Advice needed for reducing monthly outgoings

Katieellen23

This is my first post on here so please just helpful advice and no judgement.

I need help working out how to reduce our monthly outgoings!

My partner earns between £2500 and £3500 each month (commission based)
I previously earned £1550 each month, I am on maternity leave currently and will be returning to work part time so will earn around £1000 going forward. We will need to pay for childcare at about £400 per month when I return to work in June

We need to reduce our outgoings to assist with reduced wage whilst on maternity and to cope with childcare costs. Our joint outgoings are as follows:

Mortgage £553
Council tax £172
Child Maintenance (partners from previous relationship) £368!
Gas & Electric £80
TV licence £13.20
BT £22.99
Tesco Loan £91.62 (balance £4500 with 4.5 years to go)
Other unsecured loan £100 (balance £1000)
Car finance £160
Negative equity loan £60 (balance £900 due to end in April 2021)!
Credit cards payments £50 (£5000 outstanding on cards)!
0% finance loan £13.89
Phone contracts £55
Insurances £43
Store cards £20 (£320 outstanding)
Memberships £10
Swimming lessons £50
Water bill arrears £40 (£200 outstanding)
Fuel costs £250-£300 per month
Food shopping £320 per month (includes formula and nappies)
Baby clothes £30 per month

We live in a large 3 bedroom detached home, we have looked into reducing gas/electric bills but we cannot find a better deal. We were considering topping up our Tesco Loan to allow us to pay off the other loan at £100, the negative equity loan for £60 and store cards. The rate is 2.9% APR on the loan so significantly lower than the rate on the other loan and cards. We both have very good credit ratingsm
I would just like advice on how best we can reduce our outgoings during this time?!
Thank you

MovingForwards

If you complete a full statement of affairs we can see what is going on and where things can be cut back, you have too many items missing from your list.

Willing2Learn

MovingForwards wrote: »

If you complete a full statement of affairs we can see what is going on and where things can be cut back, you have too many items missing from your list.

And here is the link for SOA online form. Don't forget to click on the 'format for MSE' button before posting.
https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

Katieellen23

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 950
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2700
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3650
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 553
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 160
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 172
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 55
TV Licence.............................. 13.2
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 320
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 400
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 40
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Child maintenance ...................... 368
Total monthly expenses.................. 2646.2

Assets
Cash.................................... 5000
House value (Gross)..................... 155000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 164500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 142500...(553)......2.9
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6900.....(160)......8.9%
Total secured & HP debts...... 149400....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card ...................4600......50........0%
Credit card ...................400.......10........21%
Store card ....................250.......9........21%
Loan ..........................1000......100.......0%
Loan ..........................4500......91.82.....2.9%
Store card ....................78........5.........21%
Total unsecured debts..........10828.....265.82....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,650
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,646.2
Available for debt repayments........... 1,003.8
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 265.82
Amount left after debt repayments....... 737.98

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 164,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -149,400
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,828
Net Assets.............................. 4,272

Willing2Learn

Your SOA shows that you have £738 surplus funds every month. Where is that money going?

Grumpelstiltskin

What are the APRs on all the loans and cards?

Knowing that may help us with advice.

Katieellen23

Store cards with £320 20-25% APR
Barclaycard with £400 balance is 21%
Negative equity loan £1000 balance is 8.9%
Car finance loan £6500 balance is 8.9%
Tesco Loan with balance of £4500 is 2.9%
Virgin credit card with balance of £4600 is on a 0% money transfer card
Mortgage is 2.99%

Robin9

No holidays, birthdays, going out ?

Why childcare - you are on maternity leave ? Or is that for when you return to work.

Yellow_mango

Well with that surplus you could clear both store cards and the smallest credit card in one month.

Willing2Learn

If you really have £738 surplus each month, then you should be able to clear your unsecured debts in 15 months, whilst still enjoying the same lifestyle.

But on the other hand, you have zero budgeted toward 'entertainment', which implies your SOA is not correct.

Katieellen23

I included childcare as the income I have stated for myself will be the income when I do return to work part time. The SOA is based on what our situation will be in 5 months time.
We live within our means, we would like to go on holiday this year but it all depends if we can raise the money to do so. Again, with birthdays we will be conservative because we are trying to concentrate on paying our debts off so we can be in a better position. I didn't put a figure for these sections as they are variable, we don't treat a holiday as a given and will only go if we can save the cash