Our Soa - help please we’re struggling

HampshireH

You household has increase by 1 other and your income by your wife's whole salary 

Are either your wife or person 3 contributing to household finances now? The main points made previously were really strong on increasing household income but it would appear that's not been possible and has infact declined as livings costs have increased

Dom135246

My wife doesn’t have an income now but we’re a team and at the moment I’m taking care of her while she gets better and I’m struggling with mental health but only becasue of the strain of everything the last few years, it’ll be ok.

The 3rd adult is our son and staying is only a short term arrangement, he’s helping me out but is independent of us and will be moving out again soon. 

HampshireH

I'm sorry to hear that. The fact on such a low income you not your wife  arent entitled to benefits seems really strange.

I'm not a benefits expert so won't pretend to be.

I saw your house had dropped in value by £25,000 that's also huge in the current market.

I would drop the charity donations. You cannot afford to give to charity. Sometimes we have to put ourselves first. It's a nice thing to do but it's a luxury.

Your food bill does seem high (I know you said before it included dog food and cleaning products but it still seems high )

I hope the pooch insurance is now covering those hefty bills.

What do your managements fees pay for on your leasehold if they don't include the buildings insurance? 

Dom135246

Hi thanks everyone who’s offered help.

We get tax credits and I fear we’ll lose those soon and have to go on universal credit but whenever we do the entitlement checkers all say we’d be entitled to nothing. I’m surprised too. It might be because we own the property. Not sure why.

It says we earn too much to receive universal credit, that’s when I key in £726.50 and excluded the tax credits. 

We should get the cost of living payment but won’t be until autumn by sounds of it.

So we always thought what we have is classed as enough income to live off. 

Our house  - originally the amount I added was the amount we paid but it’s usually valued at less. So I’ve added the lowest price but may well sell for over £100,000 as bids often reach the higher price around here. So that’s variable I just wasn’t sure what to put.

We’re working at reducing the grocery bill but struggling a bit. Been looking at the old style forum for ideas, just need a few cheap recipes we can keep repeating, been having salads, I’d like to get that reduced so hopefully we can start the DMP sooner. We don’t have a freezer and no room to have one.

The pooch insurance is working well, we chose a higher excess to keep monthly payments down.

It’s a freehold property but those fees in the leasehold section of SOA are factor fees which includes communal insurance, lighting, cleaning gardening and repairs. They are at least £40 a month higher each month than we were told at point of purchase. We have separate contents insurance but I added building insurance to SOA because bill is always higher and step change wouldn’t allow more than £20 in repairs so it’s a true reflection but often large repair bills come in that wouldn’t be included in the SOA so I’d take it from elsewhere like groceries or borrowed for it. 

MovingForwards

Have a look on the old style board for making budgets stretch further.

If you create a post in that section, listing meals you like we can suggest cheaper ways of making them, without losing taste. We can also provide recipes based on flavour profiles / countries.

Dom135246

@MovingForwards   Thanks for that, I just posted for some advice so that should help save on the groceries

EssexHebridean

Things to think about on the groceries 
- where you shop - with three adults but (from memory) just one working full time there should be scope to shop around a bit and chase the good deals 
- learn what deals are available for things you buy a lot - and then keep a note of the unit prices from those deals as your "target price" for those items. For example MrEH's favourite coffee is usually around £6 full price for a 300g jar - BUT we know that Farmfoods regularly have it on offer for 2 jars for £9 - a huge saving. 
- Downshifting is an obvious - anything at all you buy a branded version of try out various shops own brand options instead. Similarly, where you currently buy shows own brand, check out the discounter supermarkets or the mainstream stores "value" ranges. For fruit and veg if it's available as a "wonky" option that is probably cheaper - this especially applies to fruit. Never buy pre-prepared if it can be avoided - you pay a huge premium for someone else to grate, slice, peel or chop things!
- Cook once, eat twice - even with no freezer you can make this work. A pot pf bolognese sauce for example - cook on a Monday, eat that night then fridge the rest for wednesday night's tea. Also think about things you can "roll over" into additional meals - so a pack of 10 sausages for example - it'll do a meal for all of you with mash and veg one night, then the remaining sausages (cook them all at once and fridge the spares) will slice to make a sausage pasta for a second day. This method saves on food waste, time spent cooking AND energy, so a winner all round. 
- Waste absolutely NOTHING! Review your fridge contents regularly - and make a point of factoring in anything approaching going over its best to an upcoming meal
- Bulk out meals with cheap fillers - things like grated carrot, red lentils and even a handful of porridge oats make sauces far more substantial for little cost - and get a bit of extra nutrition in there too. Longer slow cooking means that all three of those things melt down into nothing too, so don't be worried about people not liking them - they will never know! 
- If you see a reduced price tub of mushrooms on offer bear in mind that very finely chopped mushrooms can really help stretch minced beef out - just cook the mushrooms off first over a fairly high heat to make sure they dry rather than stew, then cook everything else as normal. 

I currently work to a budget of £200 for two of us for a month - and that could be cut a fair amount if needed, right now I choose not to. 

RAS

It might not be your thing and it isn't instant but have you considered on-line surveys? You can do them at home, it might even be possible for your wife to do them. 

Realistically, £200 a year but...

Top 25 online survey sites in the UK - Money Saving Expert

It does require a dedicated email account but a freebie like gmail would suffice.

Ultimately though the only solution to your finances will be a higher income.

And off the wall; given you've currently got your son living with you. Have you considered taking a lodger? I know the rules about requirements are different in Scotland, so you'd need to research them carefully, but the income is tax-free up to £7,500 p.a. And you could consider weekday or short-term lodgers?

Dom135246

@EssexHebridean thanks for the info and advice, I’m looking forward to starting to cut that grocery bill, it’s been really helpful with the pointers I’ve been given here and from the old style thread I started, will definitely help long term. We can source things easy enough we have Lidl and Aldi etc within walking distance plus smaller independent shops but they do seem pricey which is a pity but will look especially for reduced fruit and veg from the fruit shop plus seasonal might be cheap.  It would be nice if we can get it down to £200, I’d be happy with that long term. 

One thing I do do though is shop every two or three days because got rid of car, I find it saves wastage, I do it like how they did years ago, if I do a big shop loads of food gets wasted so doing this means I see what’s left and then top up but I stick to the budget, so I’ll do the same but using the recipes I’ve been sent and advice with the ingredients needed should save money and won’t have to top up as much. 

@RAS thanks yeah, wife is happy to do surveys, she’s halfway to £50 with YouGov and claimed one £50 last year so thinks might be done by Christmas. She doesn’t like some though because she says they ask loads and loads of questions and then decide you’re not suitable which is quite annoying, Maybe she picked the wrong companies though so she’ll look at the link you sent and will try some again, she’s self employed and hoping to get back in the swing of everything by autumn so this will be something she can look at in the meantime.

We can’t have a lodger though we only have one bedroom, the son is just on the sofa bed and won’t be staying long. Thanks for the ideas though, I appreciate it.

Feeling positive

RAS

Thanks.

On the grocery side, although Lidl and Aldi are deemed budget supermarkets, I find that some of their items are no cheaper or even more expensive than the budget ranges at other supermarkets. Sometimes that is availability, Tesco seem to have their budget range penne pasta in stock but I've hardly seen it this year in Aldi or Lidl, and they cost the same price. The available one in both Aldi and Lidl is about 67p, rather than 32-37p. That's the bulk for three meals, or perhaps two main meals and pasta salads on two days. And given that cold or re-heated pasta is healthier than freshly cooked, it's worth cooking half a pack and saving one third of it for pasta salads 36 hours later.

Although Aldi do 75% off last thing, which it's worth walking over to check, it's often stuff like prepped salads which are more expensive and don't keep. Still worth it for the odd bargain though.

It may be worth trying to find out when the mainstream supermarkets near home and work do their discounting as it seems to vary from branch to branch. Co-op here is often 80% saving later on but sometime clear their discount shelves by 7pm. Tesco in town can be even better if you are very late but often remove everything at 6pm, and put it back on the shelves at 7pm, further discounted. I may only be in the vicinity 2-3 times a month but it's worth a walk round. Lidl seem to discount early but only 30% and their £1.50 veg boxes here are naff, all green potatoes in one and loads of peppers in another, sort of thing.

Do check the use by dates and work out how to make best use. If you get massively discounted meat for example cook it all on the use by date, and it's still fine to use cold or reheated for a couple of days. Which extends the useful life quite a lot if you don't have a freezer.