in a little pickle

eyespy

Hi everyone I hope you can help. I'm not in a massive pickle ie all my bills get paid at the end of the month but only just so I do need a bit of help re arranging my money. I currently rent a flat where I live with my 3 month old baby - who is proving to be an expensive hobby even though we are using terry towels and passed on clothes etc.
I am on a Orange 18 month mobile contract which began in January.
My credit card limit is £200 but its usually there or there abouts
My catalogue is my biggest indulgence I really want to get rid of that
I'm currently on maternity leave but go back in January where my wages will go up but my benefits down so can only give you current figures atm

ok so here is my scary soa be nice
Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £476.35 (until jan 08 currently on maternity leave)
Benefits - £705.26

Total - £1181.61

Monthly Outgoings:

Rent - £425
Council Tax - £47
Gas - £20
Electric - £50
TV License - £27.10 (til dec 07 10.99 after that)
Phone - £25
Food - £400
Home Insurance £10.24
Internet - £14.99
Mobile - £40
Water - £20
Union - £8.56
Catalogue - £60
Capital one - £20 (£200 limit cash withdrawal interest 2.549% purchase interest 2.549%
Payment protection£1.50)
Child trust fund - £10

Total: £1177.89

I have a £900 overdraft with abbey which is 10.9% EAR

hope you can help

:confused:

madmoney_2

ok hun, the first thing that jumps out at me is your food bill, is it just u and baby? if so pop over to the old style board for tips and recipes on a budget. Also have u got anything you can ebay? and i mean literally anything? first thing that springs to mind is ur baby will be in 3-6 month clothing around now, so all those expensive but gorgeous little outfits u bought from the catalogue lol, may just bring u some extra cash!! are you claiming all the benefits ur entitled to? check https://www.entitledto.gov.uk to check, child support etc? hope this helps n keep us posted xx

VonBek

Hi Eyespy,

Im no expert so just some sugestions ok.

Firstly could you survive without the mobile phone, I know it is on an 18 months contract, but it could be worth contacting them explaining you are having trouble paying it each month. I did this with O2 they reduced the package I was on, even though I still had 12 months to run, from £50 per month to £5.99, means I have to be very carefull how I use it, but I have managed it.

Secondly, I agree with madmoney, your food bill does seem rather high, you should look at this closely I think, I found the best way for me is to work out meals for the week, and then stick to the list. Also I stopped using the car for shopping runs, (Probably of no use to you), makes you buy less when you have to carry it on your bike.

As you know the catalogue has to go, My partner has a catalogue, I am desperate to get him to clear it and get rid of it, but he just keeps spending on it, and they keep putting the credit limit up. You must get rid of it though, not just clear it, it is to easy when your feeling a bit low to look through it and get tempted.

Next the Capital One card, I see you have payment protector, do you really need it on a £200 card, I have the same card as you and cancelled this, I felt it was to expensive for what it would pay if I did need to use. Also did they request a deposit when you took the card out, I had to pay £200, which meant I was paying to spend my own money, if so you could try getting it back, I contacted them and asked when they would refund it as I have had the card 12 months, they said they would not, so I told them I would pay the card of and close the account, I did not use the card the following month, I then got a letter saying they would credit my deposit to my card. I have just done the same thing with my partners card, same thing happened with him.

If you are able to make any savings, you need to work on the overdraft, that is going to be killing you every month.

Hope this is of some help.

Ian.

Prudent

I am a single mum too. I have now got my food bill down to £90 a month for myself and daughter. I did this by putting a cash amount in a purse and not allowing myself anymore. I started at £150 a month and gradually reduced it. I stuck for quite a while about £120. I found changing the time I shopped to around 7 -8pm then really helped because I now get lodas of fresh food like bread, pastries, fruit, vegetables, cheese, milk etc for around 10 -30p each. I often bulk buy stuff and freeze. I have 25 portions of cheese in the freezer that were reduced from about £2 (depending on weight) to 20p. Saving around £1.80. Total saving around £45 just on cheese.

If you reduced this to £200 per month (to allow for nappies etc) then you could pay off the overdraft by the time you return to work. Look at the OS board for hints.

Jacks_xxx

Hiya sweetie,

I am struggling myself hon, so I'm not all that good at this yet, but it did occur to me that you could cut down on the food bill fairly dramatically (I have to do this as well as ours is £500 a month for four of us!) Join the Grocery Challenge on the Old Style Boards for ideas and motivation.

Maybe if you could get rid of the mobile or renegotiate your deal, and halve the amount you're putting into littl'uns trust you could generate a bit of cash to chuck at the overdraft - which looks like the biggest millstone round your neck to to me. (I got rid of my mobile "temporarily" and keep in touch on Facebook and the landline.) Talk to your provider hon, and see what they can do for you.

I'd nix the payment protection and throw that at the overdraft as well. (every little helps!)

How much is on the catalogue and at what APR? If it's small-ish or horribly expensive it might be worth hammering that instead, just to get rid of it. There's a great psychological boost when you clear a debt for good that can galvanise you to try even harder with the remaining ones.

One last thing, can you get any help with your rent whilst you're on mat. leave?

That's all I can come up with for now,

Love Jacks xxx

painted_lady

I am on maternity leave too with a 4 month old boy, so can understand the situation you are in.
I cant offer much advice, other than 2nd what others have said, def check your on enough benefits, check tax credits are up to date etc.
Just a little thing, but have you joined all the baby clubs to get vouchers etc? i have joined loads and often get sent random money off vouchers in the post, for items you need anyway, or free samples, there is a list on the money saving in families board on here.
Could you ebay maternity clothes or things your baby has grown out of?

Ems*Honie

Mumplusone.com has a good voucher section if you can print out.

If you have paypal it's a great feeling when you sell something on Ebay and use the money to buy something new that you need, I've just sold summer stuff I dont wear so I can buy some tops for the cooler weather we ae already having.

Congratulations on your littley, aren't they expensive habits!! I'm about to pay my biggest one a 100 pennies tohoover, he is saving for a DS, bless him (he's 6)

eyespy

thankyou so much you are angels. The food bill might be exaggerated and it would cover any purchase. I am claiming ctc wtc hb and cb. I don't want to claim maintenance yet as the situation with babys dad and me is 'complicated ' I will ring orange and see if they can do anything and i'l stop the payment protection i might also not take the credit card in my wallet anymore. I save £10 a week from cb in a savings account and could put that to my overdraft I will even this minute reduce it by £50 online now so thats a start anyway. Its the catalogue that is my eeevil demon I have about a grand to clear in staggered months (I hate it when they let you pay later!!)

eyespy

hey i did it! I have reduced the od by £50 and cancelled payment protection orange said come back in october after half contract is up

Glittermonkey

Is the Union payments to do with work?

When I was on maternity leave I phoned my union and they told me that I didn't have to pay subs while on mat leave but I was still a member, just had to start paying agian when I was back at work.

Might be worth calling them and finding out?

abbecer

Main thing i noticed is that your electric bill seems very high. Mine is less than that and i am SAHM and there are 4 of us in house. I would compare providers with Uswitch or similar. Make sure you go through Quidco. Use energy saving lightbulbs, don't overfill kettle etc.

Hope this helps

Rebecca x