Can anyone help?. Struggling to reduce costs

pelirocco

suziebear1985 said:

Spendless said:

Hi, this board is very handy for thrifty tips. Just making you aware there's also a debt free board if you wish them to go through your budget and perhaps help with your partner's debts too.

Just for clarification are you saying that your partner lives with you but doesn't contribute anything from their wages to the household budget?

Something I noticed is you're paying £60 a month for your son's train pass. Is this your 16yo? Are you using this railcard to reduce costs. (16-17 saver) 

 https://www.thetrainline.com/trains/great-britain/railcards/16-17-saver?cm=0p2a&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqPGUBhDwARIsANNwjV6EuMM_QJImc4UE9Pi2aw0Ttc-qr8wk4XwP6bVRbkXPcT5C5xo9u70aArCMEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

hanks I will take a look at that board. Yes my partner contributes nothing (the mortgage and bills are in my name only) it isn't an ideal situation and it does make life hard but it's tricky. He and his ex wife racked up about £26,000 of debt in their marriage. They are paying it back through a company called step change?. As she works for the government she is refusing to have an IVA or any agreement that does not result in paying the loan back in full so they have about 8 years left on that. He also has extremely high travel costs as he doesn't drive and requires train pass, bus pass and taxi fare to get to work and pays around £250 maintenance payments. He also smokes to the tune of £200 but I won't even get into that. My 16 year old has a saver card but is travelling to a different town for college so it still works out quite expensive

If the original debt was £26k and they still have 8 years left then they aren't paying a lot each month
£200 /£250 a month between them ? 
So around £125 plus£250 maintenance plus £200 for smoking £575 a month
And the rest of his wages go on travel expenses  ? 
He either needs to change his job or something  isn't adding up

markin

Make him take up vaping its far cheaper, and can make it easier to cut down and quite.

Working_Mum

hey @suziebear1985,
I think that you are right to try and get on the front foot about your financial situation.

I would heartily agree with keeping track of all of your spends - I have been doing this since 2009 and I have changed my spending habits enormously as a result. It will show you immediate areas where you can save money and also help you see where there are any potentially emotional spends. 

I put a moratorium on any spends other than essentials i.e. food, fuel etc. Told myself I needed 24 hours to really consider if I needed to spend what I was about to spend.

Have you done all the basic stuff like making sure your energy & water consumption is as low as possible - charge your phone at work, turn things off at the wall, timed showers etc. Seems small fry but it give you back a little bit of control and shifts your daily focus a bit.

Have you spoken to your council about moving your council tax over 12 months rather than 10? There is no savings as such but your cashflow eases a bit so you have a little bit of breathing space.

Have you decluttered and sold stuff you no longer need? There are lots of ways of making a bit of money Eb4y, FB M4rketplace etc - I know that if I was living in a neater and tidier home the calmer I felt about my life and finances.

I hope you've had some good news about your fixed term contract.

Sending you big hugs

letthemeatcake

If your partner is paying maintenance to the ex (presumably for his children) check that is based on CMS calculations and is based on his current earnings and amount of time he has his children to stay. It also asks if other children live in the same household. The arrangement may have been made years ago and based on his old earnings or could even be a private agreement between the two and a CMS calculation possibly could be cheaper.

 It is also possible the maintenance is for his ex wife and could be a private arrangement between the two, and he could just stop paying or cut the amount due to a change in his earnings/ her earnings. If it was agreed by consent order I believe he could challenge it by applying to court.