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Where to start?
devonsdreamer
Posts: 329 Forumite
Ok so I know my financial situation is about to hit melt down where do I start- This is my first attempt at lisiting my outgoings. What I am attempting to do is make a liveable budget including everything so that I never need to use credit again. So far this is well beyond my means - Any advice please
We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children 2 are toddlers
Rent
£595
Water
£40
Gas & Elec
£67
Council tax
£127
Car insurance
£50
House insurance
£14
Life insurance
£43.03
Mobile phones
£60
TV licence
11.37
Pre-school
£96
Petrol
£60
Clothing
£50
Dental
£5
Tax mot upkeep
£50
Telephone, broadband, Tv
£30
Nappies
£32
Food
£400
School expenses
£5
Gifts Christmas birthday
£30
Entertainment
£20
£1785.40
We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children 2 are toddlers
Rent
£595
Water
£40
Gas & Elec
£67
Council tax
£127
Car insurance
£50
House insurance
£14
Life insurance
£43.03
Mobile phones
£60
TV licence
11.37
Pre-school
£96
Petrol
£60
Clothing
£50
Dental
£5
Tax mot upkeep
£50
Telephone, broadband, Tv
£30
Nappies
£32
Food
£400
School expenses
£5
Gifts Christmas birthday
£30
Entertainment
£20
£1785.40
Don't get strung out by the way I look,
Don't judge a book by it's cover
Don't judge a book by it's cover
0
Comments
-
Good start!
What is your family income, including child benefit, etc. And do you have monthly repayments to credit cards, loans, etc? It will be easier to see what you have left to "play" with then...
QUIT SMOKING 4/11/07 :j0 -
Hiya,
You haven't told us what your income is or your debts. People will need to know the APR's too.
We will be able to help you more when we know more. But in the meantime welcome, and well done on starting to sort out your situation.
Gale
Littlewoods £457 requested CCA 30.11.07
As at 30/11/07!
Successfully reclaimed charges from Barclaycard, A+L in my sights now.
All debts interest free now!0 -
I am still working out my debts and already my income doesnt cover my outgoings! I will post the rest tomorrow- thanks for readingDon't get strung out by the way I look,
Don't judge a book by it's cover0 -
Hi devonsdreamer and welcome to MSE :wave:
Look forward to seeing the rest of your SOA. The money saving advice will come come flooding in
Scarlett xxYou can't control everything in life....... your hair was put on your head to remind you of that
Proud to be BSC no. 1030 -
Even though your SoA isn't complete yet, I can tell you straight away to chop your food bill down. I have the same sized family and manage it on £200 a month max. and that includes nappies for toddler.
Also why do you pay £43 for life insurance when you have no mortgage? We pay £8.06 a month life insurance as a 'just in case' as we rent too.Olympic Countdown Challenge #145 ~ DFW Nerd #389 ~ Debt Free Date: [STRIKE]December 2015[/STRIKE] September 2015
:j BabySpendalot arrived 26/6/11 :j0 -
Are the mobile phones payg or contract ? can you not bring the price down for them, where do you shop, have you tried lidl/aldi, also when you shop do you buy just the essential foods?No Links in Signature by site rules - MSE Forum Team 20
-
devonsdreamer wrote: »Ok so I know my financial situation is about to hit melt down where do I start- This is my first attempt at lisiting my outgoings. What I am attempting to do is make a liveable budget including everything so that I never need to use credit again. So far this is well beyond my means - Any advice please
We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children 2 are toddlers
Rent
£595
Water
£40 This seems high, even for a family of 5
Gas & Elec
£67
Council tax
£127
Car insurance
£50
House insurance
£14
Life insurance
£43.03 Can u get this cheaper?
Mobile phones
£60 Can u go PAYG on one or both? Or reduce contracts if not
TV licence
11.37
Pre-school
£96 What is this for? Is pre-scholl not free for 2 1/2 hrs per day?
Petrol
£60
Clothing
£50 Can this be reduced? Where do u usually buy ur clothes
Dental
£5
Tax mot upkeep
£50
Telephone, broadband, Tv
£30
Nappies
£32
Food
£400 This seems quite high, u can reduce this. Check out the Old Style board for ideas.
School expenses
£5
Gifts Christmas birthday
£30
Entertainment
£20 What does this consist of? Can it be cut?
£1785.40
Hi DevonsDreamer, welcome to MSE. Ive stuck a couple of bit on, and look forward to seeing more of ur SOA
Sarah x'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars' - Oscar Wilde0 -
Ok so a little topsy turvy but here it is
Rent
£595
Water
£40
Gas & Elec
£67
Council tax
£127
Car insurance
£50
House insurance
£14
Life insurance
£43.03
Mobile phones
£60
TV licence
11.37
Pre-school
£96
Petrol
£60
Clothing
£50
Dental
£5
Tax mot upkeep
£50
Telephone, broadband, Tv
£30
Nappies
£32
Food
£400
School expenses
£5
Gifts Christmas birthday
£30
Entertainment
£20
Monthly expenses
£1785.40
Total
Payment (interest £)
Amex
3000
Barclaycard
4000
83 (54.54)
Capital 1
591.18
29.95 (15)
Asda
892.02
26.76 (13.39)
Virgin
3682.37
5 (0)
Overdraft 1 a
1249.08
(13.36)
Overdraft 2 b
2800
(22.41)
Overdraft 3 b2
1400
(24)
Loan
10,000
138.44
Eye payment
1080
83.05 (0)
Catalogue 1 L
374
123.76 (0)
Catalogue 2 a
200
40 (0)
31694.26
529.96
Income
wages
800
Tax credits
480
Child benefit
120.80
benefits
161
1561.80
Don't get strung out by the way I look,
Don't judge a book by it's cover0 -
ooh - it didnt look like that before I posted- it was is a tidy little chart- sorry it is quite difficult to readDon't get strung out by the way I look,
Don't judge a book by it's cover0 -
Thanks for the reply -
My family situation is that my neice lives with us but we get no finacial support from parents and as yet no child benefit.
let me clarify my SOA is how I want to be able to budget at the moment we have no allowance for clothes, entertainment we just spend as and when is required. I guess i am looking at things the wrong way round
my food currently goes on my credit card and I think truthfully i spend more than 400, we do not buy junk food or ready meals-it is mostly fruit and veg that cost me so much. I also make my own bread and pizza bases batch cook and freeze, only buy meat that is reduced so I am not sure where I spend it - I will take a closer look at this. My 2 toddlers eat for england and my eldest child eats adult size meals (no we are not overweight )
Pre-school - my son is not 3 till jan o5 so will have to pay untill april term my neice is 3 december so will get free session after christmas although we will still have some costs and the preschool charges more than the vouchers you get and it is the cheapest in my village.
Life insurance: my husband and I have both had depression and getting insurance is difficult - I was thinking I may cancel it not sure felt some level of security having it. I will look into exatly what it is I am paying for- thanks
Water - we are on a water meter and this is the "social" payment meaning that if we use less than the billed amount we will get it refunded at the end of the year but if we go over we wont have to pay anymore
entertainment is to allow me and husband to go out with our own children indpendently (one parent with one child) and spend time with them so cinema with oldest and play centre with youngest we do other things that are free also. this is also our national trust membership so we can have family days out exploring
mobile we have just renewed contracts in the past 2 months i will look into downgradingDon't get strung out by the way I look,
Don't judge a book by it's cover0
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