How do you get balance?

StayPositive_2

Hi. I'm new to this but wondered if anyone out there could help. Used the Budget Planner as we have about £6500 debt (£4000 connected to our offset mortgage the rest showing up as deficits in our current budget though not overdrawn as use 0% Credit Cards). This has accumalated from Double Glazing few years back, recent large electricals needing replacing (fridge, freezer, dishwasher this year alone), recent car repairs, Eurocamping in France 2 years in a row, and choosing to start having coffees out. Want to clear it as soon as possible but how do you budget? Hubby gets overtime which varies and there can be huge variances in his monthly wage, poor guy has to try and earn £950 a month gross overtime as the mo to break even on our current budget - and when the overtime isn't available for any reason (during company shut down twice a year + when he's on holiday) his basic money barely covers the mortgage and bills so ideally we'd want to put away for this and the large 'one-offs' that always seem to come up. But used the budget planner and budgeting for clearing the debt, 'shut downs' and large electricals we're left with no spending money and still in the red . Where can we make cuts? Don't smoke, only buy wine for xmas + anniversaries, have 4 kids (12, 13+1/2, 15 + neatly 17), total pocket money bill is £20mth (oldest doesn't get any), b'day present budget is £30 each, food £500mth....it all seems a little bleak. What has everyone else done to get balance?

brummiebabe

Hi - I'm not an expert (they'll be along shortly!!) but I know they'll ask you to post a full SOA (see Southern scouser's sticky for details) - if you've done the budget planner then that forms your SOA (but need to include debts/APRs etc)

Best of luck...you'll get some fab advice!!

Mrs_Sparkle

Welcome! Yes, if you do an SOA we'll have a look at it for you and see what we can suggest. You're in the right place for help.

millionaire_in_training

You could cut that shopping down by loads. I have cut mine by about £200 and could easily do more if I really had to. Visit the old style board and you'll see how. Make sure you menu plan at least a couple of weeks per month and my kids have got used to no sweet tin very quickly. Good luck

StayPositive_2

Ahh - well bless you both for responding so quick

Ok - here goes, this is the budget we've come up with but we still need to make some adjustments

Income - £2,461.57
Hubby's Wages £2012.12 (average over last 5 months - relies heavily on overtime)
Mine £195.84 (13 payments a year - want to use 13th for my haircuts etc!)
Child Benefit £169.20 (13 payments a year - want to use 13th for girls haircuts etc)
Tax Credits £44.41
Eldest Son's Keep £40.00 (he is due to start an apprenticeship in Sept)
Hubby gets an annual bonus which is not guaranteed but roughly comes out as £1600 take home - thought we could use £1000 for holiday + £600 for Christmas)

Expenditure's - £2507.92
Offset Mortgage £600 (currently £500 but rates been going up and we haven't upped payment - owe £86,986.27)
Offset Loan £50 (currently owe £4,550.00)
Payment to clear current budget deficit £100 (current payment £50 but deficit amount has kept getting bigger! Deficit looks like it's around £6,000 - but haven't double checked the figures yet. We don't go overdrawn cos of 0% credit cards, which we always pay off in full)
Council Tax £137.00 (10 payments - thought could put Feb+Mar payments away for 'one off' things like car repairs or electrical items)
Southern Water £42.98 (10 payments - thought could put Feb+Mar payments away with Council Tax ones)
EDF Gas £29.00
EDF Electric £50.00
Virgin Phone £15.00
Virgin Broadband £18.00 (this also enables us to watch 5 channels of TV!)
Mobiles £10.00
Life Insurance £17.57
TV Licence £11.37
Contact Lenses (me £13 + daughter £8) £21.00
Buildings/contents Ins £21.00
Decorating/Maintenance £20.00
Food £500.00
Pet Food/Hay+Cat Litter £20.00
Pet Boosters + Flea stuff £15.00
Birthday Presents £15.00 (£30 x6)
Birthday Cinema+Meal £52 (£24+£80 x6 - not budgeted for in past this will be new!)
Other's Birthdays £20.00
Mine + Hubby's 'Pocket Money' £20.00
Kids Pocket Money £20.00
Car Breakdown £5.00
Car Service £20.00
Car Insurance £23.00
Car Tax £15.00
Petrol £90.00
Dentist £10.00
Charity £220.00 (would prefer not reduce this. £109.50 in covenants)
Homeschooling £90.00 (we home-educate our kids)
Clothes Mine + Hubby's £20.00
Kids Clothes £75.00
Holiday £85.00 (+ £1000 from Bonus!!! - wanted to include this in budget to see if we could afford holiday in future. Not sure if we'll have holiday next year at all, if we do it will only be from bonus so mnthly amount will go towards clearing deficit)
Christmas £0.00 (£600 from Bonus!!!)
General Spending £50.00 (currently £100.00 - £50 is probably a bit unrealistic but we were trying to balance the budget!)
Haircuts £0.00 (2Boys+hubby's we do ourselves, Mine+2Girls from 13th Payments of child benefit + my wages)
'One Offs' like car repairs/electrical goods £0.00 (£360 from Council Tax + S/Water Feb+Mar 'payments')

This budget doesn't take into account saving for things like when the car needs changing (it's starting to cost us money!), new bathroom (current one prob put in 1940's but is functional), son's 18th next year etc, but expenditure already more than income.

All insights and suggestions would be very welcome

StayPositive_2

Me again! I've been trying to fing the 'old style board' but don't seem to be having much luck, can anyone point me in the right direction? Many thanks

HairyHandofDartmoor

It's called money saving old style and you have to scroll down a bit to find it!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Your food bill is huge. I have an OH and a 14 year old, a 12 year old and a 9 year old to feed and I spend about £70 per week, which is £280 per month.

I used to spend the same as you so have made huge savings here. I do it by buying value Tesco brands (which are surprisingly good, don't be put off by the packaging, it is content that counts!) and by cooking more from scratch so I no longer frequent the ready meal aisle.

We even make our own pizzas and do a lovely fish pie with tinned tuna and a mashed potato topping!

Next could you cut down what you spend on clothes? I know you don't want to stop the charity but maybe you could reduce it for now. (How long can your poor husband keep up with working such long hours and what would happen to your family if you lose your house because of debt?)

Your petrol bill is very high. Does your OH travel a long way to work?

I hope this helps and others will be along soon with more suggestions.

madmoney_2

StayPositive wrote: »

Ahh - well bless you both for responding so quick

Ok - here goes, this is the budget we've come up with but we still need to make some adjustments

Income - £2,461.57
Hubby's Wages £2012.12 (average over last 5 months - relies heavily on overtime)
Mine £195.84 (13 payments a year - want to use 13th for my haircuts etc!)
Child Benefit £169.20 (13 payments a year - want to use 13th for girls haircuts etc)
Tax Credits £44.41
Eldest Son's Keep £40.00 (he is due to start an apprenticeship in Sept)
Hubby gets an annual bonus which is not guaranteed but roughly comes out as £1600 take home - thought we could use £1000 for holiday + £600 for Christmas)

Expenditure's - £2507.92
Offset Mortgage £600 (currently £500 but rates been going up and we haven't upped payment - owe £86,986.27)
Offset Loan £50 (currently owe £4,550.00)what is the apr on this?
Payment to clear current budget deficit £100 (current payment £50 but deficit amount has kept getting bigger! Deficit looks like it's around £6,000 - but haven't double checked the figures yet. We don't go overdrawn cos of 0% credit cards, which we always pay off in full)
Council Tax £137.00 (10 payments - thought could put Feb+Mar payments away for 'one off' things like car repairs or electrical items)
Southern Water £42.98 (10 payments - thought could put Feb+Mar payments away with Council Tax ones)
EDF Gas £29.00
EDF Electric £50.00 are these the cheapest? shop around and use a casback site like quidco to do the transfer
Virgin Phone £15.00
Virgin Broadband £18.00 (this also enables us to watch 5 channels of TV!)
Mobiles £10.00
Life Insurance £17.57
TV Licence £11.37
Contact Lenses (me £13 + daughter £8) £21.00
Buildings/contents Ins £21.00
Decorating/Maintenance £20.00is this necessary?
Food £500.00
Pet Food/Hay+Cat Litter £20.00
Pet Boosters + Flea stuff £15.00
Birthday Presents £15.00 (£30 x6)
Birthday Cinema+Meal £52 (£24+£80 x6 - not budgeted for in past this will be new!)
Other's Birthdays £20.00
Mine + Hubby's 'Pocket Money' £20.00
Kids Pocket Money £20.00
Car Breakdown £5.00
Car Service £20.00
Car Insurance £23.00
Car Tax £15.00
Petrol £90.00
Dentist £10.00
Charity £220.00 (would prefer not reduce this. £109.50 in covenants)this may sound harsh but i really think u shud cancel this for a while
Homeschooling £90.00 (we home-educate our kids)
Clothes Mine + Hubby's £20.00
Kids Clothes £75.00 this could be reduced - have a look at ebay, use the sales in primark, kids grow so fast they are not in them for long!!
Holiday £85.00 (+ £1000 from Bonus!!! - wanted to include this in budget to see if we could afford holiday in future. Not sure if we'll have holiday next year at all, if we do it will only be from bonus so mnthly amount will go towards clearing deficit) again i would put this towards the debt for now
Christmas £0.00 (£600 from Bonus!!!)
General Spending £50.00 (currently £100.00 - £50 is probably a bit unrealistic but we were trying to balance the budget!) what is general spending for??
Haircuts £0.00 (2Boys+hubby's we do ourselves, Mine+2Girls from 13th Payments of child benefit + my wages)
'One Offs' like car repairs/electrical goods £0.00 (£360 from Council Tax + S/Water Feb+Mar 'payments')

This budget doesn't take into account saving for things like when the car needs changing (it's starting to cost us money!), new bathroom (current one prob put in 1940's but is functional), son's 18th next year etc, but expenditure already more than income.

All insights and suggestions would be very welcome

im just thinking about the long term here, there seems to be a few "luxuries" what could go for the time being, the charity money you donate could be used to cover the shortfall in ur soa, charity begins at home!!
also the general spending, i would have thought you had covered this in your shopping and pocket money etc, the holiday money - if you have put 85 quid away for a year you will aready have 680 quid by now, i could go on holiday alone with that, never mind the bonus!!
have you got anything you could ebay/car boot?
sorry if it sounds harsh, its not intended to but you really need to tweak your budget with regards to the charity etc, i feel strongly about donating to nspcc, however have reduced it to 5 quid a month as this is all i can afford until my debt has gone, i really think you should reconsider that one, how about doing charity work if you have the time for now?
hope this helps xxx

StayPositive_2

Hi Hairy Hand

This is such a good site sin't it?!!!

We do make a fair amount of stuff from scratch and don't do ready meals at all so have decided to go through Aug receipts to see exactly where we're spending all this money! Do use some value stuff already though being Veggie there aren't many main Value veggie bits (like mince etc) available at the mo. Do buy LOTS of fruit and veg and salad - which actually works out quite expensive. Guess food bills high cos I love good food - not finest or anything like that but if I'm gonna eat it then I want to enjoy it! And I fear chocolate is going to feature heavily when I go through those receipts!

Petrol's high cos we have Toyota Previa and it drinks like a fish!! Hubby's car journey is about 10mins away but short journeys give a worse mpg! Do a lot of ferryng around of kids and their friends so good chance that's pushing it up. We always walk to town when we haven't got heavy items to get. Family all live 1-2hrs away so that pushes the cost up when we visit.

Clothes always seem to go over budget - especially the girls (13 + 15). How much is a reasonable amount to aim for do you think?

HairyHandofDartmoor

It's tough to save money on clothes when you have teenage girls, but needs must! I try and buy my 14 a few really nice outfits but not too many as she is in uniform most of the week anyway. I don't have a monthly budget for this buy her a couple of new outfits every season.

I buy value tinned tomatoes which can be used to make up a tomato sauce for pasta bake, etc, and value flour to make up a white sauce. I buy Tesco sunflower margerine as it is 1/3 cheaper than utterly butterly or flora. Value eggs are incredibly cheap (I used to have free range but decided I can afford to have a conscience when we are debt free!)

We try and have meals like macaroni cheese and pasta bake quite often, as these are cheap but delicious. I only eat fish so I understand your difficulties! OH is a good cook and does a nice vegetable curry to which we can add optional prawns (with value rice of course!). The money saving old style board will give you ideas.

Any chance you could change your car for a more economical one and try and reduce the journeys (give the kids the bus fare? or do you live in the middle of nowhere?).

Start a spending diary as this can be very informative. And good luck, I'm sure you can do it if you put your mind to it!