Solving the problem before it becomes a problem

littleteapot

Martico said:

The other thing that I fear (correct me if I'm wrong) you might be overlooking is that you say "Our energy cost of circa £160 per month is accurate and fixed until April 2024, so that's one less thing to worry about."

It's good that you've fixed, as that gives certainty. But you could still make savings here, as it's the cost per unit that you use that's actually fixed - the amount that you pay each month would end up coming down if you use less. That £160 is an estimated monthly average of your annual usage. If you are able to use less energy, then that monthly average would either come down, or you'd build up credit in your account, which is your money. If you are able to turn down the heating a notch from what you've been used to, or have the heating on for less time than you normally would, you would end up paying less on energy as you'd be using less.

Yep i'm well aware the unit rates are fixed, not the monthly payment. I've been a regular on the Energy forum for a couple of months or more. We now pay 41p day, 20p night and 38p SC. was 16/8/22p until march 2022! Last 12 months was about 7300 kWh total. We've changed the way we do a lot of things including a fair amount of batch cooking, combi oven for grilling/roasting, etc. We may be able to squeeze the heating a little more but can't go silly on heat reduction with the newborn around.

Also last summer I replaced two old storage heaters with modern HHR ones and understand how to  configure them correctly.

Martico

Good to know, hope I didn't come across too preachy

kimwp

£2.50 every day for lunch is £50 each month, approaching £600 each year. 

I think if you make your own sandwiches and take off the £100 that you added to the food budget as a buffer for the new baby (though I assume this is in case powdered milk is needed?), then that puts you in the position of your income (slightly over-)matching your outgoings including debt repayments. 

You have more than the £3000 needed for the spousal visa in savings already and have leeway with saving for your trip back to your wife's home country (presume this is the holiday fund) and your emergency fund contributions to move £100 back to your food budget. I think you are in a position where you have to keep an eye on what you spend and should make savings where possible, but are not (at the moment) in a position where you cannot afford your outgoings according to your SOA. Is there another reason why you say the spousal visa is at risk?

NB personally I think the money spent for your wife's mental health and getting a break is well spent, this is forgotten in family decisions about finances far too often. 

littleteapot

Martico said:

Good to know, hope I didn't come across too preachy

Not at all, its all good advice that you and others have given. Having been on the energy forum for while now it amazes me how many people don't understand how energy is billed, nor how much they are actually using and on what. To me this is very basic stuff.

Over the next month i'm going to keep a more detailed record of expenditure and update the SOA accordingly. Two ways my wife and I have agreed to start cutting back are to halve the going-out allowance, and to try to reduce the groceries cost by 20%. I know its not much but its a starting point. I'm also going to start keeping a more detailed record of all expenditure this month. 

I'll report back next month with how we got on and an updated SOA

kimwp

As an alternative/addition to monitoring your expenses for the next two months, if you review your accounts for the past year, then you'll get an accurate understanding of your true spending and also any annual expenses. (Unless you've paid everything by cash). Alternatively, looking at the MSE budget tool is a good prompt to any annual expenses you need to consider.

TheAble

Expenses-wise nothing on your SOA strikes me as particularly excessive. I think it's more a case that you could do with a bit more income. Maybe see if you can make that happen somehow.