I have the kind of family that many people think shouldn't need extra help from the Government

[MogadoredMemoo]

I would like somebody to tell me how we can reduce our outgoings. We are the kind of family who people seem to think shouldn't need any financial help from the government. there seems to be an attitude that we just need to tighten our belts a bit. So I am really interested in how people think we will manage if out tax credits are cut.

Dh earns just under 25K. I really seriously cannot at the moment due to health problems.

We currently get £80 a week in TC and this helps us keep our head above water. But under the new system it looks like we wont get it any more.

So with DH salary and CB we have a monthly income £1772.00

Mortgage £700
Council tax £83
Car Insurance £58
Gas £60
Elec £80
Maintenance for DSD's £250
Petrol £200
Contents and Buildings ins 67.00
other bits ie TV licence, broad band phone, pet insurance £100
Nappies £20

That would then leave us just £154 each month to clothe and feed 3DC and to feed 2 dsd's.

How are we suppose to manage on that? I'm not saying that we should just be given hand outs but why can't the government do other things to help like keeping petrol cost lower. we just about managing at the moment but we are going to be in shit if these cuts go ahead. We will end up losing our home.

Even worse I suspect there are thousands of families like us out there. The ones trapped in the middle, not earning enough to survive but earning too much to get any help.

laweasel - good luck with job hunting

Hi yeh I think its hard to find good cleaners - like gold dust :) I'd like to think I was good :)

Oh yes, supermarket noticeboards are a great place to advertise. That's how I got most of my piano pupils, and have sold a car that way (got loads of enquiries within a couple of days of putting it up)

Know I'm late on the thread, but just in case you're still reading OP;

Established that the dog's not going anywhere, so make sure you're not paying over the odds for food - dry dog food is much cheaper especially if you buy in 20kg bags.

Utility companies sometimes give a discount for paperless billing - see if you can set up online accounts to save money.

Most credit cards don't charge anything if you pay off the balance in full every month, so you may be able to take advantage of incentive schemes they have (e.g. I get clubcard vouchers with mine.) ONLY do this if you know you will pay the balance in full every month.

Downsize car - you don't need a 7 seater to get your DH to work - assume he doesn't take the kids with him ;)

Good luck.

Thanks mrsB, I'm still here, getting as many tips as I can.

Been thinking about the cleaning loads and am really sold on the idea. Just have a few questions to those who have done it. Do you use the customers cleaning products, Hoover etc? Do you have to register for tax? And is it really weird going into strangers houses?

MrsB, I wish he would take the Kids to work with him!

I am at the people saying "sell you house".

As if it was that easy!! Mortgage approvals fell by 17% last month - many people are struggling to sell their houses because there are few buyers who can get mortgages, no matter how much they knock off the price. There hasn't been a house sold on my street for nearly 2 years (and the one that did get sold was to a property developer), even though it is a really nice neighbourhood - someone actually asked me if I would consider letting my house to them, when we tried to sell it but renting wasn't an option for us.

I do think you are being ripped off in terms of your house insurance - I pay £17/month for both contents and buildings on a large 3 bed.

Also my gas and leccy payments are £43 and £48 respectively - that is with me running 2 PCs most of the day as I work from home.

You should also shop around for a good deal on car insurance as £696 for the year sounds pricey (unless you don't have much no claims bonus, have a very expensive car or live in a dodgy area).

private cleaners i know use client's cleaning products. this can be discussed on a case by case basis but would advise using their products as cheaper for you and no risk of allergies, marking furniture with a new product, etc

sorry cant advise re tax. hopefully someone will come along who can

Just to say that my cleaner (who I pay ten pounds an hour for two hours) uses our cleaning products. We provide what she wants basically and leave her to it (both work out of the house).
In such circumstances, I would want a reference from someone about you - not about your cleaning really but about your reliability - local vicar? business person? Old employer.

Good luck.

I have a few people I could ask for references. My old boss is the head teacher of the local primary school, or our parish priest and/or the Nun who works with him.

Private cleaners tend to use client's Hoovers, cleaning products etc. Good luck!

tax is as easy as pie..........it is such a simple form just have to put down how much you earnt and how much you spent.

And if you earn less than about £5000 [this is for cleaning only not your husbands wage]
you can apply for exemption from paying national insurance.
You can earn just over £6000 per year before you will pay any tax and then then tax demand will just arrive saying you owe NIL.

I was until recently a wedding photographer and was scared of the forms, but once i got them it was easy peasy.

Just ring the tax office and say you are thinking of starting your own small cleaning business and what should you do they are very helpful.

pm me if you wanna chat about it further.

Sell your house and get into rented accomodation near to your DH's work.

£150 per month petrol saved right there, you no longer have a mortgage hanging over you, and can ride out any further house price falls in the safety of someone elses house. You never know, when you are both working again and looking to buy another house, prices may have fallen 30%.

Lose the broadband and landline. Stick to prepaid mobiles and free wifi hotspots (coffee shops etc).

You can do better on just about all of your utility bills I suspect. No need for pet insurance unless they are old, pare down your contents insurance to the minimum you'd need to replace the essentials, and get rid of extra cover for things like jewelery. If you cant afford to replace it, dont wear it. A fire retardant security box in the attic is the safest place for it.

Get well again and get back into work - you've a couple of years before cuts will affect you.

Dont have any more kids

Your utilities and insurance bills seem to be very high, I think if you shop around you should be able to get them cheaper. Also I think the pet has to go, to be honest you really can't afford it and it is a luxury.

It also costs money if you sell your house as well.

CCPCCP - OP has already said bb and landline essential as DH sometimes works from home.

MM - does you DH's company reimburse you for the use of the landline/bb?

OP ,dont panic ! they arnt going to take your tc's away just yet are they ? find out exactely when its going to happen . If your youngest is 17 months and the tc's arnt going to go for a year ,then you probably wont be buying nappies by then. You might also be well enough to work part time in a year too ? Always price check utilities etc ,each time anything comes up for renewal , our car insurance provider wanted an extra £200 a year this time round ,no changes at all at our end ,so we price checked ,rang them and lo and behold they could do it cheaper than the lowest quote we got ! Definately get a smaller car ,cheaper insurance, road tax, petrol . Buy cheaper brand dog food , i buy cobby dog lamb and rice ,costs me £22 for six weeks for a big dog and he looks fab on it , its actually produced at the same mill as wellbeloved stuff and if you check the ingreidiants they are the same . £700 for a mortgage sounds peanuts to me , but then i rent and if i were to buy now i would be paying several hundred pounds more than that ,even with a 20% deposit .
Please dont think im belittling your illness when i suggested you might be able to work in a year ,that was more of a hopeful suggestion ! Could you take in someones ironing ? for a friend or neighbour ,appreciate this might be difficult with children ,or perhaps dog walk someones dog while you are walking your own ? dog walkers charge £10-15 an hour round here ,so you might be able to get a bit towards shopping .

I would agree with others that your utility bills are ever so high for a 2 bed terrace. (About 40% higher than our 4-bed detached!)so you are either wasting a lot or on a terrible tarriff!
I think it would be a daft idea to sell your house, but definitely worth looking into interest-only or getting a new deal. I only pay about £400 a month on a similar mortgage. Good luck!

memoo - have pm'ed you

welfare bill mogadored

Ze Bill may be modified as it goes through Parliament.

The dodgy aspects were being aired in the sunday papers; and the serious mags

Dave Cameron knows more about the rich than he knows about people on average incomes.

I thought the interviews with IDS last
thursday were easy peezy and did not probe at all

Channel 4 TVs 7pm news was the exception.

The problem is HMG set the TV license and bbc interviewers are wary of this.

Good luck "Gabby" .

Mamatomany, no CB and TC aren't shared if you have shared care, it's ridiculous but it's not.

Memoo, it's so tough but I would definitely get on the CSA calculator and check DH is paying the correct level of maintenance for the DSC, it sounds like a lot at the moment considering he supports 2 other DC as well.

I agree look at cleaning dog walking would be fab could you offer pet sitting (go round to feed someones cat or fish??!!)
Look at bills utilities and reduce, can you meal plan, lidl aldi shop? you can def save on nappies (have you tried the saver ones from Sainsbury's (might not suit some but at one point they were the only ones that would do a night for my heavy wetter

I would caution you about a water meter you have lots of people in a small house I am under the impression that they are best for a few people in a big house

Your b&C insurance seems ridiculously high, even with your flood plane issue. Prices seem to have dropped dramatically. I live in London so mine is usually high, best quote I could get last year was £56 per month, but this year got a quote as low as £22 per month and ended up buying 'luxury' insurance from M&S for £35. Always worth checking.

The cost of selling your house and renting may make that not practical, particularly if you are in or near to negative equity. I know I would be reluctant to sell and start renting.

Cleaners tend to use the client's products, mops, vacuum etc. A good reason is that they dont want to transfer anything (pet hairs etc) from one house to another, so your start up costs are really minimal.

Good luck and I think you should be congratulated on planning ahead and being really open to changes and new ideas.

I think this is appalling. Ive name-changed cos I know I will get flamed for this. Im a single mother with 3 children (yes I know I should have thought about the fact I would become a single mother before I had my children).

My income and outgoings are

Income monthly
Child benefit - £188
Child tax credit- £627.72
Maintenance - £440
Housing benefit - £500

My outgoings

Gas/electric - £320
Car insurance - £32
TV phone broadband - £50
Pet insurance - £8
Nappies, baby milk baby clothes - £100
Food - £160
Rent - £560

Its not fair that your husband works and you are worse off. I really do think they need to look at why they are making the working poor poorer and those on benefits seem to have more.
And I am saying this as a single mother on benefits

Do the CSA know you have your dsds three nights a week? That should be taken into account in the amount your dh has to pay. I think it is only 52 nights that are discounted so he may be entitled to pay less than he is.

Namechange - is that figure for your gas electric right? Do you mean £32??

Or do you have the heating on full and have have 5 baths a day because you are a benefit scrounger

I think you make a good point - it is crazy! No wonder people find it so difficult to get off benefits, especially if they haven't got the skills to get a well paid job