SOA, help please!

EssexHebridean

An idea on the food stuff - sit down together and agree easy to prep meals that you can cook, between you, and make a list of those, that gives you a starting point for meal planning. It's a great time of year to introduce salads too and those don't have to be just leaves - think boiled baby potatoes, rice or pasta, couscous is dead easy to prepare and can also make a filling base for a salad type dish. Tinned tuna is wonderful as the protein ingredient of a salad, sandwich or wrap, or in a pasta bake. If you don't already know how to roast a whole chicken then give that a go as you can get a LOT of meals out of one chicken. Beans and pulses are brilliant for bulking out stews and soups - and both of those things are seriously easy to cook. A bolognese type sauce can also be a brilliant starting point - you can use it as the base for a cottage pie for example, or add kidney beans and chilli flakes according to taste and call it chilli. (It's also one of the things that tastes a LOT better made from scratch than out of a jar, too!)

JCS1

Pop over to the Old Style Board on here for all with cooking and menu planning. People are always happy to help out on there

stinabean

Thank you all, will try and do some meal planning today

I have two queries, one re saving, one re debt.

Saving:
As EH suggested I'll start putting some money away as an emergency fund. However, I also want to be able to put money away each month to pay for yearly costs such as car service/MOT. At what stage should I stop or lessen my emergency fund contributions (considering the debt I have), and start other specific savings? I so desperately want to be organised and know it'll take some time, I just don't want to do anything silly this early on!

Debt:
Extra payments. The min payment is going on everything at the moment, which is best to tackle first for adding extra payments to? Higher interest, higher amount, smaller amount?

Thanks for any advice here.

Anothercuppa

Hello, I’ve just joined the board looking for my own advice and saw your thread - your financial situation is pretty similar to ours (but we run 2 cars so even more outgoings!)

I have to bite the bullet and get things sorted but as a starting point:

I am going to start meal planning as my weekly shop is a bit random. I’ve been watching Eat Well for Less to get some inspiration.

I’m going to be stricter about random spend like on coffee, lunches etc.

We’ve cancelled various entertainment subscriptions so we only have one at a time e.g Netflix.

I need to do my own SOA to see exactly where our money is going, but I think in general I need to just have a better handle on my day to day finances.

One thought - your childcare bill does sound on the higher side. How much do you pay a day? Are you paying the average rate in your area or have you gone for more of a premium setting? We’ve gone with a childminder which has been a perfect setting for our child, and about £10 less per day compared to nursery.

I know you may be reluctant to switch him if he’s happy and settled, but it may be worth considering - little ones are adaptable.

Anothercuppa

Another thought: do you happen to work in the public sector? If so, there’s a chance your employer may offer some provision for childcare. My public sector employer does - but I had to chase up for details to get it.

EssexHebridean

stinabean wrote: »

Thank you all, will try and do some meal planning today

I have two queries, one re saving, one re debt.

Saving:
As EH suggested I'll start putting some money away as an emergency fund. However, I also want to be able to put money away each month to pay for yearly costs such as car service/MOT. At what stage should I stop or lessen my emergency fund contributions (considering the debt I have), and start other specific savings? I so desperately want to be organised and know it'll take some time, I just don't want to do anything silly this early on!

Debt:
Extra payments. The min payment is going on everything at the moment, which is best to tackle first for adding extra payments to? Higher interest, higher amount, smaller amount?

Thanks for any advice here.

As a guide for emergency fund savings:
Basic:
Renting, no car - aim for at least £250 but ideally £500
Renting, with a car: £500
Homeowner, regardless of car or not: £1000
Long term:
3 - 6 months basic costs covered - so if you were to be left with no income, enough to cover all the essentials for that period of time.

For savings accounts the easiest way is usually to set up separate savings accounts off your main current account and transfer money into those month for car costs, christmas & birthday presents, holiday fund etc. It's easier than trying to keep track of proportions of a larger sum.

The usual recommendation for paying off debt is attack the highest interest first but there can be some exceptions to this - for example if you have a lower interest debt with a balance that can be cleared in a single month it can makes more sense to clear that first so you can immediately add the previous monthly payment from that on to the payment to the highest interest debt. Similarly a lower interest debt with a higher proportionate monthly minimum payment can make sense to get rid of sooner rather than later.

stinabean

EssexHebridean wrote: »

As a guide for emergency fund savings:
Basic:
Renting, no car - aim for at least £250 but ideally £500
Renting, with a car: £500
Homeowner, regardless of car or not: £1000
Long term:
3 - 6 months basic costs covered - so if you were to be left with no income, enough to cover all the essentials for that period of time.

For savings accounts the easiest way is usually to set up separate savings accounts off your main current account and transfer money into those month for car costs, christmas & birthday presents, holiday fund etc. It's easier than trying to keep track of proportions of a larger sum.

The usual recommendation for paying off debt is attack the highest interest first but there can be some exceptions to this - for example if you have a lower interest debt with a balance that can be cleared in a single month it can makes more sense to clear that first so you can immediately add the previous monthly payment from that on to the payment to the highest interest debt. Similarly a lower interest debt with a higher proportionate monthly minimum payment can make sense to get rid of sooner rather than later.

Thank you :T The one thing I'm not sure on, say I save an initial £300 as emergency, do I continue that till I get to the higher amount before I start putting by for specific things, or should I get putting by for that at the same time?

Thanks re debt - will re-evaluate what's best to throw some money at Have made a few changes so can increase a payment

theoretica

stinabean wrote: »

Thank you :T The one thing I'm not sure on, say I save an initial £300 as emergency, do I continue that till I get to the higher amount before I start putting by for specific things, or should I get putting by for that at the same time?

Thanks re debt - will re-evaluate what's best to throw some money at Have made a few changes so can increase a payment

For me, it depends on when the annual expenses are due. How much do you need for your car service or insurances and when? In the long run you want to be saving for everything at the same time, but at the beginning you may need to prioritise some sort of emergency savings and then any big bills that are coming first.

Unicorn_cottage

Hi there stinabean

Sorry if all this has been said before

Did you get the APRs for your debts? If so can you add they to your SOA and repost. People can then advise on the best way to attack. Also good to pop all your debts into a snowball calculator http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx which will help you suss out the best way to get them paid off.

Also do you have anything you can sell. Lots of way to sell stuff now for free i.e. Facebook marketplace & Gumtree. If it is more niche and you want to get best price then head to Ebay. If you do make any money make sure it goes an overpayment to your highest debt or emergency fund. It all helps.

Keep up the good work.

anfieldred

Probably a bit late here, but echoing what others have said about food shopping - you could get that right down by shopping at Aldi/Lidl, and just use the other supermarkets for stuff they don't sell. We've cut our food shopping bill right down by going to Aldi rather than Asda.

if you're after food ideas - check out out http://pinchofnom.com/, there's loads of recipes on there, some require a bit of prep time but with the vast majority there's nothing you can't get in Aldi/Lidl.

Regarding jobs - not sure what your partner does now, but are there no junior jobs anywhere that he can get a foot on the ladder and get a bit more money in? you'd be surprised at the amount of junior marketing or admin jobs that pay quite well, check out indeed.co.uk - not sure what his hobbies are, but there's also part time jobs going as football/sporting events ground stewards, or stat gatherers for Opta etc. that could help out a bit short term.