Newbie looking for some advice before it spirals

jac53

Hi,

I am new to here so Hello to you all.
I am beginning to worry about money and bills since moving last year into my new house I have had to take out loans etc as I had quite a few jobs on the house which have needed to be done unexpectedly :mad:

I am just seeking a bit of advice on things I could do to either 1) earn more money outside my Mon-Fri 8-6 job, or 2) how could I cut these bills back further - I have cut back lots already mainly groceries/ clothes etc...

I have completed one of the SOA's to help illustrate my financial situation, although I forgot to put that I'm £1750 maxed out on my overdraft facility (of £1750) my Nurse registration fees £100 per year and £198 subscription to the RCN for union & insurance fees ... Just feel like it is beginning to get out of control a bit now and I don't want it to have negative consequences later on my 3 children.

Any constructive advice would be appreciated... Thank you.

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 3 plus 1 dog
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 900
Other income............................ 200
Total monthly income.................... 2500

Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 536
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 75
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 49
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 87 - 3 Phones stuck in contract until Nov 2015
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 650
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 200
Other child related expenses............ 100
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 18
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
school uniforms......................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 2467.12


Assets[/b]
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 141500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 88500....(536)......3.59
Total secured & HP debts...... 88500.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................8100......230.......5.5
Total unsecured debts..........8100......230.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,500
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,467.12
Available for debt repayments........... 32.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 230
Amount short for making debt repayments. -197.12

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 141,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -88,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,100
Net Assets.............................. 44,900

Jazee

I'm sure someone with a lot more experience will be along soon, but I found that cutting cable tv subscriptions and drastically cutting grocery bills to be the biggest saving I was able to make. There are threads on here that may be able to help you do this too.

greenval

THe figure for water rates seems high, are you on a meter?

Ilona

Hello. Your food bill seems very high, how old are your children? Are they almost adults and eat a lot? With some careful meal planning you could halve that.

Do you qualify for a single persons reduction on your Council Tax?

Can you do without the satellite and cable TV. Go onto Freeview?

Ilona

Divingmad

Hiya,
Is your council tax based on 10 or 12 monthly payments? This equates to £1500 (based on 10) or £1800 (based on 12) per year. If at £1500 per year, could you ask the council to take the payments over 12 months, making your monthly payments £125.

Also, start a spedning diary to work out what you are actually paying out, that way you can see what you are spending on essentials and niceties

rockm87

you could definitely benefit from working to cut down your monthly groceries.

Have you thought about switching supermarkets? With meal planning you could easily cut this down.

Tommelise

Well done for posting
You need to include your £1750 overdraft with APR, your Nurse registration fees of £100 per year and £198 union & insurance fees to your SOA

The good thing is that you should be able to cut more down to break even:

Entertainment........................... 40 – cut down as much as possible
Holiday................................. 50 – every month??
Telephone (land line)................... 15 – do you still need this
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60 – you can’t afford this
Mobile phone............................ 87 - 3 Phones stuck in contract until Nov 2015 – no possibility to change this?, try calling- they can only say no J

With planning you should also be able to get your grocery bill down quite a bit. Start aiming for £400
We are 5 (2 adults, and 3 children 16, 13, 7) in our family, and my budget for groceries was £ 350-400 a month. The next year my eldest DD is away to study, so will only visit on weekends. Since we have to fund this, we have had to look at our budget. Our grocery budget for August was cut to £ 300 – but I have only used £ 195 so far this month.

We have still eaten well, but I have been very careful to take advantage of any offers and loss leaders. My meal plan always have a soup day( with a pudding) , a vegetarian day( often indian), a pasta day, and a quick egg based meal like tortilla, pancakes with stuffing / or baked potatoes with salad. We don’t eat much meat and don’t miss it.

Come around to the old style board for some inspiration. Here are some ideas to get you started:



Batch cook if you have a freezer
Lasagne or moussaka – make one to eat- and 1-2 for the freezer, so you have a meal for a busy day

Lots other ideas on this tread: Once a month cooking:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/663989#Comment_663989

Use a slow cooker, recipes here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/1332010#Comment_1332010

Lots of other recipes and meal plans here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/235198

Join the grocery challenge:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5043534

Link to JackieO's miser's online cookbook - cheap recipes compiled by a very wise user of the old style board:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4owxi9d3oa...My Miser.doc

Oh and keep track of you money. We use the free version of this App: https://goodbudget.com/

jac53

Thank you everyone for your advise :-)
My kids eats tons they are 9, 14 & 15 but I tried other lower price supermarkets and they refused to eat it as it wasn't named brands, ended up costing more nipping to the local shop to top up with named brands!

Water rates are the set rate for the council tax band in the area, will get a meter once the eldest children go to university though I think.

My council tax will reduce to 1250 with single discount over the year just I owed some for a few months missed when I moved :-(

Tommelise thank you for those ideas and links will deffo be looking at them... If you can manage on so little every month for food.
My kids will have to get used to some changes think I can reduce my cable package from October too just stuck in a 12 month contract there too. Holidays might have to go for next year too :-(

All your advice is greatly appreciated... time to get all this sorted before it gets worse. Thank you everybody :-)

hohum

jac53 wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your advise :-)
My kids eats tons they are 9, 14 & 15 but I tried other lower price supermarkets and they refused to eat it as it wasn't named brands, ended up costing more nipping to the local shop to top up with named brands!

Water rates are the set rate for the council tax band in the area, will get a meter once the eldest children go to university though I think.

My council tax will reduce to 1250 with single discount over the year just I owed some for a few months missed when I moved :-(

Tommelise thank you for those ideas and links will deffo be looking at them... If you can manage on so little every month for food.
My kids will have to get used to some changes think I can reduce my cable package from October too just stuck in a 12 month contract there too. Holidays might have to go for next year too :-(

All your advice is greatly appreciated... time to get all this sorted before it gets worse. Thank you everybody :-)

I think the trick with the brands is to figure out which you really don't notice the difference on, and also how many brands you can drop before it's not viable. For example, we tried value cornflakes and it was a false economy. horrid. But certain own brand cornflakes: totally acceptable. Own brand tea is mostly acceptable too. Also worth shopping in poundland/ similar for brands reduced.

Also i probably wouldn't be above putting own brand in the heinz bottle, just don't get caught doing it part of it is just brand loyalty created by marketing, not actually taste

rockm87

my other half was the same, and hated the fact we didnt buy brands. But he's over that now, as we get twice as much for half the price!

I used clear plastic storage for some stuff too, so he didnt notice. But he's converted now.

If you can't afford to be picky, get the kids to pay for the branded stuff! They will soon change their tune. It's only food, im sure they would rather have money for other things...or thats how I see it.

Lidl and aldi are great for stocking up on staples. especially when on offer, and XL packs.

Mrs_pbradley936

You have made a good start by facing up to your situation. Now that you know that you will have to get rid of the TV package and the mobile phones (when you can of course) and sort out your food bill you are on your way. So many people have been where you are now and sorted themselves out and with a bit of help and support from those one here there is no reason why you can't too.


Before you know you will be helping out someone else!