Here Goes

Slowlydoesit

So, I have been lurking for a while now and seeing everyone else make progress has spurred me on.

I'm 38, with a 7 year old daughter and a dog, her dad lives abroad and flits in and out. He doesn't contribute anything financially. I pay every bill, activity,
Xmas amd bday, but when he does visit he helps with pick ups etc which saves me money in after school clubs etc. I do work full time.  

I've always been in a cycle of debt, which I really want to change. 

I am going to sit and do a SOA but for now I've got the following:-

Overdraft : £1000 being reduced at £100 pm every payday 
Cc1: £3890
CC2: £5800
Loan: £3200 paid back at £200pm
Mortgage: £32000

I'm paid monthly, £56k a year. I know I'm in a good position and shouldn't be in this mess, but have no idea how to budget, or save money. It's been a culmination of only recently being on a decent wage, historic nursery fees which crippled me, and trying for my daughters sake to keep contact with her dad ending up with flights etc on credit cards. 

I do have £44k in a pension and £1.5k in a lifetime Isa. I also took a pension out for my daughter when she was born which now has about £7k in, so I do have a sense of trying to point things in the right direction.

I've just downloaded an app, lifestage, in an attempt to learn to budget and will try NSDs particularly as I am so close to payday!

I'll post this SOA after work tonight and then any advice would be appreciated.

kazwookie

Why does the dad not contribue to the daughter?

tacpot12

What helped me was to identify the irregular costs that I needed to save for and to setup standing orders to pay a fixed sum away to a number of savings accounts immediately after I was paid.

I found a provider of savings accounts that allowed you to set up a number of accounts under the same user id; some people might call these savings 'pots'.

So, for example, I pay £110 per month for car expenses by standing order to my Car Expense Pot. Then when the car needs taxing, insuring, MOTing, maintenance or replacing, I have the money ready. (My last car cost £900 five years ago).
 
I have account/pots for Vets Bills, Home Maintenance (which covers replacing appliances, sofas, mattresses, boilers, etc), Christmas and Birthdays,  and a Miscellaneous pot where I keep money for holidays and money for me to spend on myself.
 

Slowlydoesit

He never did contribute financially, I was always expected to pick all the bills up, even before she was born. And he did work when he was here, but he left last year to Spain and did me a favour to be honest.

Would I need to have my Overdraft paid off to open an account with pots? Natwest definitely don't do them.

I can't get the soa to format but my finances are here:

Income: 3360 wages and 104 child benefit

Outgoings:

TV license £20
Gas and electricity £100
Cc2 £150
Disney £12
House ins £35
Daughters pension £60
Funeral policy £30
Cc2 £400
Life insurance £28
Water £76
Pet ins £23
Loan £200
Council tax £143
Netflix £12
Life insurance £15
Car tax £17
Mortgage £277
Park Xmas £20
Dental plan £25
Lottery £20
Savings Lisa £35
School dinners £50
Internet £36
Phone £30
After school clubs £200 
Activities for daughter- brownies, swimming, dancing, guitar £70

So that should, in theory, leave me with about £1380 give or take if I've not messed it up on the calculator.

I then have travel to work by train, i have to do the office twice a week and it costs £5 return, so about £20 a month. Then, any parties \ days out but I am really saying no to those now, we're doing more locally and cheaply. 

Food is what let's me down, I do a weekly shop mainly at lidl but invariably end up back in the supermarket midweek with another few quid gone. I also don't always make my lunch for work which is another leakage. I am planning on meal prepping and using the freezer up before Xmas. 

I have various insurances, I can see mine is insurance heavy, one life ins is attached to the mortgage and the other ive had for years. They both have different things one has critical Illness so I'm loath to cancel them. Same with the funeral cover and the dental plan, that's great as we lost our nhs spaces in covid, and our dentist is good. We get checkups and cleans included, with xrays, fortunately no treatment has been needed.

I've also got £100 coming off now for the Overdraft repayment. I usually also fill the car up on payday which is variable.

I don't have a water meter so maybe should look into that and my gas and electricity is prepay, it was on a meter when I moved in 7 years ago and ive never changed it. I quite like knowing where I am, I put £50 on each on payday but may be better off on a bill. 

The dog is an expense. He's a fussy eater, his food is £40 a month, and every 3 months is his flea and worm tablet at £40. He's a Maltese so every 5 weeks I have the groomers which is another £45 but in an effort to save costs ive just bought a grooming kit and made a start tonight, he doesn't look too bad if I say so myself.

In theory, from payday on 25th if I manage this right I should have a bit spare to throw at debts or put a little emergency fund away.

My car definitely needs a service and the drivers windows button hasn't worked for a while.

I spent £25 today, I help look after my aunty who isnt well and she'd not paid her cleaner so ended up paying that. I've packed a lunch for work tomorrow, my daughters going on a brownies trip tomorrow until Sunday so relatively quiet for me I think, probably housework and dog walks.

MFWannabe

Some things that jump out as high:
Life insurance,  can you shop around and see how much you could get them for? 

Internet; again shop around and see if you can get cheaper if not in contract 
Water - wow that’s a serious amount! Check if water meter is cheaper; you can always change back if you don’t like it 
Fuel - you will be paying much more on prepay meters 
Phone- I assume this is mobile? If not in contract you can get this much cheaper by going sim only 
Ref bank account with pots; you should be able to open one; I have a Chase account which I love and transfer a set amount of money into each month for food etc; I find it helps having my spending money in there; it helps to keep track 

Slowlydoesit

The water is crazy, it used to be £28 then in April united utilities sent a letter saying it was going up. 

I will ask about a water meter, as with the two of us, we surely mustn't be using that!

My phone ends in December so I'm going for a sim only deal, and life insurance you're right, on reflection I probably don't need two either. I do have some cover with work as well so could probably cancel the higher one. 

I'll speak to british gas about swapping to a bill for gas and electric too, small steps.

I'm on the train to work, hopefully only spending today a fiver for my train fare. Feeling slightly more positive about this, i think seeing it in writing makes it seem more actionable, if that even makes sense!

[Deleted User]

Water bills have increased substantially in recent months. We have a water meter. The bill has increased from about £30 a month to £49. 

Slowlydoesit

Ok, so it was quite a quiet weekend for me. I only spent on Saturday what was essential, i put £20 petrol in the car and £30 for a small food shop. 

I spent nothing yesterday. I've downgraded my Netflix to the one with bills and I'm currently on hold to united utilities for a water meter.

I've opened a separate monzo account so I can do some saving pots come Wednesday and start building up a small fund.

I did spend £8 this morning, Anna had a dental appointment and the dentist recommended a certain toothpaste and floss brushes, so I bought them, but will look in home and bargains or b&m.

My child benefit came in today but went straight to my brother, he fitted some skirting boards for me the other week i owed him for. I had annas room plastered, painted and new skirting fitted. I wanted to get a new carpet in before xmas so let's see if I can do that final bit with pots and carefully planning. 

Roll on payday so I can get this moving!

Scott_Weiland79

My five penneth re the dog food

If they are picky i get it, a suggestion contact the brand manufacturer and say you show the dog and say they love the dog food etc and ask if you can bulk buy it.

I shall explain why lol I used to have 6 huskies me and the ex used to race and show we used to go through 2-3 12kg bags per month. When we contacted the manufacturer we were able to buy bags abit cheaper, 3-4 quid per bag but from the manufacturers they were the 15kg bags not the 12kgs we were getting on amazon or petsupermarket.

If you dont fancy this route at least buy the food online, we used to buy arden grange and had a spell where we were getting it off a pet store on ebay.

Net result at the time was nectar points and cashback from top cashback.

I agree re the life insurances and the home ins and pet insurance your paying 100-125 pm on those and i bet via top cashback and go compare from there you can get those down.

Next sowi the funeral plan, I would set up a savings account, atom do one paying 3.9 percent. Bin that off stick 15-20 pm into there the other ten pay it off debt. They savings will soon grow, or check the life insurances out some do life policies where funeral cover can be added for a few pounds.

Getting this clear is lil changes everywhere, boosting your income/changing your disposable income and time.

Slowlydoesit

That's really helpful with the dog food, i would never have thought that, I'll definitely email the manufacturer, it's worth a go. I've gone through so many different types of food, raw, dried, wet, so to find one he likes is brilliant.

I do pay a lot in insurances, I looked at the funeral plan, ive been paying it for years and it's only about £5k worth of cover, ive probably paid more in the fees. So that can go! And I definitely don't need multiple Life insurances either. Especially when I have critical Illness and death in service benefit too. 

I've got a water meter on the way, and ive opened a monzo account and put £200 in, hoping it stays. Tonight I'm sitting with a spreadsheet and doing a budget. 

You're all definitely right, it's the little spends that add up. 

Instantly knocked an extra £50 off the Overdraft, down to £850 now as the additional £100 from the plan has come off. 

I'm determined to at least not resort to using cards this month, hoping I can do it. 30 days to go! 

Slowlydoesit

I've never used a cashback site either so I'm definitely missing out i think. Does anyone bulk buy on payday I'm contemplating a costco browse to stock up. I've never done it, despite having a membership, but wondering if there are benefits in getting staples such as toilet roll, laundry detergent etc in bulk.