Would you look/help with my budget please.

[StressfullTimes]

I have £1416 a month which is enough but my budgeting skills are a little crap and things like kids needing new clothes, school trips or Christmas come as a shock every single time. If I budget my money to the last penny I know I can relieve some of the stress I have been feeling of late. Apart from direct debits leaving my account for essential bills I am going to go cash only. If I take the cash out and use the envelope system I have read about on here I can see the money I have left. I am thinking about online food shopping as you can switch up basket to fit in with budget and Tesco have a range that seems to be in line with Aldi and Lidl prices but I can't pay in cash for that so not sure. I do have debt and some ccj's but I am going to be using Step Change to hopefully help me get that under control. So here it goes, I am willing to switch energy companies if I can get a cheaper rate currently with Eon but have read on here Ovo? I think it is called is cheaper although my credit sucks so might not be possible to switch as I have a credit meter not pre paid, I don't want a pre payment meter as that would just be an added stress. So here it goes,
£1426 -
£642 rent
£15 water
£74 dual fuel
£12 home insurance (part of tenancy agreement that we have this)
£50 Transport
£10 CCJ
£25 CCJ
£30 debt payments but not CCJ
£15 HMRC over payment standing order
£40 BT
£30 Council tax
£6 Netflix (cheaper than tv licence)
Leaves me £454 or £113 a week.
£113-
£60 shopping/house hold/toiletries
Leaves £53
Then if I save £10 week in an envelope for clothes
£10 xmas/birthdays
£10 emergency fund
Should leave me £23 a week spare.
I certainly don't have that much spare money at the moment, this is starting December where I will get no more bank charges as I will use cash so can't over spend. I would absolutely love to have money put away for emergencies it is just one less thing to worry about. The bank charges are anything between £8-£30 a month as the money for direct debit hasn't been there and that is £8 each time and then I get charged £6 as I went over drawn then there isn't enough for a different direct debit because of charges and the cycle continues but today that cycle stops. So I haven't added that to my budget as by using cash that will stop.
Does this look ok am I missing anything? Or am I putting to much into the savings envelopes? I have had a big wake up call and am no longer sticking my head in the sand.
I try and take the dc swimming once a week kids are free in my area and adults who get housing benefit are £1 and locker is 20p so that is £4.80 a month but I don't pay for any other activities.
I do have a other debts that I am not paying anything towards yet hoping step change will help get the payments for them lower than I can and maybe help adjust the payments I have in place now.

You could try making a bit of extra money through things like surveys, I used to do loads but have cut them down because of time. The moneysaving expert forums have details. I currently use onepoll and populuslive, you're not going to be rich from them but you could keep them for emergencies etc. I made £20 in October and £6 in September from populus so it varies.

I think you really need to speak to Stepchange. That's a lot of money to be spending on debt and it's especially bad if there's no real end in sight. Can you speak to one of those companies that consolidate it all and you pay off a small amount each week, and that covers every single debt/interest payment you have?

I know my old housemate had trouble with debt and did something similar. He ended up only paying one company and it made it a lot easier for him to work out his budget.

Thank you @HotInWinter for pointing that out there are 52 weeks in a year not 48 like I worked it out to.
I made first contact with step change which is a debt charity I did it late afternoon yesterday, I am not quiet sure what they will advise yet.
I have a couple of bottles of Calpol the gp gave me last time a dc will I'll and I don't get any prescriptions

Water £15 yikes I pay £26 + sewage £35

be honest I feel hungry on that but I will look to cutting that down.
^^

Not sure why you're hungry, but makes sure you buy full fat everything, milk, yog etc. More filling.

If I were in your shoes I would do two things -

• Switch to a basic bank account with no overdraft facility and no charges (I have one with Halifax. I don't want an overdraft and they don't charge me if I accidentally go overdrawn)

• call stepchange. They can arrange a payment plan to suit your budget, or offer an alternative if a payment plan isn't suitable.

Good luck and I hope you can find a way to budget that works for you!

£30 council tax?!!

Mines about £150!

Can you renegotiate your BT bill? I pay £25/month for fibre broadband and landline. No calls included though.

You don't have a mobile listed. Do you have one?

My mobile bill is £7.50/month with unlimited calls and texts with SMARTY (from 3). No commitment and no credit check required.

I know, my council tax is £197 pm and my water is £72 pm!!! 😱

I get council tax benefit so that is why I only pay £30 and yesterday I joint a water scheme ran through our water company for people who are struggling on benefits and have 3 dc or more. The £15 starts December I was previously paying £60 a month as we are on a meter.

BT my SIM only is included in that it is £5 a month. I will give BT a ring and see about the broadband I am not in contract with them anymore so I think that is why it is so much. I didn't renew the contract as I was scared about not being able to afford it so £40 added to my debt isn't much but whatever the contracted monthly charge x24 added to my existing debt is alot.

I know somebody has already mentioned it but claiming charges back from the bank really helped me .

Martin Lewis has a lot of information and a template letter you can use, there's one for financial hardship and if you explain how your charges are leading to more charges they should look in to it.

I've copied the link to his page but was worth it for me as I got a couple of hundred pound back.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges/

swag bucks is a pretty good survey sure, the points build up quickly, reclaim bank charges, matched betting ?

Head to moneysavingexpert.com. There are amazing people on there.

Is this now a competition to see who pays more council tax/water etc?
Competitive bill paying!

Please follow up with stepchange.

To put it in perspective you spend £60 on food and £80 on debt repayment. You then get hit with overdraft fees of up to £30 a month. Lowering your food bill isn't the smart solution. If you have the a 5 figure debt you might find the neigotiated amount is significantly lower than you realize. Let stepchange neigotiate for you.

What payments that you make are resulting in you going into overdraft? Can you move them so they come out just after you are paid?

Is your home insurance for your contents, so like renters insurance? If you don't have renters insurance get it. It's very cheap and will cover you if something happens that your home is ruined.

Oh and call the bank. Don't be scared of them. I used to work at a call center and when we saw the fees charged to an account when someone was struggling we would often work together quietly to apply credits to the account over a couple of days so they got their fees refunded for the year, not just a month. If they tell you to call back do so. They will keep applying credits (at least that is what we would do!).

@FrogsAreMean I'm just shocked at the difference - but of course it makes sense if you receive discounts and benefits. I loathe paying my council tax, it's so ridiculously high. And water costs seem to vary so much depending on where you live!

Stepchange are excellent and will be able to get your debt repayments down to an affordable level. You pay them and they pay your creditors so less stress all round. Good luck.

WRT the debt, call them and ask if they will freeze repayments for at least three months (then save the money) Then when they start again, say you can only afford £1 a month. Believe it or not, my FIL had £30k worth of credit card debt and has been paying a £1 a month for years. Not bankrupt, no CCJ’s. Just cheeky enough to insist that’s all he can afford. Not suggesting you get into that much debt btw.

Stepchange are a lifeline - you can pay as little as 5 pounds a month and keep your creditors at bay. That will give you a little breathing space to look at any other savings you can make. You won't regret it, they've helped me for around seven years now. Are you claiming all the help you can get, inc. council tax benefit/reductions? Are you the only adult, could save you 25%. Good luck x

Now tv is one of the cheapest broadband and you don't need a landline. Plusnet or Id mobile are usually the cheapest for sim only months they plans and they give quite a lot of data.

Don't touch talk talk with a barge pole you will regret it.

Ask the bank to refund bank charges and read about claiming back older ones on money saving expert.

Your food sounds good.

Stick to envelopes and cash but also try cancelling your direct debits then change them all to standing orders where possible.

Then if you have money in and out at different times of the month then you can move the standing order yourself using online banking. Even easier with most banks apps.

Look into the ccjs and get payments reduced or written off where possible.

The main thing I did though was get a basic bank account, you cannot go overdrawn but you cannot Lao get any bank charges. I have a debit card and use the account as normal but it has given freedom from worry.

The bank says we would like to upgrade you but I like having a no drill savoring with no charges possible and I don't need anything else.

Good luck op.

Ditch BT and get Plusnet, that would save you about £20 a month. And your home insurance seems high. £144 just for contents (you shouldn't need buildings insurance if you're renting) seems a lot. Make sure you do GoCompare/Compare the Market etc when you renew.

It's a shame about the prepayment meters, as that stops you getting the best deals on energy. Speak to the energy supplier and see if you qualify for any help because you're on a low income with a young family, and do the same for water. When you get your debts sorted, make sure that you include the energy debt so that it gets written off, people often stop thinking of that as a debt because they're repaying it through the meter, iyswim.

You could try and negotiate a lower repayment rate with HMRC and the energy companies, and explain that it's causing you hardship. Once Step Change get involved, they will probably offer token payments until your bankruptcy goes through (btw, if your debts are less than £20,000, you should be eligible for a debt relief order, the fees for this are a lot lower than bankruptcy).

Are you positive you're getting all the benefits you're entitled to, at the right rates? Does anyone in the household have health issues that might entitle them to PIP/DLA?

Moneysavingexpert is a fantastic site.

Lots of good advice above, but have you ever paid for payment protection insurance (PPI)? If so, or you're not sure, use the moneysavingexpert template and claim, because if you were missold it, and many were, you could get a surprisingly large amount back.

Check out gumtree and freecycle for clothing, toys, etc.

Water costs vary massively, mrsoutnumbered.

These are the average charges:

South West Water: £943
Wessex Water: £728
Southern Water: £673
United Utilities: £652
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water: £636
Anglian Water: £619
Scottish Water: £600
Northern Ireland Water: £596
Yorkshire Water: £562
Northumberland Water: £539
Severn Trent: £502
Thames Water: £440

I wonder if there's a connection between high charges and coastal areas? I know Southern Water had to spend billions and billions to meet new regs re water quality for what gets discharged into the sea.