Quids in for a Limited Time

AlexLK · 22 January 2017 at 12:28AM

Maiden_Mum wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 983
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1530
Benefits................................ 579
Other income............................ 420
Total monthly income.................... 3512

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 324
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158
Electricity............................. 82 USwitch
Gas..................................... 100 USwitch to see if you can get cheaper.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 74
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 125 How many 'phones does this cover? When due for renewal, USwitch is good. Last May I got an iphone SE for £40 upfront and £14.99 per month.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 84Is this really necessary? There are lots of TV channels available for free. Also, there are lots of free / low cost activities other than watching TV.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 550 From the meal plan you showed, if typical, I thought you were spending a lot on food.
Clothing................................ 45 Between 4 of you?
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 40
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 38
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 25
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 25
Buildings insurance..................... 30
Contents insurance...................... 0I'd say this is necessary to have.
Life assurance ......................... 30
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200Per month? Seems like a lot of money spend on presents. I tend to make a lot of presents rather than buy.
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 300What is "entertainment"?
Holiday................................. 300
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Health Ins.............................. 10
Gym..................................... 25
OH's pension............................ 49
Total monthly expenses.................. 2956

Assets
Cash.................................... 1500
House value (Gross)..................... 190000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 193500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 57000....(324)......13.68
Total secured & HP debts...... 57000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,512
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,956
Available for debt repayments........... 556
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 556

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 193,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -57,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 136,500

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

My comments are in red.

I spend about the same amount on food per month to feed myself, my wife (dinnertime only), 6-year-old son and my elderly parents, so 4 adults and one child. Here's my plan for the next three days:

Sunday:
Breakfast - Smoked salmon with poached egg on an English muffin.
Lunch - Roast duck, potatoes, broccoli and peas in plum sauce.
Dinner - Tomato and red pepper soup with a bread roll.

Monday:
Breakfast - Grapefruit.
Lunch - Cheese scone. Carrots and humous.
Dinner - Smoked haddock with potatoes, broccoli and peas with parsley sauce.

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Grapefruit.
Lunch - Roast vegetable couscous.
Dinner - Lasagne with a small side salad.

I'm sure you could probably modify easily for a gluten-free diet. Absolutely nothing has come from a packet. Apart from the English muffin and bread rolls which come from the bakery, everything is made from scratch. To be honest, I think you could probably buy the ingredients cheaper as I avoid supermarkets. My father sometimes buys biscuits and chocolate but generally we do not buy any snacks other than fruit. My son likes baking, so we do sometimes make a cake but this is a cheap way of having a sweet treat every once in a while.

Maiden_Mum · 22 January 2017 at 9:55PM

Thanks Alex for your comments. I feel rather honoured that you have read & commented on my thread as I regularly read your thread and enjoy it very much but never comment!
Yes the phones are for 4 of us & mine and the kids are all for renewal this summer. The kids don't get any pocket money but I do pay their phones for them.
The buildings & contents insurance is joint. The TV cost is mainly for Sky Sports which is about the only thing my husband requires money for himself for.
Entertainment is for meals out, drinks, cricket subs & match fees. However that does seem high and I'm trying to remember if I also put something else in there! I am tired at the moment and can't think!
Re the amount I spend on groceries etc, that is for everything that is bought in a supermarket, i.e. toiletries and cleaning stuff and feeding 2 teenagers is not cheap but yes I do definitely need to get it down. Did you think for that amount that I would be fine dining every night?

AlexLK · 22 January 2017 at 11:24PM

Maiden_Mum wrote: »

Thanks Alex for your comments. I feel rather honoured that you have read & commented on my thread as I regularly read your thread and enjoy it very much but never comment!

Thank you, fair maiden. I think this is the first time on here anyone has ever said they are 'honoured' to hear from me. :rotfl:

Anyhow, at least you already know I'm hardly an expert re. money saving.

Maiden_Mum wrote: »

Yes the phones are for 4 of us & mine and the kids are all for renewal this summer. The kids don't get any pocket money but I do pay their phones for them.

Seems fair but do uswitch.

Maiden_Mum wrote: »

The buildings & contents is joint.

Good.

Again, shop around come renewal time.

Maiden_Mum wrote: »

The TV cost is mainly for Sky Sports which is about the only thing my husband requires money for himself for.

No idea if you can get this cheaper through a different provider?

Maiden_Mum wrote: »

Entertainment is for meals out, drinks, cricket subs & match fees. However that does seem high and I'm trying to remember if I also put something else in there! I am tired at the moment and can't think!

Work it out and see if there's more. Re. meals out, set a budget for the month, when it's gone, don't have any more meals out for that month.

Maiden_Mum wrote: »

Re the amount I spend on groceries etc, that is for everything that is bought in a supermarket, i.e. toiletries and cleaning stuff and feeding 2 teenagers is not cheap but yes I do definitely need to get it down. Did you think for that amount that I would be fine dining every night?

Ultimately, the teenagers are living under your roof, they eat what they are given. Your job as a parent is to provide a healthy, balanced diet. If they want to eat junk food, they buy it with their allowance or money they've earned. I'm aware this possibly sounds harsh but I think the two teenagers are perhaps taking over your food budget with things they want to eat.

Also worth looking at cheaper alternatives and buying in bulk for toiletries / cleaning products.

Maiden_Mum · 27 January 2017 at 9:47PM

Yes you are right Alex.

Feeling a bit down tonight. We have managed to save £400 this month which a few days ago I was feeling really pleased about and was starting to think we were getting somewhere. Then my OH heard a strange noise in his car and it turns out his clutch had broken, plus he needed a new battery so we are now waiting on a car bill of nearly £500. It feels like one step forward and two steps back. Yes I know it would have been worse if we hadn't managed to save anything this month but its still annoying. Both the cars are pretty old and no doubt the problems with both are just going to continue.
I think I am also feeling a bit grumpy because it feels like every one else at work is doing great and getting promotions and I am just plodding along. Most of the time it doesn't bother me as the job is largely stress free, it's local and convenient and quite often I enjoy it BUT I can't help but feel that I do have more to offer and I would welcome the chance of more responsibility and a bit of a challenge.
At some point, in a few years or so I could definitely do with earning more money.
On a positive note, our food supplies appear to be reducing a bit. First time in a long time but we actually ran out of tuna today, lol! Oh and also I realised that I had given NPower the wrong reading for our electricity so once they recalculate it we should be ok. Only thing is they are saying this may take up to 28 days to do which is a bit of a joke as it only took them 2 days to calculate a new bill after the original incorrect reading was given. Also as our fixed period is ending in a couple of weeks and I want to change suppliers, it looks like we will need to do this before the correct bill is sorted out which is a pain as they currently say that we owe a fair bit and I don't think now that we actually do.

Maiden_Mum · 1 February 2017 at 8:53PM

Still nothing from NPower but I have now gone through Topcashback & a comparing company and changed to Scottish Power so should hopefully save money every month but just wish I could find out how much , if anything, that we owe to NPower.
I'm feeling really tired at the moment as I am not sleeping well due to having a bit of a cold and really cant be bothered with proper junk free meals at the moment. Dinner tonight was left over Xmas turkey from the freezer, rice and a jar of Uncle Ben's Sweet and Sour sauce.
I had wanted to try and set some proper budgets for food spends and saving this month but it all seems so difficult to do while we are waiting to receive the car bill for OH's car. Plus the engine management light has just come on on my car so really that needs a visit to the garage as well. Aargh!

Kittenkirst · 1 February 2017 at 10:40PM

Sorry to hear you're not sleeping well maidenmum!

How long do you need to wait to find out how much the clutch will cost to replace? Can totally see that it's frustrating to save the money & then have to spend it, but like you said at least this way you had the majority of the funds then available x

Maiden_Mum · 2 February 2017 at 10:45PM

Kittenkirst - I don't know how long we will have to wait for the car bill. Its a man that we know and sometimes. if he is organised, you receive the bill in a week or so, and sometimes if he's not, it can be up to a couple of months!

I have been through my spending diary which I started on Boxing Day. I never know whether to do things from pay day to payday or calendar month as pay day is the last Friday or a month so often on different dates so for now I shall record the results both ways. Here goes
Money spent on petrol - £135 payday to payday (Dec to Jan) or £105 Jan FOR ME
£95 FOR OH
Money spent on clothes - £48 FOR ME
£40 FOR OH ( this is a bit of a rarity!)

Money spent on eating out - £143

Money spent on food - £507 pay day to pay day
£669 for January!! Oh My!

No other spends other than those on pet vaccinations, medical stuff and window cleaner (which has now been cancelled).

Maiden_Mum · 6 February 2017 at 8:03PM

Well car bill received £491! So really last months savings plus another £100 to pay. Hopefully with this being a free Council tax month this will definitely be possible.
NPower still not sorted out. I have already organised to change to Scottish Power but still waiting for a bill from NPower to say how much we owe them. Our fixed period with them expires on the 17th of this month and Scottish Power wont even go through before then but they have sent me a letter that I received today saying that we will have to pay an exit fee as we are leaving our contract with them early! Not only is this not true but I know they can not charge an exit fee in the last month. They also sent a letter the other day asking for another gas reading as according to them it looks like we are not using any gas. I have sent them one (again!) but if they would only come and read the metre like they said they would over 2 weeks ago they could check it for themselves! It has been over a year since they read our metres.
On other money saving news I went through Topcashback last month and changed our pet insurance to a cheaper and better policy so that will now be £14 a month instead of the £21 that our old company had just put us up to.
On not so good money saving news we spent £90 Saturday on a family meal for OH's son's birthday although it was a nice evening.

Maiden_Mum · 8 February 2017 at 5:12PM

Well I spike to Npower today who told me that we are £56 in credit now! The latest bill is still not on line yet but at the moment I really cannot make head nor tail of it! They have sent me a letter saying that they will charge me an early exit fee even though the contract ends at the end of this month and the switch to Scottish Power hasn't gone through yet but is likely to be before the 28th. I told them that I didn't think they could charge that exit fee in the last month so the kind lady I spoke to credited the account with £40 for me just in case they do! Would be nice to not be charged it though so that I could make on the £40!

I rang Sainsburys today to see if they could re-send me the vouchers that I have lost, i.e. the £6 off £40 ones but unfortunately they said that they cannot do that.

Food spends are still too high - £327 so far since 26th January.

Maiden_Mum · 13 February 2017 at 9:26AM

Well today, despite us being in credit with Npower, they took out a payment for £404 from our account as this was the amount they said we would need to pay per month based on the previous incorrect reading that was submitted! So now our account must show about £450 credit! Aargh! I'm so fed up with them but still tempted to string it out with Scottish power for a week so that the change over occurs after the end of the month rather than before so that we do not get charged the early redemption fee.
Couple of expenses will be incurred today - dentist check ups for me & DD & DS & the dog groomed.

Saturday night we went 'pig racing' which was fun and included a fish and chip supper and this was nearly paid for by taking our copper jar to Asda and converting our pennies to pounds. A lot of fun was had and bets wise we ended up just up on what we started with.

Half term this week and I have a little list of things to get done, including advertising some things on the dreaded ebay but I will have to work up to that as I am still feeling very tired and rather bleugh!

Quids in for a Limited Time

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free