SOA newbie :)

Mnd

I also don't think it's fair for you to be shouldering these problems on your own. I agree with the earlier post about separate finances. what happened to for richer for poorer. I think all yor debts, income and outgoings should be dealt with together. Good Luck

System

Thanks for the replies. I have cut up both my cards, and unfortunately I cannot get another 0% card due to my current high credit but we are going to try and tackle Next first, I can't really do anything about Santander as its a fixed Payment but I've got less than a year left on that. We've agreed that I will do a bank shift extra a month so that will bring an additional £100-150 in and it's difficult for husband to commit to more as some months he'll be earning from work and others he won't but he is going to try and be better with his money and help me out more (we shall see!) we are in our late twenties and I've vowed to never get credit again for anything once we come out the other side.

Heather2603

It's a marriage, he shouldn't be 'helping you out' you should be a team! It is not fair that he's frittering money away whilst you are considering a DMP when what he is contributing to the household finances barely covers half your rent! If he's not willing to do fully joint finances then he can't complain when you cut back to cheaper brands/food/less meat.

Try meal planning, shopping only with a list and look for free activities to do with the kids. Our local pool does free swimming for under 16's during school holidays etc and the local heritage park is free and often has things on at the weekend.

atush

Therese1 wrote: »

Hi,

Good work on pulling your SOA together ...you've certainly come to the right place...there will be plenty more knowledgeable folk along to advise you soon.

There are only a couple of 'queries' to me... Do you really need £80 of new clothes every month? Even with growing kids can you do 'hand me downs' to the little one and possibly among your friends?

Also, you have 2 cars but seemingly low mileage? I appreciate with kids 'taxi' runs its probably not easy but is there any re-jigging you could do to cut to one car? This would save on insurance/MOT/servicing too.

Good luck!

This was my first thought, that 80 was a little high for clothes.

Will go on to read the rest now

atush

Your soa is tight. The clothing could probably come down a bit as could the groceries

I disagree here. I feel 60 quid a week for a family of 4 is not living high n the hog.

I also agree your husbands attitude and overspending is poor, but see he has at least started seeing things that way.

He needs to step up to the plate, and leave luxuries like takeouts and overspending to next year when he is working.

atush

I agree you shoulld snowball the Next loan with his extra 100, plus half of your extra income if you take that shift.


Put the other half into an emergency fund till you have at least 200-500 in emergency cash in case of car repairs or white goods replacements.

Mnd

For what it's worth, this is how we manage our finances. Our monthly income, all sources is approximately £3k all goes in to 1 account..all the household bills council tax, etc get paid by direct debit. The only spending account from that is the housekeeping account. £680 a month. This is managed by my wife and is supposed to cover groceries and petrol for 2 cars. Anything else is for her to spend on her important spends like shoes etc..I have no need for any cash designated for me, if I need to spend on the garden etc I just use the credit card and we pay that off in full every month The remaining money is saved and used for holidays car service etc. We don't have specific pots for these just a total saved amount. We are mortgage and debt free thankfully and most months our long term saving increases by approx 1k a month. Hope this helps .M

joedenise

Mnd wrote: »

For what it's worth, this is how we manage our finances. Our monthly income, all sources is approximately £3k all goes in to 1 account..all the household bills council tax, etc get paid by direct debit. The only spending account from that is the housekeeping account. £680 a month. This is managed by my wife and is supposed to cover groceries and petrol for 2 cars. Anything else is for her to spend on her important spends like shoes etc..I have no need for any cash designated for me, if I need to spend on the garden etc I just use the credit card and we pay that off in full every month The remaining money is saved and used for holidays car service etc. We don't have specific pots for these just a total saved amount. We are mortgage and debt free thankfully and most months our long term saving increases by approx 1k a month. Hope this helps .M

You're managing to save more a month than a lot of people have coming in per month. We don't have much more than that a month coming in but still manage to save some.

Denise