So fed up of having no money

lynneee

There's me, hubby and 3 kids in our house, and we manage on 30k a year. We live up north so cheaper than many places for property, but it is hard work making ends meet. Hubby has a car for work, me and the kids do lots of walking!
Good luck op, I'm sure you will find ways to improve your situation

miss_sammy

We only have our TV with sky, internet and phone are with plusnet. Sky is £45 a month, Internet and phone is about £25. We also pay £45 a month on our sofa because our other one was knackered. I've got my mobile phone bill down from £43 to £10 a month. We pay about £320 combined for our cars. Council tax is £130 a month. Rent is £700 that includes water and electricity. I don't know if going down to one car is an option for us as we live on a farm down a dirt track, down a country road. If we have a child which we do really want one, it won't be easy getting out and about during the day while mr's at work.

asajj

Well I suppose only thing left is for you then to watch your spending on a spreadsheets and see where it goes.

33k is perhaps not great but it is not bad either. With the numbers you give above, it comes around 15k a year (14,760 to be more precise). Which leaves more than half of the money to be saved/spend.

So I'm not sure whether what you mean by not having money.

I earn less than my husband and transfer a set amount of cash to him each month. If our monthly outgoings are high, he will take the hit and it is our mutual agreement. Sometimes we don't have a lot to pay and what I send goes to savings after necessities.

Flyonthewall

miss_sammy wrote: »

We only have our TV with sky, internet and phone are with plusnet. Sky is £45 a month, Internet and phone is about £25. We also pay £45 a month on our sofa because our other one was knackered. I've got my mobile phone bill down from £43 to £10 a month. We pay about £320 combined for our cars. Council tax is £130 a month. Rent is £700 that includes water and electricity. I don't know if going down to one car is an option for us as we live on a farm down a dirt track, down a country road. If we have a child which we do really want one, it won't be easy getting out and about during the day while mr's at work.

Well you can save money with the TV as already stated. Internet and phone you could probably get down if you look for a good deal.

The sofa, well £45 a month is going to add up and in the end you're paying far more than you need to and far more than the item is worth even when you first get it, nevermind by the time you've paid for it completely. Perhaps a bit late now for the sofa, but for any furniture if you want to save money it's best to buy outright. Gumtree, freecycle and charity shops are great for free or cheap furniture. You might not want everything used, but check hotukdeals and you're bound to find some great deals on new furniture.

Is moving a possibility? Even if rent is no cheaper eslewhere if you could move closer to work then one of you could give up a car or at least spend less on commuting to work daily.

culpepper

It depends how much you want your dreams. If you are serious about having a kiddie and buying a home, then things like sky TV packages for £45 are in the way of that goal and the same goes for such things as new sofas and the fanciest cars.

Wizzbang

Use Martin's motivator tool to put you off spending money on things.

£45 a month on Sky= £540 a year. That's one hell of a lot of money on TV. I could probably almost run my car for that, insurance, tax and repairs. Well, not quite- but you get the picture.

£45 a month on your sofa- how many years are you paying that off over? £540 a year. I reckon you'll be paying many times what it's worth in the end.

The golden rule is not to spend money that you don't have. i.e. don't buy things on credit. You'll only ever put money in someone else's pocket and pay far more than you need. Same applies to your monthly insurance payments, car payments. You'll probably find you could have had a new car and a half in the end! Much better to start saving up for things that you want/ need. That way, if your motivation wains over the time it takes to save up- you didn't really need/ want it in the first place. And if you save up, then you know you bought it outright and are not paying someone else for your item!

If you want to start putting money back in your pockets, then I'd suggest selling the cars and the sofa, to recoup what you can whilst they're still quite new. Then buy good quality, second hand ones. Cancel the Sky subscription right now and start getting TV for free, except for the licence fee.

Put the money left over in a savings account and start saving towards next year's car insurance. Oh wait, you should have more than enough to cover it and much more!

Planet_Switzerland

Whilst I agree Sky is a rip off I don't see it as being the first thing people should sacrifice as the bulk of what I watch is on the sky channels. I remember the days of having just terrestrial and watching rubbish I didn't like because there was no alternative but with Sky I can enjoy nights in watching what I want to watch.


However, like other people have said there is no need for a sofa that costs £45 a month, I bought mine second hand for less than £45 and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.


Same with new cars, I bought a 3 year old car 10 years ago for £3k and still have it now.

sidefx

miss_sammy wrote: »

We only have our TV with sky, internet and phone are with plusnet. Sky is £45 a month, Internet and phone is about £25. We also pay £45 a month on our sofa because our other one was knackered. I've got my mobile phone bill down from £43 to £10 a month. We pay about £320 combined for our cars. Council tax is £130 a month. Rent is £700 that includes water and electricity. I don't know if going down to one car is an option for us as we live on a farm down a dirt track, down a country road. If we have a child which we do really want one, it won't be easy getting out and about during the day while mr's at work.

:eek::eek::eek:

For how long?? It must be covered in gold leaf!!
Why spend so much if you are trying to save?

And as others have said, you don't need sky so that should be the first to go. Paying insurance monthly is also costing you more than necessary.

If you really want more disposable income, a good starting point would be to move nearer work, get rid of one of your cars and definitely bin sky!!!!

Flyonthewall

Planet_Switzerland wrote: »

Whilst I agree Sky is a rip off I don't see it as being the first thing people should sacrifice as the bulk of what I watch is on the sky channels. I remember the days of having just terrestrial and watching rubbish I didn't like because there was no alternative but with Sky I can enjoy nights in watching what I want to watch.

Because it's an easy thing to save money - quite a lot of money in the long run. No one needs Sky TV, or TV at all for that matter. Half the stuff on Sky you can watch elsewhere (like on Netflix) and for far cheaper.

If you need to save money then you need to cut down on any non-essential things.

lessonlearned

miss_sammy wrote: »

We only have our TV with sky, internet and phone are with plusnet. Sky is £45 a month, Internet and phone is about £25. We also pay £45 a month on our sofa because our other one was knackered. I've got my mobile phone bill down from £43 to £10 a month. We pay about £320 combined for our cars. Council tax is £130 a month. Rent is £700 that includes water and electricity. I don't know if going down to one car is an option for us as we live on a farm down a dirt track, down a country road. If we have a child which we do really want one, it won't be easy getting out and about during the day while mr's at work.

Why are you living on a farm down a dirt track, do you need the space to keep animals. If you move to somewhere more convenient to where you work, selling one car would slash your Costs at a stroke.

All you have done so far to cut costs is to tinker round the edges.

Moving to somewhere less isolated and offloading just one car is the big one, it will save a huge chunk of money. £320 a month on cars is just throwing money away.

Sky TV - £45, Netflix £6

How many more Sofa payments.

Car insurance - start a savings fund and pay annually

If you are serious about wanting to start family and making your dreams come true then you need to make some changes.

You are currently wasting a lot of money, with a few simple changes you could be hundreds a month better off.

It's all about delayed gratification, saving now for the future you want.

The changes that people on here have suggested are easy and painless.. No one has suggested any kind of belt tightening, going without or any kind of sacrifice, just a few simple pAinfree tweaks.

If you need to save even more, I'm sure there is still further slack.

Look at your discretionary spending, ie what you are left with once all the direct debits and bills Have been paid. I bet there are even more areas you can cut back on.