heres my soa, some please look

cookie9

the_boy_with_no_name wrote: »

outgoings:

morgtage: 392 (tied into for another 18 months)
loan: 418 ( 3 years lef to go)
gas/elec: 104 ( scottish power dd) seems high. Compare with other providers. Also look at how you spend this - are there empty rooms with lights, tv etc all left on? Try turning down nyour heating by one degree.
life ins: 12 (combined for both of us)
dog ins: 16 ( can change due to ongoing illness)
c/tax: 150 (includes £50 per monh arrears till end of march)
sky: 43 (tv family pack, fone & broadband) - try to negotiate a better deal. Tell them about Virgin packge mentioned above and see if they offer a discount. The worse that they can say is no.
mobiles: 30 ( thats for 3 conract fones, good deal instead of upgrade)
house ins: 17 ( combined buildings & contents)
car ins: 35 (cant get any cheaper iv'e tried)

total: 1217


food: 200 - for this month try to cut down a lot by making meals from freezer food and store cupboard. This should help offset some of your Christmas food bill.Also take packed lunches to work/school. Look at the OS style board for ideas for cheap family meals. Avoid take aways!
petrol: 60 - use inrenet to ensure getting the best deal.
teenagers pocket money: 100 (includes bus fair to & from school, lunch money, gymnastics fees & she buys all her own stuff that she needs) -if in sixth form does she get EMA? Reduce slightly for packed lunch.
our pocket money: 150 - reduce as far as possible.
total: 510

outstanding balances:
argos card: 400 apr: 27.9
river isaland card: 300 apr: 17.9
additions account:552 apr: 29.8
credit card: 1700 apr: ?
next account: 478 apr: 26.4
total: 3430

1.5 monhs morgtage arrears: 470
1 month loan arrears: 418

total: 888


help where can we save???

Secured debt must be paid before anything else. I think you could probably "save" £200 this month by cutting back as suggested above. This should go towrds your secured debt. Talk to your mortgage lender to explain htat you have a shortfall. They may grant you a mortgage holiday for a short period so you can sort out your finances. I would avoid loan consolidation if possible as you will end up paying more in the long term.

Your interest on the store cards is very high. Once secured debt paid then look at reducing these. I would start with the highest rate first - Additions card. Can you increase your income? Overtime? Second job? Some shops are looking for Christmas staff - could your partner or teen apply for these?

Do you have old CDs, DVDs that you could sell on Amazon, ebay etc?

Look at the freebies section - you can often get free cinema tickets for Edinburgh. Take advantage of reward cards such as Boots, Nectar etc so if you have to spend money you at least get something back.

Martin has a great booklet available to download where teens try to save their parents money so why not get your teen involved.

As suggested above keep a spending diary.

Good luck!

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Can'f offer much more advice than you have received.

Definately sounds like you need a spending diary as £300 is a lot to have spare each month and not no where its going.

Good luck.

consultant31

Again, well done on posting - you will get loads of help here from the experts on paring down your living costs.

£200 is way too much to be spending on food for 3 people - take a look on the Old Style board for loads of recipes for good filling meals at a fraction of what you must be paying now. I would have thought you could almost halve this.

The gas and electric do seem very high. We have a big house and only pay £45 a month for both gas & leccy. Have a look on uswitch to see if you can get it cheapr.

The Sky package is a luxury you can't afford - either pare it right back or get rid altogether.

Cut down on the pocket money both for yourselves and your teenager. As others have suggested, the teen could perhaps get a Saturday job and is it possible your wife may be able to get more hours, or supplement her income with a second job.

I know it sounds like a spartan existence rather than a life, but until you get straight financially, things like takeaways really should be a very occasional treat. I buy Chinese or Indian spices, chuck in some chicken etc and make my own - onion bhajis are very easy to make and you end up with more than you would from a takeaway for a fraction of the price!

Could you maybe sell things on eBay or Amazon - clear the decks and make some spare cash at the same time.

the_boy_with_no_name

you see heres the thing. oh is a cook, so i really dont understand how we spend £200. also my daughter is only 13 & at high school.

i dont get paid for overtime as im salaried, but oh has started doing any that come up.

going to see bout gas/elec & start doing a spending diary.

already been in ouch with morg & loan companies (i is an unsecured loan btw) & arranged to pay these off over 4 monhs.

cheers guys staring to see what needs to be done

angelavdavis

Hi and welcome to DFW

the_boy_with_no_name wrote: »

as title heres my soa, doesn't look too bad but were always skint, why????

our pocket money: 150

As SS says, I suggest you both keep a spending diary - by seeing what you are actually spending this on, you can see where else you can make savings - for example I discovered that I was spending £75 per month in the canteen on lunches and coffees. £300 (or £69 per week/£9.89 per day) spending that is unaccounted for is a lot of money - a large percentage of your income, so its critical you examine what you are spending this on.

One element you have overlooked in your outgoings are the running costs for the car - tax, servicing, mot, etc.

the_boy_with_no_name wrote: »

outstanding balances:
argos card: 400 apr: 27.9
river isaland card: 300 apr: 17.9
additions account:552 apr: 29.8
credit card: 1700 apr: ?
next account: 478 apr: 26.4
total: 3430

total minimum payments: 150

Also, I would echo SS's comments about the store cards. You need to concentrate on repairing your credit file by ensuring you can meet your minimum payments for all your debts. Then I would seriously look at trying to reduce the rates of those cards by using 0% or lower life of balance deals.

Check out the snowball calculator to work out what order you should pay off your debts

the_boy_with_no_name wrote: »

this should leave us £300, but we have

1.5 monhs morgtage arrears: 470
1 month loan arrears: 418

total: 888


help where can we save???

Do you have anything to ebay? The storecards must have been used for something and I suggest you have a good clearout and list a load of stuff for Christmas.

Your priority is to clear the arrears on the mortgage, then the highest rate debts - moving down to the lowest APRs.

Seriously restricting your spending money, plus the additional £300 which is currently unaccounted for could help you pay off your mortgage arrears in one month.

angelavdavis

the_boy_with_no_name wrote: »

you see heres the thing. oh is a cook, so i really dont understand how we spend £200. also my daughter is only 13 & at high school.

Please please go over onto Old Style forum as there are tips on bringing your shopping bill down.

Use shopping comparison sites to compare supermarkets, keep a note of what you are throwing away for a couple of weeks - helps open the eyes to stuff you habitually buy but never use, meal plan, make sandwiches or soup for lunches, take part in a storecupboard challenge (where you use the contents of your fridge/freezer and storecupboards so delaying shopping as long as possible), shop from a list (only) or use online shopping (check out voucher board for free delivery) - online shopping stops you picking up the "special offers" that you don't really need.

Some people have found switching away from the main supermarkets and either using local markets or stores like Lidls or Aldi's now and again helps. I manage to save £20 on my usual £60 shop in Lidl's or Aldi's - but they don't sell everything, so I shop in the big supermarket once every 7 weeks or so.

Do you have a garden? Why not start planning a veg garden to grow your own fruit and veg in the summer??

the_boy_with_no_name

well guys first day of he spending diary yesterday & it goes like this:

dinner for work: 1.40 (didnt have time to cook anything to take).
petrol for car: 10 (should last me till the middle of next week)

total: 11.40:T

if i can only spend £2 a day then that brings the money that i need a month down to £40. (can i have £40 a month please????????????????:D

the_boy_with_no_name

also managed to get my car insurance renewal down by £40, result

beverleyhills

Are your wife and daughter keepng spending diaries?

Jacks_xxx

the_boy_with_no_name wrote: »

as title heres my soa, doesn't look too bad but were always skint, why????

2 adults, 1 teenager

income: all every month & after tax

mine: 1575

parners: 530

child benift: 75

total: 2180

outgoings:

morgtage: 392 (tied into for another 18 months)
loan: 418 ( 3 years lef to go)
gas/elec: 104 ( scottish power dd) It's worth looking at Uswitch to see if you can get a cheaper rate if you switch providers. If you do it through the quidco site you can also get cash back as well probably. Also check your tariff we'd been paying the wrong one for ten months and had overpaid by almost £1000.
life ins: 12 (combined for both of us)
dog ins: 16 ( can change due to ongoing illness)
c/tax: 150 (includes £50 per monh arrears till end of march)
sky: 43 (tv family pack, fone & broadband) I'm ever so sorry honey but you can definitely cut back here. You can have 3 mixes, broadband and phone for £23 amonth or less.

http://packages.sky.com/buy/?QS=true&see_mixes=4&see_extras=&speak=FreeTime&surf_level=Base&equipment=FDB&supplier=Virgin%20Media&affiliate=true&CMP=KNC-UKesalesSearch


mobiles: 30 ( thats for 3 conract fones, good deal instead of upgrade) I'd still get rid of them hon. They're a luxury you can't afford at the moment.
house ins: 17 ( combined buildings & contents)
car ins: 35 (cant get any cheaper iv'e tried) We had to downgrade our car in order to get cheaper car insurance - is that an option for you guys?

total: 1217


food: 200 I've never seen an SOA yet where they couldn't shave some money off their food bill. Try Moneysaving Old Style for ideas on how.
petrol: 60 Keep this to essential journeys only to cut back.
teenagers pocket money: 100 (includes bus fair to & from school, lunch money, gymnastics fees & she buys all her own stuff that she needs) I would suggest that you explain to her that you're having a horrible time financially and give her her family allowance of £75 instead, and help her to find a paper round or babysitting job if she needs more.

our pocket money: 150 And lead by example by cutting back the amount of pocket money you have to play with. Hubby and I have £10 per week each, but if we need more we do a carboot, eBay, babysit, garden, whatever we need to do to earn more dosh.
total: 510

outstanding balances:
argos card: 400 apr: 27.9
river isaland card: 300 apr: 17.9
additions account:552 apr: 29.8
credit card: 1700 apr: ?
next account: 478 apr: 26.4
total: 3430

Punch all your debts into the snowball calculator and it will tell you how to pay them off (click on interest order to get rid of the higher interest ones first)

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

total minimum payments: 150


total monthly outgoings: 1877

this should leave us £300, but we have

1.5 monhs morgtage arrears: 470
1 month loan arrears: 418

total: 888


help where can we save???

:hello: hey sweetie,

here's what i'd do in your position:

Punch all the debt info into the snowball and see what it says.

Cut up the store cards.

Keep track of every penny for the next month - 6 weeks to see where the spare cash is vanishing to.

Break it to DD that she's getting a pay cut. (£25)

Ring sky and cut back to the £23 package (£20)

Ask OH to do more hours at work - just for a while. (£££?)

Join the grocery challenge on Money saving Old Style and shave £20 off that supermarket bill (£20)

Keep yourself to £50 each pocket money a month (£50)

Check and double check your gas and leccy and look into switching (£££?)

If your throw that extra £115+ at the debts in the order the snowball tells you to you'll have the store cards sorted pretty quickly, and things will be looking much brighter.

Sorry to be bossy honey, but sometimes you've just gotta do what you've gotta do!

Love Jacks xxx