to be totally fed up of constantly being skint?

[mumnotmachine]

It doesnt matter what I do I just cant make money stretch any further.
We both work full time, neither have had a pay rise in the last 3 years

Both got paid yesterday and already back in overdraft, never mind the bills still to be paid- yet alone even thinking about eating or putting petrol in car

I cant do it any more

:( Sorry to hear things are hard for you at the moment.

Have you got debts at all? If so perhaps consider an IVA. Are you claiming everything you're entitled to? Tax credits? Housing Benefit?

No, luckily no debt apart from a small amount on a credit card.
We were ok until the cost of living spiralled and wages unfortunately didnt.
Im just so stressed about it all

Not entitled to any help at all- we apparantly earn too much- LOL!!

Have you looked on Martin Lewis' MSE forum at all? There is loads of advice on there about budgetting, meal planning etc.

Take a look at all your expenses and make sure that you're getting everything for the lowest price possible; gas and electricity, mobile phone bills etc. Meal plan each week. Shop at Aldi/Lidl/Farmfoods. Maybe look into ways to increase your income, perhaps one of you taking on some evening or weekend work. Or can you do overtime in your full time jobs?

Yep, everything already on cheapest plans, already shop at Aldis and the freezer is full of yellow labelled stuff!
OH does overtime when it comes up, none available in my place.
We will muddle through, we always do, its just happening more often, and just cant seem to recover

I really hope things improve for you soon, I've been in your position before and it sucks

Although you have changed everything on to cheapest plans, does that include your mortgage? I've changed our gas/electric suppliers to save money, but it never occured to me about the mortgage until I looked in to it and we are now switching lenders. The difference is over 2% apr which has made a big difference in our monthly payments.

Yes, mortgage is switched as well- I've always been as tight as possible with finances, but its just ridiculous now, everything just seems to cost so much more these days- especially over the last year.

And thanks, appreciate the advice

I can see where you are coming from.

Petrol is the biggest killer - can you arrange a car share a t work and split the cost?

mortgage? remorgage on a lower rate?

Another killer is washing powder.; most clothes only need refreshing, not neccessarily detergent

utilities - never put the heating on until frosts arrive ....

Ditch any 'white goods' insurance you have - they are covered under EU legislation

It's so hard isn't it. We are in the same position unfortunately and I hate it too. I even got a load of old cds and dvds together to sell to music magpie...that earnt me a whopping £20

The only other thing I am trying is to put things on ebay/local paper and see if I can get a few pounds that way. We have so much baby stuff to sell but tbh it just doesn't sell for much money these days.

Much sympathy here. Have been in your shoes and it is thoroughly miserable.

Four things we did that helped:
1.Appealed against Council Tax band and got band reduced.
2.Made PPI reclaim and got £££ which paid lots of short term debt off
3.Changed insurance suppliers
4.Shopped to a menu i.e Monday, Shepherd's Pie, Tuesday Chili etc and Only buy the ingredients needed. I saved about £30 a week doing this.

We are a bit better now but will never, ever forget how miserable and panicky it was. Sorry if none of the above apply or if you have already tried them. Moneysavingexpert is a great website. Sounds like you are doing what you can.

Don't feel bad- the cost of food and petrol has skyrocketed and nobody is getting pay rises to match.

Know how you feel Shooz- its a nightmare isnt it
Have done Musicmagpie- I got a load of cds off freecycle which werent any good for me- I made £6.40 on Music Magpie!!

Lets hope things get better for all of us soon.

Some times think we would be better off on benefit!
(And i say that tongue in cheek)

Authorised overdraft?

Yep- all authorised, made sure of that!!

I realise how petty Im sounding- things could be far far worse, but just feel so down about it all today

Chin up eh?

Can you or your DH cycle or walk to work instead of driving? Neither DH or I use car to commute definitely saves us loads.

I know just how you feel, every month I work out my budget and sometimes think oh yeah will be ok this month. Then some disaster like a new tyre, or leaky radiator happens and bang all gone and I am literally counting the pennies. It's so tough and I am sick of it too. I hate saying no to the DD's so already stressing about Christmas for the first time ever.