Anything else we can do?

Happier_Me

Hi OP. Have you checked recently to ensure you are not receiving roo much in benefits? Your DH seems to earn a reasonably good wage to also be entitled to £600 in benefits. I'd check this out because you don't want to find out you are being overpaid and to then have to repay a good amount back.

lhead123

Happier_Me wrote: »

Hi OP. Have you checked recently to ensure you are not receiving roo much in benefits? Your DH seems to earn a reasonably good wage to also be entitled to £600 in benefits. I'd check this out because you don't want to find out you are being overpaid and to then have to repay a good amount back.

Hi. We have 2 kids, so get £136 every 4 weeks in Child Benefit.

We get £35 a week in Housing Benefit (there is a possibility this is too high by a few £ a week as my OH has just had a tiny pay rise, but his workload will go down in the summer meaning he'll be working 4 day weeks instead of 5 so it should even itself out. We've been both overpaid and underpaid before for this, and the easiest way we've found to deal with it is to send them paychecks every 6 months and pay them back anything we owe. If they underpay us they don't backdate it and we miss out on money.

Tax credits are £71 a week are based on last years wages and this years haven't changed by more than +/- £2500 so they should be correct (I updated the 'estimated' earnings figures on the HMRC gateway as soon as our P60's came through (I earned a little bit last year before I stopped working). We'll get our renewal pack through soon and that should be confirmed then.

I worked out the weekly amount we get, multiplied by 52 and divided by 12 to get the monthly amounts. The payments are weekly, 2 weekly and 4 weekly, so some months we'll get more payments than others.

lush_walrus

If your youngest is using free nursery hours can you return to employment for some / all of those hours?

enthusiasticsaver

Apart from the things already mentioned like threatening to cancel virgin to get a reduction, lower mobile cost and the car (I would cancel insurance on it at least even if your OHs brother won't agree to it being sold) you seem to be doing the best you can. The groceries can come down further by using Aldis or Lidls and meal planning and the presents budget but the best way of you earning more is for you to take on work as and when you can - weekend to avoid childcare costs or when your youngest is at nursery. Mystery shopping etc is another way of earning a bit which can be done whilst looking after the children.

Apart from that you are doing really well to have reduced it by 23% even though you are not working.

Lrimas

You don't have to insure a sorn car (as long as you have declared it):

"Rules in England, Wales and Scotland. You must have motor insurance for your vehicle if you use it on roads and in public places. You do not need to insure your vehicle if it is kept off the road and declared as off the road ( SORN ). This rule is called 'continuous insurance enforcement'."

We cancelled our Sky and we are allowed to rent/buy Amazon prime movies up to that amount. It normally works out much less than Sky used to.

enthusiasticsaver

If you have £610 to throw at your debts then the Barclaycard standard should be paid off in 3 months which is brilliant. In a further 5 months the rest should be gone so maybe by Christmas 2017 you may be debt free if you keep to your payment schedule. That would be an awesome Christmas present. Make sure though that you really stick the £50 emergency fund away so you don't end up frittering it. If you are using YNAB though that should not happen. Having a 1 month buffer is also a good idea if you get paid at various times throughout the month.

I am seriously impressed you got to grips with YNAB. I could never get on with it, am too mean to pay for it and prefer using spreadsheets. We are concentrating on saving and investing though and don't have debt so in a different situation.

enjoyyourshoes

Phones-if half way thro contarct many allow you to go down one/two or more cheaper packages but stay within the same term.

Stop spending on wants and only NEEDS. (stop fags, mags, coffee rates, booze , etc)

Pay insurances annually not monthly as they will charge you credit for the love of paying them.

Start accruing for the annual/1/2 & 1/4ly bills. Stick this in interest bearing account and do a mini cash flow to check you have accrued enough for when each bill becomes due, put in interest bearing account.

Get a metaphorical allotment for the other half to be distracted from high value TV stations ?