May - living on fresh air challenge...

Frith

As May is going to be a really difficult month financially, I thought I would keep a note of how much I spend...

In April, I knew my account was running low, but didn't realise the mortgage would make me overdrawn (by £5). I have a very basic bank account with no overdraft facility. I can't get any other sort of account due to the blacklisting left by the ex.

By going £5 overdrawn and the mortgage "bouncing", I ran up charges of £67 with the mortgage company and £35 with my bank. I am writing today to see if these can be waived, pointing out I have only ever gone overdrawn once (by a small account) and have only paid my mortgage late once in 9 years - and that's because I was in a women's refuge and couldn't meet the rent on my room there and the mortgage!

Money coming in:
Child benefit: £31.35
Tax credits: £81.35
Income support: £60.50
CSA: £0
(per week)

Money going out:
Mortgage: £102
Electricity: £80
Water: £9
Phone: £30
TV licence £10 per month but paid quarterly
Car tax: £12 per month? Paid every 6 months
Car insurance: £20
House insurance: £17
(per month)

I work that out to be £280. Add on the charges of around £100. Car tax this month too £60. Beaver scouts £30 (for the summer term) and gymnastics £30. :eek: (for just over half a term).

Thats £500 without petrol or food!

Anyway, the only way I will be able to manage this month and get things back on an even keel is to buy as little food and petrol as possible and hope nothing breaks!

So, since May 1st I have bought 2 pints of milk at 79p from the local shop. We have been nowhere and driven only to school (an 8 mile round trip). Today I found 50p out by my car!

Breakfasts have been OK, have a nice stock of Weetabix and porridge. Lunches have been OK so far, packed lunches for the boys.

Tea tonight will be pasta with passata and grated cheese (their favourite when we come back from gymnastics). I can use the rest of the passata tomorrow and make a pizza.

Obviously I will have to restock fairly soon as we will run out of fruit and veg (and petrol in the end).

Total spent in May so far: 79p

Liz

ifonlyitwaseasier

hey liz,

good luck on the charges,

come join the grocery challenge on the old style board, we are all budgeting like mad there.
and i promise you'll get loads of recipes and inspiration

Frith

Thanks, IOIWE!!

I forgot 2 more bills!

Tax Credits overpayment: £10
MCS (nasty blacklisted debt): £1 screwed right down thanks to RAS and others on this board!

Anyway, I am in the library now so I can print off the charges letters. Got some more books and swapped magazines again (lovely box of mags in the library where you can swap for free).

Total spent in May so far:
milk 79p
car parking 80p
printing in library 50p

Liz

Frith

I wish the total was still £2.09!

Had to pay for gymnastics this evening then put £20 of petrol in the car. I'm in denial about the farty noise coming from the exhaust! (its got a little hole in).

I was thinking earlier what I have learned/saved from this site. I got advice towards pestering the housing benefit people, made my debt payments more manageable, got lots of money back from the first bank I took to court for bank charges (1 in progress...) and got heating fitted, insulation and draft proofing through Warm Front! (We only had a small woodburning stove before).

I still want to find out how to sell things through Ebay.

Total spent in May so far:
£52.09 (ouch)

Liz
P.S Will have to do a little food shop on Sunday, will at least need fruit, veg and bread.

Frith

Car tax letter here today... £66

Total spent in May so far:
£118.09 :-( and not a great deal to show for it!

Liz

count_rostov

There's a great thread on the old style board about free wild food - shellfish, mushrooms, herbs, berries etc. My geography's terrible and I have no idea where in wales the welsh marshes are (!?!) but maybe doing a bit of foraging would be a fun & free day out for your children? Plus of course you get a free supper afterwards.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=663967

newlywed

If your exhaust is definitely a hole not the joint that's going, you can patch it up. You can buy a strip of metal that you wrap round the exhaust (when it's cold obviously) and a metal adjustable "jubilee clip" type thing which clips the bit of metal tightly round the exhaust, thus covering the hole and giving you less noise and bit more time to get it sorted

Not sure what that kit thing is called but I think I saw some in Halfords.

Here's some comments about it: http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Motoring/Question221778.html

Dad's a mechanic and I've never owned a car under 12 years old

RAS

ACEY wrote: »

Money coming in:
Child benefit: £31.35
Tax credits: £81.35
Income support: £60.50
CSA: £0
(per week)

so

Total monthly income £744.76

Money going out:
Mortgage: £102
Electricity: £80
Water: £9
Phone: £30
TV licence £10 per month but paid quarterly
Car insurance: £20
House insurance £17

Add on the charges of around £100.
Car tax this month too £66.
Beaver scouts £30 (
gymnastics £30.

Thats £500 without petrol or food!

So you have £244 to pay for food and petrol? What sort of mileage are you likely to do?

What else has to come out of your budget this month?

For the future

Do you have any sort of savings acount? Is there a credit union near you? just if you put away that £12 for the car tax each month, it is not as big a deal when the renewal comes round.

Frith

£244? Have I done my sums wrong (quite possible). I have to find April's mortgage plus charges (£170) plus May's mortgage (£102). I have 2 weeks worth of benefits which I worked out to be £340. I mean I have next week's benefits then the week after before the bills are paid. They all come out DD between the 23rd-26th.

I'm going to work it out again!

Electricity: £73 (checked)
Water: £9
Phone £40 this month (naughty)
Car ins: £25
House insurance £18
Beaver scouts: £30
Gymnastics: £30
Mortgage x 2: £204
charges :-( £100
car tax: £66

£595 for bills this month

£150 in the bank and £340 to come = £490

That leaves nothing for food and nothing for petrol!

Liz

Frith

Oops, got sidetracked by small people coming in from the garden who needed scones!

Count Rostov - not too much to forage at the moment, its more the autumn time we do that (apples, sloes, blackberries etc). Sadly, we're 90 miles from the sea. I have "foraged" half a dozen eggs this week from my parent's hens as I've been giving them their water at lunchtime while mum and dad are on holiday!

Newlywed - yes, I did that on Grandad's car we inherited (an old X reg!) and it even passed its MOT like that! On mine I see there is a nasty rusty split along the silencer but it will go for a while longer yet (I hope). It is also clanging off the bottom of the car when I go through pot holes (of which there are many) but I can see all the elastic holdy up things are still in place. I've not worked out how old my car is but its an N reg.

I'm not including the bills in my total, makes me look like a complete spendthrift!

Total (excluding bills) for May so far:
£2.88 (bought more milk today)

It is making for some imaginative cooking and good use of the freezer and store cupboard. Flapjack making later for lunch tomorrow and rice pudding for tomorrow's pudding.
Liz

Robflh

Hi ACEY

I think your figures are wrong somewhere but I am not sure where.

Last month you had £97 in the bank and when the bank transferred £102 to your mortgage lender, it left minus £5 in your account. By the end of that day, the £102 would have been put back in your account.

That means you still have £97 of last months mortgage payment.

From this months money you need to payout:
Mortgage +£5:....£107
Electricity:……......£73
Water:.……..…....….£9
Phone:………......….£40
TV licence….…......£10
Car insurance:......£20
House insurance:..£17
Tax Credit:….….....£10
Beaver scouts:.…..£30
Gymnastics:…....…£30
Bank Charge…....…£35
Mortgage Charge:.£67
Car Tax:…….......…£66
Total:……..….......£514


Four Weekly Income.
Child benefit:..….£125.40
Tax credits:…..…£325.40
Income support:.£242.00
CSA:………....…..…..£0.00
Total:…….…..…..£691.80


That means you have £177.80 left for food and petrol.

The bigger question would be, why did you not have enough money last month and what do you normally spend on food and petrol each month.

NOTE: assuming you are paid fortnightly and all three are paid on the same day, on a six-week month you would receive £1,037.70.