So fed up of having no money

miss_sammy

First of all, apologies if this is in the wrong thread. I wasn't sure which one to put it in.

So I live with my boyfriend, we have a total gross annual income of £33k. After paying all necessities we are virtually left with nothing. Only a small amount gets put into our savings to buy a house, get married and have a baby. At this rate we will only be able to afford one of these in the next 10 years. We only pay out what we have to, we don't eat out, we don't drink alcohol, we don't smoke, we don't socialise at all (due to lack of money), we don't go anywhere ie day trips and we also carefully select what we buy when we food shop. Iv sold all I can on eBay to try and make a bit more money.

I don't know what else I can do apart from work evenings and weekends on top of my day job.
So fed up of people at my work showing off having money. I work really hard and try my best but I get treated like a peasant. It's so unfair.

What can I do?

welshiex

What are your "necessities"? I think maybe you could try a SOA just to see if there are any places you can save! I'm sure if you were to post it there's alot of helpful people here that will whizz through and give you a lowdown on things to change!

Wizzbang

Wow, I'd love to be on a £33K combined salary. I'd have no money worries in the world then! Are you renting or do you own your place? The obvious thought would be down-sizing your accommodation which would also cut all your other outgoings- utilities, council tax etc. I used to think I couldn't save any money on groceries, until I tried downshifting a brand (see Martin's guide) and buying 'yellow stickies'- see that thread for buying reduced items. Do you buy a lot of ready meals? Cooking from scratch will save you a small fortune, there are plenty of threads around on here for that.

Firstly, you need a budget so you can really see where all that money is going cos that's a very high salary to not have anything left from and not be spending it on non-essentials. How often do you buy clothes and where from? i.e. do you really need to buy the clothes and if you're payig full price from shops, then consider charity shops/ ebay.

Do you buy your lunch at work every day, and your coffee/ snacks etc? You could save a packet not doing that.

These are the obvious thoughts that come to mind.

asajj

First of all, please don't feel sorry for yourself ! Life is difficult as it is! You are on an ok income to be honest. Do you have a budget?

Do you spend on a car/transport more than you should?

If available, do you claim every benefits you are entitled to ?

Are you renting ?

geordie_joe

miss_sammy wrote: »

We only pay out what we have to, we don't eat out, we don't drink alcohol, we don't smoke, we don't socialise at all (due to lack of money), we don't go anywhere ie day trips and we also carefully select what we buy when we food shop.

What do you spend your money on? If we don't know where you are spending it we can't tell you how to save.

miss_sammy

Thanks for the replies.

Our outgoings are the following: we each have our own car and both are on finance (we couldn't go down to one car due to working locations), car insurance (paid monthly) petrol, rent, council tax, house insurance, sky (due to our isolated location we don't get Freeview so it's sky or nothing), food which we always buy fresh ie we never get take aways or ready meals, we make every meal from scratch, phone/internet, tv licence and mobile bills. Im struggling more than my other half, I'm on 15k and I'm left with around £100 that's if I literally spend nothing on myself. That isn't a great deal when your trying to save for a house where you need a big deposit. I'm trying to look for jobs on more money but there is nothing out there at the minute.

comeandgo

Regarding sky, you can get freesat, keep the dish, buy a freesat box and cancel sky.

Catwoman1975

We have a higher household income than you and there is no way we can afford to save, just a small amount into our daughters savings, and can only afford to run one car, hence I work close to home and also have a job from home. I'd have to be on a salary significantly more than £15k to justify running another car. I think you are managing very well to be honest on what you have.

I had to wait 12 years before I could get married as we couldnt afford it (even then it was close family only) and owning a home is just a dream for us. Lots and lots of people in the same boat.

Try looking for jobs within a wider travelling distance. My husband, and most people in my small town, travel an hour plus there and back to work if they want to earn a decent wage as wages are low here.

Its tough out there and I feel for everyone trying to cope.

asajj

Do you think perhaps you can review your insurance policies and get a cheaper deal?

Similarly for mobile bills - I have changed to Giffgaff from O2 1.5 years ago and I'm very happy but if you are far from a city or town, that might be not possible for you due to signal.

See the Sky suggestion above.

Again try to call Sky and negoitate a better deal - are you using a bundle for all your services ( Phone, internet, tv?) . Might become cheaper.

Is there anyone at work that you could car share at least couple of times a month?

It is not easy as said and hopefully you will find some more ways to save.

PasturesNew

Taking a blank page approach to it, I'd suggest that you ditch one of the cars and ditch living remotely and get a cheaper place close to one workplace. That way you only have to pay for one car.

Running two cars, both on finance, to a remote place, means the cumulative bill for that is what's eating up the biggest chunk of cash.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the update miss_sammy:T

Like us, you are in a rural/isolated location so I can sympathise with lots of your problems especially transport and needing 2 vehicles. You say, though, that both your cars are on finance which suggests they are fairly new/expensive. Could you not think of older used cars next time around? There are real bargains to be had and if you buy wisely you probably won't be spending any more on repairs/servicing than you do now (unless your present cars are still under manufacturer's warranty).

Mobile phone costs can eat up money big-time:eek:. Unless an all-singing-all-dancing smartphone is absolutely essential you could sell it, buy something simpler and maybe PAYG. That's what I do, use it for emergencies only(such as when I'm out driving alone) and not for chatting to people:p.

Car insurance paid monthly is the expensive way of doing it(as is anything paid by monthly instalments usually). Could you not try to save something to pay as a one-off annual payment at renewal (after shopping around on the comparison sites for a better deal and going through TopCashBack or Quidco for cashback too). Sadly, my financial situation makes it impossible for me to pay my car insurance other than monthly, but next year I'm determined to find a bit of extra to do it all at once.

There will be others along soon to give you their brilliant advice. My poor money-management got me into huge debt so I'm not the world's best financial guru for you:o. But I'm finding all sorts of novel ways to dig myself out of the mire thanks to the wonderful folk on MSE so stick with it and things will get
better.

Good Luck:beer: