Budget help please?

Grumpelstiltskin

Grocery figures are way too high unless you have 2 strapping 16 year olds eating you out of house and home. How old are the children?

jimbo2010

Is £150 a week too high for shopping, we are including dog food we buy in that and toiletries etc. Kids are 14 and 13, are any other figures too high/low

stu12345_2

food, toiletries, pet food should be listed separately 

enthusiasticsaver

Groceries is high and so is mobile phones. Are you in contract?  I think you are looking at  a DMP rather than a DRO. 

Grumpelstiltskin

You need to check what you are actually spending on groceries, do you buy brands or supermarket essentials?

foxgloves

Yes, groceries too high, so you can make a decent monthly saving there. £450 would be more realistic & once you have got into the habit of planning meals to an appropriate grocery budget, there'll be months where you could probably shave another £50 off. 

RAS

Can you add the APRs for all the debts, please. When do the loans end? And when do the phone contracts end?

If the debts are not on joint accounts, could you indicate me/missus?

Do you any bank accounts with banking groups related to the bank(s) into which your salaries are paid?

Mumoffourkids

Just to give you an idea why groceries is high. My budget is £150 per week and I feed 4 adults and 4 kids on that budget. Which also includes toiletries and cleaning products. My eldest two children, who are adults, sometimes buy their own food but I always make sure there is food in for them to cook for themselves if they don’t want what I am cooking for dinner. So for two adults and two kids, you can definitely reduce your £150 a week spend.

Also I currently pay for four mobile bills. This comes to £44 a month. That’s my bill and three of the children. So your spend of £145 a month is far too high. 

I have a clothing budget of £100 a month which covers all bar the oldest two children who buy their own clothes now. If I don’t spend this each month, it rolls over to the next month. So I build up a little buffer for times when I do need to spend more such as school uniform.

stymied

Gas and electricity seems quite low to me.

Have you already missed payment or have you managed to keep up with them so far (just)?

stu12345_2

you will get a debt management plan, you split the household bills roughly 60/40 with your wife due to the different sizes in wages 

you can probably put £300 a month into your plan,( your obligation )based on the split, so your £9000 in debts will be clear in under 3 years, faster if you cut back on expenses

your wife has no obligation to pay any of the debts if they are all in your name, she does not need a dmp, she is not in debt