how much are your outgoings? Our our outgoings similar??

[livingonaprayer1986]

Below is a list of our outgoings and we are always in the red it seems. Everything is PER MONTH. Do you all have similar outgoings?

Rent - £670 per month for a large 2 bed flat. Myself, hubby and 3 year old live here

Council Tax - £130 per month

Food/ bread/ milk etc/ shower gel/ toilet roll/ toothpaste etc for family - £200 a month

Internet and phone line (hubby needs both for his work) - £25

Gas - £70 pay as you go metre

Electric- £50 pay as you go metre

Water and Sewage - £60

TV lisense - £12

Council tax debt owed - £100 (ongoing per month, we owe a lot long story)

Nursery fees - £60

Car insurance and petrol - £70

Home insurance - £10

various debts - £20

I can't see anyway to cut down on anything apart from car really but hubby needs a car for his work. My wages are 800 per month and child benefit is the only benefit I recieve. Hubby is now on 800 per month. You? Being nosey/ curious!

Rent -£450 for a 2 bed flat (HA)
CTax - £130
Childcare £250
Car insurance £65
Gas £45
Electric £60
Water £15
Contents £10
Life ins £10
Shopping £300 (2 adults, 2 dc's)
Tv, Internet, phone - £65
Mobiles £75
Swimming lessons £25
Charity donations £10
Loan repayment £140
Credit card £100
Family loan £100
Petrol £200

I earn £1600 a month and DH £1000

I don't even know what that adds up to and I am sure I have forgotten things!

We never have any money left.

you do need to keep hammering at those debts and never get them again.

look at tariff change for gas and electric,and obviously reducing use as much as possible. Are the prepays because of your debt?

also the water/sewer bill looks high. Are you on a meter?

beyond that, can't see much else you can do. It will get better when the debts are gone.

Internet etc is only offset as an expense against any tax to pay. At earnings of £800 pcm for OP's dh there won't be any tax, or he has already included it (assuming OP means her dh earns £800 as profit per month iyswim.)

The harsh reality is that, even with two of you, such low salaries do not stretch very far

Have you checked the tax credits calculator op? Its here

My outgoings aren't vastly different to yours overall, for myself and two teenagers. I have worked two jobs for years, and as my income has improved, with experience etc I feel better off now. If your income is low due to the area you work in (rather than being new to a better paid industry) then perhaps re-training might work in the long run for one. Not easy to make happen though. I know.

Two adults, four teenagers in a five bedroom house in Essex:-

Mortgage £625
Gas and electric £250 (paying off Npower debt)
Water £50
Council Tax £180 (over ten months)
Petrol £100
Sky tv and broadband £95
Food £800
DPs rail fare £250
Home insurances £45 per month
Car insurance £25 per month
Car tax £20 (put away every month)
College bus passes £40 each - £80
Kids Pocket money (£25 each) - £100
Lunch/snack allowance for teens at college £30 per month each - £60

My food bill is quite high as I do six packed lunches Monday to Friday.

Rent - £625 a month 3 bed semi myself, dh and 2 year old dd live here

Council tax - £93
Food which includes toiletries - £425
Water on a meter - £60
Gas and electric together - 100
Petrol - £60
Contents insurance - £15
Sky tv plus internet and phone line - £125
Mobile phone for 2 mobiles -£60
Cleaner -£120-150
Window cleaner, bin cleaner, gardener - £35
Tv licence - £12
Nursery fees - £400

Wage is 4500 after tax

Why is the water so high? I'm on a direct debit of £35 on a water meter on South west water which is a v expensive area. That's for me and 2 dc. Maybe yours would be slightly more because of two adults but not nearly twice as much. And I have the washing machine on every day too and don't scrimp on showers and baths.
I think your rent is cheap I pay £750 and even that's cheap for here.

You could also shop around for Internet and phone I think I paid less with orange than that.
I would be surprised if you didn't get tax credits on that income unless you are not in uk?

Rent £420
Ctax £130
Water £70
Sky £110
Mobiles £65
Tv £12
Travel ££160
Loan £70
Insurances £47 life,house,cats
Gas/elec £97

Tesco £450 easily

Can you increase your incomes at all? How many hours do you each work? Assume neither are FT, otherwise you'll be below NMW. Can one of you get a second job?

£800 a month take home pay is about right for 37 hours a week on min wage

Op I think you should make an appointment at citizens advice pronto.

My income from salary after tax is about 1200 Andi get tax credits currently of 624 though my childcare is323 for dc2 and 80 for dc1. I get 70 percent of that back with tax credits

37 hours a week on minimum wage is £954 per month (net, assuming no student loan).

OP's partner is Self employed so could well be working for less. I would assume OP is working part-time. I'd be very surprised if they weren't eligible for child tax credits.

mortgage £311 2bed terrace (moving end of feb 3bed semi £415)
CT £95
gas & elec £69
virgin tv/phone/internet £95
car pcp £170
petrol £60
cred card (0%) £45
sofa £30
gym £18
pet ins £6
food/toiletries £250
car ins £25
building & contents £21
tv licence £12

west mids area, i pick up approx £1800, DP picks up approx £1600.

We are in a 2 bed flat with a teenager so no childcare. Mortgage is much higher than yours as we're in London but that does mean no car is needed.

Groceries, phone, council tax are similar but other costs are lower:

Gas/electric 55 combined
Water 25
TV 0 (only watch Catchup)

Agree with checking tax credit eligibility, plus trying to get your debts repaid at a lower rate. Sometimes you can offer to pay as little as £1 a month if you're struggling.

Your water does seem on the high side.

Agree that a CAB appointment to discuss debts and make sure you're getting all the tax credit etc that you're entitled to would be a good idea.

mortgage under 600pm I think
really ought to know

food not sure errr

I really need to look at this, I know we have enough though

OP your gas and electric seem very high, for a 2 bed flat.
Not sure what control you have over that on a meter.

try MSE Budget Brain it goes through everything you might spend and there's links to check if you can get better deals.
Well worth it.

You could cut the car, home insurance & phone bills using cashback sites.

Ours is £70 a year for unlimited bb and phone line (it would have been £30 but I had to pay cancellation charges )

Our home ins is £55 this year, you only need contents, legal cover and accidental damage if you rent.

I pay it in one go because if you spread it out they charge really high APR but they don't use a credit facility, they just charge you extra for the convenience.

If you are both out at work during the day I'd switch the heating off & program it to come on half an hour before you get home. If you close all the internal doors while its on it keeps the costs down.

Do you need data on your phone ? If not you can get a much cheaper contract .

I pay £7.50 per month on a Tesco contract for ( I think ) 1000 texts and 500 mins of calls . I never need more than that

Three of us. Outgoings work out at about 35% of our net pay (we also each pay 7% at source for pension)

Mortgage: £347

Council Tax - £125 (10 months)

Housekeeping (food etc) - £400

Internet and phone line - £35

Utilities - £80

Water and Sewage - £98 (10 months)

TV license - £12

Home insurance - £35

Life insurance- £68

Family gym membership - £111

Car - not sure. DP pays for that himself (I do not drive - bike only)

Afterschool childcare - £300

Subsiding 1 DC at University - £150

Mobile - £9 (not sure what DP pays)

Rent: 450
Council tax: 107
Gas/electric: 90
Water: 20
Internet: 25
Tv licence: 12
Mobile contracts: 53
Food/nappies/toiletries: 200ish
Travel: 120

Think that's everything!