£200 left on my overdraft. Not desperate but going to be frugal for a few months

[IncessantNameChanger]

No idea how but I am £3795 into my 4k overdraft. I’m normally never in overdraft. I had to unexpectedly pay £1400 for a new clutch and some thing on my car and it’s just built up. This isn’t a begging thread don’t worry, no chance of anyone starving, but plenty of chance I might be eating beans on toast a lot if I don’t try to reign things in.

Im thinking as my car costs 26p a mile I might walk on the school run when I can ( doable but it’s a big hill so I do avoid it) run down my freezer and try to live what’s in there (random, out of date herbs mostly!) I could empty it shelf by shelf and throw out date things until it’s empty. Put aside £15 for coffee / lunch meet ups and stick to it solidly. Maybe sell some things on eBay / Vinted? Leave my bank card at home? Move money around so I’m only spending money from an account that I ‘preload’ the weeks budget on.

Any other ideas? My biggest outgoing is food I think but I can feed us all for very little really.

I think it’s partly the cost of living increase creeping up on me. I hope some of it’s from the winter fuel cost heating that maybe was a big bill. I will have to pick that apart and look.

Im going back to sneaking the kids jeans / hoodies back into cupboards to save on washing nearly worn things. Bought next year uniform in Asda. So been fairly sensible ( in some areas anyway).

At the moment the biggest savings gains are to be made in energy. It's summer so get out for the day with a picnic or for a walk and a flask of coffee with a friend.

I don’t know how much you pay in your OD charges, but DH took out a 3.3% loan on 7k for 4 years and was paying about £150 a month, it’s only about £230 worth of interest over the 4 years and can always pay back early. He was in a few ODs and he easily saved £100 a month this way

I’m going to tot up my charges on the OD. Maybe that will be the reality check I need.

im really tempted to have separate accounts. One just money coming in a bills and one for what I have to spend in a week on food petrol and my lunch meet ups. I’m wondering how I can cut lunch out down too. It’s normally between 10-15 one or two times a week. Picnic in a park sounds good in theory but my friend isn’t outdoorsy at all. Luckily my other friends I meet is via walking. We only get food / drinks it’s someone’s birthday or we have gone to a beauty spot out of our way.

I think at the minute everyone is watching the pursestrings and saying "Sorry, things are a bit tight at the minute can we do X instead" is a lot more common than it was a few years back. There may be no need to cut back completely but maybe change your venue. A coffee and cake at Costa or Starbucks is likely to be a lot more expensive than an independent that does a pot of tea and scone for £3 etc

The awkward thing about over drafts is you never really know how close you are to paying of off each month; it's hard to split the money to spend from the debt. This is why they are so hard to get out of. I've learnt all this from. Y own experience. Over draft is worse than credit card and loans.

You just need to budget.

The loans is a good idea. I'll explain why.

The Dave Ramsey principals of sorting out finances says step 1 (might be step 0 even) is to get and emergency fund of $1000. This is because people get caught out by genuine emergencies like your clutch. But I could be a vet bill, washing machine emergency trip to see a family member or what ever but if you have an emergency fund then you won't need to rely on credit to do this.

Dave Ramsey step two is pay of all debts starting with the smallest.

An loan to pay off the overdraft and start an emergency fund would be ideal.

I also have a bills account which is my main current account and a spending account which I trAnsfer all spending money too each month.

The bills account has only enough to
Cover the bills.

I transfer say £300 a month for petrol/ clothes beauty food garden/home / gifts etc to separate bank account. I have starling which is great as it has spaces. I fill up my car or move enough petrol money to a space for later in the month.

10-15 on lunch 1-2 a week is between £520- £1560 a year. So you need to get a handle on really how much as one £10 is better than 2 £15.

Financial freedom is an amazing f thing. I stopped working temporarily and was living frugally off savings and had £200 to spend and it is not much at all. I wrote down EVERTHING from stamps to petrol to charity shop clothes. It was an eye opener r and learnt valuable
Lessons.

Another thing to watch is the odd things like parties and medium size purchases that add up incrementally but you don't specifically plan for as it doesn't seem much!

If you can roughly plan out your spending month before it happens you will be able to have the nice lunches! I agree life's too short to have no fun!

Good luck op!

Starling bank sounds good thanks for that heads up. I'm with Santander but I dont have a 123 account. I think I'm going to book to see a personal banker to see if worth setting up a 123 and if I can have a side spending account.

I do save a bit each month but clearly not enough

Op what's the situation with money with your dh?

He has been on debt management plan for around four years so he is truly beyound help where money is concerned. It gets paid off in March so hopefully much more free cash then. Get his wages and I transfer back round 2/3 to pay off the dmp

An overdraft is about as expensive as debt gets or at least from a high street banking perspective. I just did a quick calculation on the Santander site this is the outcome. Obviously could be a different account but doubt the rates change much. You will keep drowning until you move this debt and when you do cancel the overdraft 4k is a ridiculous level for an overdraft, it's very unethical of banks to allow that without a huge salary going in every month.

You definitely need to work out a way to stop using the overdraft, they're hugely expensive, 40% interest is the norm. Which means that if your average balance is minus £2500, you'll get charged £1000 a year of interest.

But if you have any joint accounts with your DH, your credit rating is probably as poor as his, guilt by association in the bank's eyes.

But you need to work as a team financially, at the moment, you're effectively getting into debt to facilitate him getting out of debt - he should only be paying into his DMP what is affordable after all normal household expenditure has been covered including saving for annual and irregular expenses like car repairs (plus servicing, MOT, insurance etc) so you don't have to borrow when they do arise.

Do you own or rent your home? Who is DHs DMP with? You say he's beyond help where money is concerned? Does that mean he's still overspending/running up debts/spending on non-essentials and not sticking to the budget that should have been agreed as part of his DMP?

If so, he needs to turn this around, because it's not fair on you to be forced into expensive overdraft to pay for essentials while he spends freely on shite. Perhaps give him a card with budgeted spending money on it and no overdraft facility and when it's gone, it's gone? If he behaves like a child, he gets treated like a child.

Do you get all the benefits you're entitled to due to your child's SEN?

You need to review the whole household budget and adjust your DHs DMP if what he's agreed to pay is unaffordable. If the interest is frozen, there's no point paying it off quickly while you're running an overdraft charging 40% interest. Food, petrol and utilities have all got far more expensive in the last year, so the DMP people won't be surprised if he needs to adjust his payment. But also be honest about how much food you buy, and whether you could cut what you spend, by reducing waste, meal planning, making cheaper meals, using cheaper supermarkets etc etc.

Have a look at Moneysaving Expert's budgeting and debt advice and do everything that is relevant.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan/

Do you have a spreadsheet and write down every penny you spend? Also, I found things like switching brands / supermarkets has saved me some cash.

It's probably interest charges that have taken the one-off extra bill of £1.4k to £3.75k.

You need to talk to your bank and get it converted to a loan by them (if you don't pre-emptively get a loan elsewhere and pay it off, and then set up a way of repaying the loan so you cannot avoid making the repayments and it gets paid off in full on time).

And then reduce the amount of overdraft permitted on your account. If you are not earning, it's wrong to have such a high limit and you really should be buffer amount only (any future emergency unexpected bills to be met by the earning partner in the first instance, and then contributions from each to cover them to be worked out). Definitely no later than March, and ideally beforehand.

The not having lunch out isn’t forever it just for a while, up to £30pw is an easy save. Or just go for a coffee with your friend and be honest as to why you can’t have food.

I was really shocked a couple of years ago when my monthly £2k overdraft charge went from about £6 a month to nearly £40 a month. It really is the worst way to borrow money.

Definitely convert it to a loan and remove the facility. I have a great spreadsheet which has every single penny spent on it, one sheet for bank account, one for credit card spending, so I can easily see how much was spent on food, fuel, even ice cream! It definitely helps budget and it’s I use it for future predictions it shows where any pinch points might occur.

When you’re with your friends, eat before you go and then just order the cheapest drink you can - tea?

Get into the routine of walking to school.

is there not any way you can find paid work that fits in with looking after your DS? Nothing you can do from home, for example?

I could go back to work and earn good money but I’m viewing so many schools and possibly have an SEN tribunal to do to get him placed. Just mentally it’s a lot to juggle but once his school is named I will go back.

I felt like I was having a brake down when appealing for his brothers Sen school and working.

I do have a Santander account. I can’t see the charges anywhere in my online statement but that calculation is shocking 😩

dhs dmp was huge so I only pay him back what he needs for the dmp but I’m going to look at that again as maybe he is getting too much back.

Ultimately it sounds like you cannot afford to not work. Debt that high (especailly in an overdraft) when you dont work and your husband is on a debt management plan, is a disaster waiting to happen. Life costs are increasing and your debt will rapidly increase on high interest rates.
Yes you may find it hard juggling everything but so do others. Unfortunately not working and keeping your efforts for your son is not a luxury you can afford.
As a minimum you need to be looking for part time jobs and working whilst he is at school

Why is your DH beyond help when it comes to money? Surely he’s an adult with adult responsibilities? Why are you having to manage all this on your own?

dont get the normal 123 current account, got for the 123lite, that’s the one Martin Lewis always recommends when there’s no cass switches on :)

OP you are right in thinking you need to budget a small amount for coffees with friends etc. I got into bad debt after uni and the advice I was given was create a super strict budget for all areas of your life and stick to it 100%, but it must include a small percentage for fun. That absolutely liberated me. At the time I had only £5pw for 'fun'. But it meant I could go swimming with a mate and then for a coffee afterwards, or buy a bottle of wine so I could go to a friend's dinner party or have a cheap pizza and film night. Knowing that at leats once a week I had the freedom to choose how to have fun was a massive incentive to stick with the plan. That's the equivalent of about £15pw for fun now.

Why isn't your DH helping more with DS and SEN school placement? Why isn't he supporting you with childcare and getting back into work? You clearly cannot afford to not work. If I were you I'd seriously consider going back to work at least part time, and getting your DH to step up as a parent.

Won’t be popular but is there any service provider you can make a complaint? Any unexpected rises in costs to a tarrif where you weren’ informed? You can sometimes get the cost back. Bit of a faff though and might take longer than a week or so.

I bought pre chopped chicken/beef, separated into tiny portions, froze and significantly reduced meal costs. Also, scanned veg section and found cheapest veg. We've been eating this for a while.

All the best

I've tried to talk to DH this weekend but I've had

I jump down his throat and dont let him finish talking

We have lots of food in the freezer

He going to sit down and go through his finances ( not sit down with me and go through our finances)

I asked if he wants to take over looking for a SEN secondary for our son or go this draft ehcp but no hed doesnt understand so cant do that either.

So much for all the be kind shit. I'm on my own. Again.

See if getting zero shopping sparks his interest this week. I'm going to buy fuck all so that saves around £70 and I will feed the kids from the freezer.

I can change my phone contract from £16 PM down to £3.99.

I'm going on holiday to IOW in self catering. We can eat in every day rather than mix up the odd meal out and only buy the kids treats out. That will save a few hundred.

I did ask dh if he had any free long weekends to go to a travelodge with the kids but he can fuck right off now so that's a few hundred saved.

Going to visit my friend with kids. She has offered to put us up. I will take her up on the offer and see if she can get a tent to camp in her garden.

I have moved every bit of savings into current account.

Turned off my card in banking app.

Set up a max spend of £220 this week and 100 for every week from then. 40 pw is from.my sons DLA for his personal tutor as he cant read or write but the DLA is for him. Again life feels pointless if I cant aspire for him.to be literate. I will draw out his DLA as soon as its paid this month to put the tutor cash aside. I mostly spend the DLA in fits and starts beyound his basic extra living costs like extra clothes and washing.

I get tax credits and carer allowance and really just live off that and whatever dh doesnt ask for back for the dmp.

This has highlighted what a selfish arsehole my husband is and everyone bar one person (always one) has been kinder and more helpful than him on here. I wonder what he will do when I tell him there is no money to fill his car. What a prize he is. He got us into debt first with the dmp and now paying it off.

He has inspired me to get a will leaving my half of our estate directly to the kids so that I die before they leave home he doesn't make them all destitute.