Where do I start with it all?!

crazy_cat_lady

I personally check in with my diary twice a day every day... It really keeps me on track I find. Sometimes I'm just rambling to myself but most of the time there is some fantastic support and advice. When things seem hopeless there's always someone there to help pick me up. And I join in with a few challenges that really help keep me on the straight and narrow. I am going to subscribe to this thread and follow your journey. Please let me know if you start a diary on here

fatbelly

SandeC wrote: »

I've been looking over my budget again, and there are a few areas that wouldn't qualify as 'essential living costs', or that could be cut back in some way. As I'm not sure what exactly qualifies as essential living costs (apart from rent, council tax, electricity, food), and how much you would be allowed to spend on them, I'm not really too sure where I stand without seeking professional advice. So I think I may technically have more than £50 a month left over, but without speaking to someone I'm not sure.

Well you started this thread by saying you were missing payments on your council tax and tv licence, both of which are priority payments and count as essential expenditure, so it didn't sound like you had more than £50 surplus.

Essential expenditure, as well as the things we've both mentioned, would include contents insurance, gas, water, travel costs, clothing, other household expenses and hairdressing, and childcare costs if you have kids.

If you get DLA/PIP, that doesn't count as income.

SandeC

Number of adults 1
Number of children 1
Number of cars 1

Income
Wages 520
Benefits 647 (Child Benefit, Child & Working Tax Credit, and CSA)
Total 1210

Outgoing
Mobile 10
Tv Licence 12 (Once payment is made on 03/12 this will be back up to date)
Electric 86
Gas 86
Water 00 (I can’t remember the last time I paid the water bill )
Council tax 104 (Issues with a discounts survey meant I lost the discount this year)
Contents Insurance 5
Rent 384
Shopping 325
Petrol 86
Parking 5
Car tax 12
Car Insurance 31
Breakdown 27
TV/Phone/Broadband 60
School trips 10 (Big trip coming up next September, so will be paying monthly until July)
Haircuts 10
Kids clothes 20 (Anybody else buying ladies’ 6-8’s for their 8 year old daughter?!)
Total 1276

Budget Planner tells me I'm overspending by £66.
Sky would have to go, I know, so you can say an overspend of £6

Basically I miss payments because I'm useless with managing my money when I'm having a low episode, and spend money I don't have on things I don't need, which is one of my biggest problems, if not THE biggest problem.

lynnejk

Hiya

So you will have to find out what the water bill should be, so you can add it into your monthly payments from here on, and I would agree with you re Sky - but you will still need a broadband package of some kind though without tv ( You can get quite a lot of channels with freeview though.) and will have to add that to your monthly accounting.


Once you have time to draw breath from all your organising, I think I remember you saying that you pay for your electric and gas with meters. It would save you lots of pennies if you can get a monthly direct debit set up on both of those as well :money:


Pleased that you seem to be getting on so well with all this and good luck for the coming week
Lx

SandeC

Hi Lynne

I had a look at my water suppliers website, and they have a couple of options for people who are in debt to them. One of the options is where you pay your years charge like you normally would, and at the end of it they take that same amount off your bill (so if your charge was £400 and you paid it, they'd take off an extra £400), and then you pay like you normally would for the second year, and after that they wipe the debt completely off your account. The other option didn't go into quite as much detail, but from what I can gather you pay a reduced amount every month, and this can run alongside the other option. Either way though, you have to be seeking professional advice from a debt councillor, so when I speak to StepChange I'll tell them about it.

I'd happily not have a TV at all! I very rarely watch it - I've only got it for the little lady. She won't be happy when I tell her we've got to get rid of her beloved Disney Channel, but I have a plan for that. I found something on here called the Prioritisation Game, so we'll be playing that one night this week. As for the Freeview, that's a bit of a nightmare, I think it's going to be a new aeriel job, as the last time I tried it the signal was shocking. My step-dad spent hours up on the roof trying to move it so we could find the signal - to no avail, bless him - hence the Sky.

As for the gas and electric, I have thought about paying by monthly DD in the past, but wasn't sure if I could due to me living in a council flat. That and the fact I *WAS * rubbish at managing my bills. I'll have to look into it.

fatbelly

I make you expenditure 1273 and can't see Sky in there.

As you say, you will have to make an allowance for water as the expectation is that you start to make payments to it after your DRO. I'd also want to see 15 for car maintenance.

No problem wih inc/exp for the DRO - I assume your car is worth less than 1000?

You do need to get your budget into balance - you should be getting 25% single adult discount on your council tax. Other areas to look at are cheaper breakdown cover and the housekeeping budget. Although 325 per month would be accepted, it's more than you can afford - aim for £55 per week.

SandeC

I entered Sky as TV/Phone/Broadband as it's a package.

My car's probably worth about £150-200. I just wrote it as it is now, but thanks for the £15 on car maintenance, I wasn't sure how much I should be putting on my new budget.

Council Tax has been a real headache, admittedly through my own doing. I got sent a survey that I had to fill in, but as I wasn't opening my post at the time due to a very low stage in my depression I missed the cut off date. Because I missed the cut off date, they took off my previous years discount and sent me a bill of £258, again which I didn't open, and didn't give me the discount for this year, despite me sending off two more discount forms and speaking on the phone to them several times. They were absolutely no help and I just gave up trying in the end.

I'm going to be looking at reducing the breakdown cover tomorrow - I can't do anything today as I'm off to a funeral shortly. Definitely looking at reducing the shop, I couldn't believe it when I totalled up my monthly spend on that. I know families of 6 who spend less!

Many thanks for the clarification and advice.

Willowpop

Hi SandeC!
Firstly sorry that you're at a funeral today...hope it goes ok - as well as a funeral ever can.

Couple of things jump out at me from your expenditure...

Who is your breakdown with? It seems quite expensive. It might be worth calling them and trying to get the price down a bit. Tell them you've seen this: http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/current-accounts/flexplus/features-and-benefits so you feel that your £27 a month is a bit steep when you can pay £10 for a bank account which will give you a more than adequate cover. If they won't budge and you're near renewal, call another firm...phone RAC if you're with the AA and get a new customer quote...then call AA and see if they will beat it. Will take a few phone calls, but it's definitely worth doing.
Sky TV... are you in contract with your telly? If not, then phone them and tell them you want to cancel. Very often the cancellations department will offer you a cheaper deal to keep you, but as far as I know if you cancel outright your sky box effectively becomes a freeview box and will pick up the free to air channels like a freeview box would, but via your sky dish. No need for an aerial and your step dad on the roof!

I reckon your food shop costs could definitely come down...I spend about £250 max per month for all groceries (inc cleaning etc) for myself, hubby and DD. I cook a lot from scratch and we don't have branded food. It's definitely something you could look at, and see where you can save.

lynnejk

Hiya


Hope all went ok with the funeral today - difficult time eh.


Looking at your car costs as well. I use the comparison site moneysupermarket.com - which I know is not necessarily the cheapest but I have used it for years and like the site.


I see you are paying


Car Insurance 31 = so that's £372 for the year


I renewed ours last week and it was £198 fully comp for the year with Hastings.
Had been with Tesco but they went up to £222 so looked for another provider.

Breakdown 27 = so that's £324 for the year


I renewed ours in August and it was £29 for the year (car over 5 years old) with Start. Second year with them as they seem reasonable.


I realise that you are paying monthly so will pay a slightly higher premium and are younger than us but it still seems very high. I should think that, with a bit of digging around, you could maybe save another £15 - 20 a month there.


I don't know what you include in your 'spending'. If that is for household and food then I agree with previous poster that you might be able to save some there.


When you have time, perhaps you can have a look at the thread on here
November 2015 Grocery Challenge


which is very friendly and helpful for some ideas and you could join to get a bit of support as well.


Good luck with it all
Lx

SandeC

The funeral went well, though I did nearly drop down dead when my 'dad' turned up. I really don't know why he came considering he hadn't spoken to my grandad for 26 years, or me for 14 years (apart from once when I went round to tell him I was pregnant 8.5 years ago) :mad:. I got to see some lovely family who I haven't seen for years though, which was really nice. As for my 'dad', he certainly showed his true colours today, and I have now washed my hands of him. At the wake we were all speaking about it (I wasn't the only shocked one there - he's made a fair few enemies in the family over the years) and I told them that I want nothing more to do with him again, and proceeded to tell my Aunty that I'm adopting her as my dad, which provided quite a few laughs for the rest of the day :rotfl:

My breakdown is with the AA, got talked into it a couple of months ago by a 'man with a stand' outside Asda, and as I was travelling back and forward to Exeter from Somerset quite a lot in my 17 year old car, and I just can't seem to say no to people, I went for the highest option. I'll sort it out tomorrow, I don't need that any more anyway as I'm not doing anywhere near so much travelling, so basic cover is all I need, as cheaply as I can get it. Really need to start putting my head down and walking away when these people try to talk to me!!

Car insurance got renewed at the end of July, and after checking around with all the comparison websites and other insurers they were still the lowest monthly priced (no up-front cash available, and saving around £18 a month compared to other insurers). I've been driving for 5 years, but due to chopping and changing to find cheaper deals, only actually have 3 years NCD. Will keep an eye on it though.

Still on contract with Sky - not entirely sure for how long, but think it's probably quite a while. Someone else I'm going to have to phone... I hate speaking on the phone to people, it causes ridiculous amounts of anxiety, no matter who I'm speaking to - I really don't know why. But, if I'm to get out of this mess, I must get on with it!

Looking at doing online shops, even if only for a few months, to get me used to sticking to a tight budget. That way I'll see what I'm spending as I go, and can edit the trolley accordingly, and also won't be tempted by the yummies I see but don't really need. I already do this if I'm having a rare, particularly organised week, but need to make it regular practice.

Off to bed now. It's been a very long and emotional day, and I just want to sleep. I might text my new dad and tell her I wasn't joking when I said I was adopting her first though :laugh: