help me stay focused.

LilacPixie

:mad: Can someone please help me focus my attention back on clearing our debt.

Situation is i'm pregnant and will be taking a hefty cut in wages (around £800 a month) for 13 weeks due to SMP in january.

I've switched all that can be switched, have £160 in quidco and have gotten our cc debt down to around the £900 mark over 2 cards and have managed to switch them both to a 0% deal which i'm waiting on the paperwork for.

We have also commenced some PPi reclaims that i am not even counting on but would be a bonus

I now seem to have hit a wall. Grocery shopping is down to £200 pm for 2 adults one toddler and two cats. Both our cars need taxed and MOT'd in july when thankfully i will still be earning a full time wage, just praying both MOT's are painless.

We live in a semi rural area and its not practical to drop to one car as there is literally no public transport within half a mile of our home and even then i will need a car for when i return to work and DH uses his for work anyway.

I am scared to make a list of the fixed bills that must be paid while i'm on SMP because i'm worried they will be huge but at the same time i know it hasto be done.

jak

Try reducing your grocery budget. You could manage to nearly half it I should think. Do you meal plan? It makes a huge difference. Also use vouchers off your shopping! At ASDA you don't have to buy the product but can get 10% off your total bill with vouchers anyway. Good luck. I'm in a similar situation- 27 weeks and broke! By the way, have a look at the old school receipe threads, they are really good.x

jak

PS. Do you grow your own veg? That can really help too.

bargainbetty

Can you opt for some home-working schemes while you are off? Proof-reading, testing etc.... plus remember your fuel bills for the 2nd car will drop when you are at home. Apart from that, it's the usual suggestions of Ebaying junk, clearing the decks, menu-planning etc.... sorry, not so original!!

Cleosmum

I would also suggest looking at the grocery budget, this can be cut back quite a lot, visit the OS board for lots of ideas.

Would it be worth posting an updated SOA?

LilacPixie

Jak - i'm 27 weeks too, due 14th July. thankfully my employer gives 26 weeks full pay then 13 weeks SMP so it's not as bad as it could be.

This will be the state of affairs come 27th December when i switch to SMP. DH gets paid weekly so i will consider 4 weeks a month for his wages.

DH wages £1008
CTC £84
CB 121.
SMP for me £500 approx

Total £1713

Mortgage £404
Ctax £106 this is already spread over 12 months
Gas & Electric currently £40 pm and febs bill showed a small credit
Car insurances £67 pm for 2 cars
Loan 1 £276 pm
Loan 2 £ 134 pm
Loan 3 £ 142 pm
TV licence £12
TV/phone/BB £47 pm
Life Insurance £15.12
B&C insurance £27
TV hp £17
Sofa £20


£1308 ish before pertrol, food and day to day living costs such as clothing etc.

Not bad but not that great plus this is all dependent on us shifting our card debt of £900 between now and then.

Does anyone know the childbenefit rate for 2 children?? I know that we will get around £21 a week ctc but not sure of child benefit,i guessed £130 per 4 weeks so that might me a little bit out.

I haven't tried growing my own veg. to be honest i'm huge already and have an 18 month old running about plus currently working full time.

One thing i should point out is DH is a plant mechanic and £252 is his basic net wage and doesn't take into consideration overtime that hopefully he will pick up.

I hate the idea of having savings when we are payng interest but I can't help put think that maybe putting away £30 a week between now and me goin on SMP might be able to be a nice little cushion.

The phone/tv/bb needs cut i think but BT do not have a line in this house and i grudge paying the £130 to have one installed.

sweetpeas_2

lilac, child benefit is now £121.95 4weekly for two kiddie winks.
Have you looked into that £500 maternity grant? I got it with my first born.

hth xxx

LilacPixie

Yeah I won't qualify Noggin. we only get basic ctc of a tenner a week which will double when new baba arrives for the first year but then falls again once she is one.

Thanks for the CB rate, i'll need to pull a tenner out of my benefit total then.:rolleyes:

I will also have a good look at the up your income board. A nice little earning of a home income would be handy

klane

I think I saw small print in our mortgage terms once about possible delayed payments if I was off work pregnant and therefore on reduced salary for an allowed period of time, providing we were up to date with payments so far etc. Might be worth looking into, if you have a mortgage?

LilacPixie

Thanks for that Klane.

Our mortgage is fully up to date i'll dig out the paperwork and have a look for payment holidays

dancingfairy

it might be worth doing an upto date soa so we can see where you are now. I notice you want to have paid £900 off your credit card - that's about £110 a month - that's not to depress you it's to give you a target each month to see how doable it is.