Help me please!!

chevalier

I would suggest that you read Immoral Angels debt diary. They are weekly paid and have got budgeting on not much money down to a fine art.

The other thing is to get a piece of paper and write say the 31 days of next month, and what day you will get money in. So then you know which week you have got more money than others. Then note when all of your standing orders are coming out.

If more of them come in weeks where you only have the child tax money, then ask some of the creditors if you can switch dates. Some will some won't, but this will help you budget better.

One thing that REALLY worried me though was your comment about that you are getting housing benefit, but that you don't have to pay rent until April. If this is the case then surely you shouldn't be getting housing benefit? Just really worried in case you have applied for something by mistake.

chev

chevalier

Oh and another thing. It would probably cost you less money to pay for your mother's internet in Cyprus and then use Skype (free) or similar over the internet to call home.
chev

mumzyof2

Toto wrote: »

Hey mumzy.

Ok, first of all have you included everything? what about tv license? car costs? water rates?

At the moment I am adding your expenses up to being £395.93. Now, that is monthly but your income is weekly. I am all for an easy life personally so in your position I would have the JSA paid into a bills account seperate from the tax credit account and have all dds coming from the JSA account. This would mean you never see that money but then you never spend it either and the bills are covered. You would then know you have the tax credit every week as your living money for food etc.

HI im going to do that and live off 81pound a weke but can i live off 81pound a week for food,nappies etc, im stopping smoking tomo also. Tv licence i no not pay till january as i was in credit at my last house (i dont know how but iam)
also water is £13.36 i will add this now to my 1st post

mumzyof2

chevalier wrote: »

I would suggest that you read Immoral Angels debt diary. They are weekly paid and have got budgeting on not much money down to a fine art.

The other thing is to get a piece of paper and write say the 31 days of next month, and what day you will get money in. So then you know which week you have got more money than others. Then note when all of your standing orders are coming out.

If more of them come in weeks where you only have the child tax money, then ask some of the creditors if you can switch dates. Some will some won't, but this will help you budget better.

One thing that REALLY worried me though was your comment about that you are getting housing benefit, but that you don't have to pay rent until April. If this is the case then surely you shouldn't be getting housing benefit? Just really worried in case you have applied for something by mistake.

chev

Hi, The rent from hosuing benifit know that i have paid my rent upfront for 6months and will still pay me.

chevalier

How many people would the £81 a week be covering? This equates to £351 a month. I feed 2 adults, 2 children and 2 cats for £250 a month (plus night time nappies too), so the rest could be petrol money.

It is a case of meal planning. Looking for things that are reduced that you can freeze, sticking to shopping lists etc. If you look on the money saving old style board there are loads of recipes on there that cost pennies to cook and are healthy too!

chev

mumzyof2

chevalier wrote: »

How many people would the £81 a week be covering? This equates to £351 a month. I feed 2 adults, 2 children and 2 cats for £250 a month (plus night time nappies too), so the rest could be petrol money.

It is a case of meal planning. Looking for things that are reduced that you can freeze, sticking to shopping lists etc. If you look on the money saving old style board there are loads of recipes on there that cost pennies to cook and are healthy too!

chev

It covers myself, my oh and a 3 year old and a 21month old. my 3 year old is no longer in nappies. I go through 1 pack a week in nappies but buy pampers as any other gve my girl nappy rash. But i buy a box for £9 in tesco or asda. I already supermarket brand items when shopping, i also get beg/milk tokens. But we go through a lot of milk and veg and end up paying for them by end of month. My oh spends about £20 a week on cigs and he loves smoking so would never ask him to quit as he never goes out with his friends. I also bake my own bread, cook meals although we have healthy meals everyday and also have meat everyday. I also do buy reduced but i think not as much as i shoudl be doing

mumzyof2

Ok guys iam off to look in my cupboards and meal plan for this weeks meals..do i include dinners?

dizzie

Hi mumzyof2,

Taking your user name in the literal sense, could you make any extra money before Christmas by selling some bits and bobs on Ebay (e.g. outgrown children's clothes/toys), or bits and bobs that you had from your old house that you no longer need (e.g. curtains that didn't fit anywhere in your new place)?

Would agree that phone usage could be targetted for a saving spree. Besides some of the tips given by other people, might be worth reviewing your partner's mobile phone contract. If he had it before you met, check whether it is really cost effective for him to be on contract and then check cancellation or downgrade possibilities with phone contract provider.

Also, you put down Next £30. Don't know what this is, since I don't really shop there. Is it a store or catalogue account payment - and if so what is the interest on it? If you are making a lot of purchases there, on some sort of high interest credit terms, it may be worth looking to see if you can purchase the types of things you like elsewhere (e.g. discount stores like TKMaxx, or MandMDirect (online)...or for me, good old Asda George gets the thumbs up). Use discount codes and go through cashback sites where possible to save a bit more money for any online purchases. That way you could possibly save money on your purchases and not have to have an account on credit terms (so possibly saving more money in the longer term).

Good luck with this

Snaggles

Boots nappies are apparently made by Pampers, and are almost identical - have you tried those? They have offers on them quite often, and you get advantage points too.

piglet29

hello, dont know if this is possible but well worth checking out, we are on incapacity benefit and were paid fortnightly too, and found it a real struggle, by the time i had paid everything for the two weeks, we were left with hardly any money for the next ten days, so i rang the dss and asked if we could be paid weekly, it is a lot easier as now we live week to week and its is so much easier to manage bills etc., do not know if same could be done for JSA but it may be worth a phone call to explain your situation and ask, good luck!!!