated pay at the end of this month so all that will be paying off my next account. The pay is backdated to last August and between the 2 of us we should get about £1100 plus any overtime at the higher pay rate.

The extra money we are saving from next will go to pay off the Capital one card. Can you believe this was almost clear last August?

Although we are not on very good terms at the moment we are both very aware that we have got into debt together so for the sake of the kids we need to get out o it together.

OH is suspended as we work in the government and he was charged on a night out so we are waiting on investigations being carried out. It may not come to anything but if it goes to court it could drag on till christmas and if found guilty he could/will loose his job.

I have tried to get him to look for something part time while he is off cos there is nothing stoppinghim from getting a job. He is just so lazy though and wants to spend his spare time getting a better handicap at golf.

He isn't interested in reading this website but is aware that he needs to curb his spending.

I forgot to add on my SOA that i pay £20 a month to my diet class but this will stop now that i have reached target.

Shineyhappy

Hiya and welcome to MSE!

It looks to me like you could do with raising some extra cash to put towards a few of those debts. Have a look for two threads one called the Olypmic challenge and one about raising a thousand pounds in two months. Those should give you some inspiration!

You should be able to reduce your food bill a little by reading posts on the Old Style boards and by batch cooking and as others have said get a spending diary, get online banking (as much as possible) and lots of spreadsheets!

Pretty soon you will be getting excited about paying five pounds you saved from the shopping off a debt!

Best of luck and keep posting!

headoutthesand

It never rains but it pours.

Just when i thought we were on our way to getting things sorted i get a puncture :mad:

When the car was in for the MOT in April it was spotted but the garage told me it wasn't causing a problem and that you can sometimes not have any bother even when there is a nail in it. I've driven to Blackpool and back with it but i noticed yesterday that i now have/had a screw in it too. I suppose the optomists will say that at least it was the same tyre but it's not the point.

I took the car to Kwik fit and it ended up costing me £66.

I did the whole go online, get a quote and print it off thing but it was the qrong size of tyre apparently.

The reason i go to Kwik fit is because they do the cheaper prices online and if they don't stock the tyre on the quote- they have to give you a dearer one at the same price. Unfortunatly this didn't work this time because it was the wrong size.

The guy did tell me the only tyre they had for my car was £130 :rotfl: - yes for one tyre. I told him i was going else where and surprise surprise they had a cheaper one.

I couldn't drive with my spare as i do a lot of motorway travelling and it would have cause problems.

I am doing a car boot tomorrow so the money i make from that will have to cover the tyre.

I forgot to say - i put it on the BArclaycard!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

I'm not too sure whether to take my wedding dress with me or not.

I've tried to get rid of it on ebay, adtrader, supermarket boards but there are no takers. What do you guys think?

I have a few bigger items that i would like to get rid off but i don't want to give them away. I have a brand new buggy that i got for DS1. My mum bought it for £175 and it has been used about 5 times. I know i wouldn't get anything near the price for it but i want about £70. I wasn't going to take it to the boot as i don't think i'd get more than £30 for it there

Advise pls

Sea78

You could try putting up a card in your local shops for the buggy? A few friends have had success that way - also in the drs office etc.

Might be worthwhile?

Sea xxx

headoutthesand

whats the drs office?

I hope i'm not being thick here....