SOA Advice

Mumoffourkids

I would agree that clothing does seem on the low side with three children. But I wouldn’t say you need as much as £100 per month. I have six kids and although the eldest buys her own clothes, I buy for the other five including school uniform and I only budget £100 per month. All of mine get Clark’s shoes for school, I currently have £300 in my clothing budget and I’ve already got new school uniform for one child who is starting secondary in September and my youngest who is starting primary school in September. There are ways to cut the cost lower if you have to.

Naomim

I think you can also just downgrade the bank account if you dont use the "perks".  I used to have a paid for account and got it changed to a regular account. Didn't have to close it or change anything, we just lost the benefits we never used and the privilege of paying for them. 🤣

RAS

I'd second NeverendingDMP.
Your SOA looks aspirational rather than based on your actual previous spending.
Get all the statements out and go through them with a fine toothcomb. Allocate everything to one of the categories, preferably the two of you together. Can MIL take the kids for an afternoon?

Until you know what you've spent £38k on, it's impossible to work out how to cut back effectively.

Very's APR is c39.9% by the way and you really need to close that ASAP.

zippygeorgeandben

Why are you paying £15 per week for school lunches when they can have a hot meal each day for free?!

TheAble

zippygeorgeandben said:

Why are you paying £15 per week for school lunches when they can have a hot meal each day for free?!

You're not eligible for free lunches beyond year 2. In any case I think folks are getting a bit too bogged down with this school lunch expense - there are bigger wins to be had here.

zippygeorgeandben

If you have been eligible for pupil premium at any stage though, it continues to be free throughout the child's time at primary school, up to year 6.
I'm baffled though that people happily pay for lunches when they are eligible (not just to the OP here, other threads in the past) because people then complain that there isn't anything out there to help support families who are struggling.  Life is about choices but if you do not have the luxury of choice, you have to use an appropriate response.

TheAble

I agree with you but I don't believe the op has mentioned anything about pupil premium?

enthusiasticsaver

There is nothing on that soa that is overly high (clothing seems low for 3 children)  so the issue is too much debt and your wife's low income. That may mean you have to consider a DMP as almost £900 of your fairly average income is going on debt repayments. Whatever you do, do not consolidate debt into a loan, secured or  unsecured or take out debt in someone elses name (MIL).  It will not help and will make things much worse.  My guess is you have been struggling with debt for a long time. If there is a prospect of a bonus in the region of the amount you say then that would be a big help. If your wife or you can get a second job that would also help. Tackle the most expensive debts first which is probably the overdraft.  

If increasing your income is not possible at this stage then going for a DMP would mean that the interest is frozen and you could probably reduce the debt repayments so you can save for things like clothing, car repairs, birthdays, xmas etc and emergencies. It would probably take about 6 years to clear it but the monthly repayments would be nearer £500-£600.  That means going cold turkey on the debt and cutting up the cards.