Trying to reduce outgoings

[Lifeispassingby]

DH and I are struggling not to overspend each month, which takes us into our overdraft and causes more issues. We bring home £2709 between us. Any advice on reducing outgoings would be great!
Here are our outgoings:
Mortgage £881.79
Union fees £11.50
Vision express £16
Loan £300
Tax credits repayment £12.65
Council tax £170
Help to buy £65
British gas boiler cover £25
Caravan storage £35
Eon gas & electricity £90
Water £16.00
Tv license £13.20
Life insurance £57
Car tax £39
Car insurance £65
Home insurance £14
NHS prescriptions £10
Pet insurance- £65
Mobiles, phone and broadband £47
Breakdown cover £11
Sofa repayment £35

We spend £200-£250 a month on fuel for both cars.

Pet insurance seems high... but I guess it depends on the pet. Life is bloody expensive isn't it

Also car tax seems very expensive, is that a month or a year? Is it a very old car?

Your car costs are pretty high - in insurance, tax and fuel. Could you change to something that would work out cheaper overall?

What about food budget? It's not mentioned but could you cut that back at all?

How about selling the caravan and TV? You'd have the money from the sale plus £78 a month extra.

@PainterInPeril

How about selling the caravan and TV? You'd have the money from the sale plus £78 a month extra.

Selling the caravan would save us £35 a month plus is only worth £1500 max. It also provides us holidays dirt cheap- £265 for 2 weeks in August cheap!

@icelolly12

Pet insurance seems high... but I guess it depends on the pet. Life is bloody expensive isn't it

Pet insurance is for 2 dogs and a cat but yes it’s a lot of ££- mind you the cat would’ve cost £500 the last time she needed the vet so reluctant to cancel that?

@PositiveLife

Your car costs are pretty high - in insurance, tax and fuel. Could you change to something that would work out cheaper overall?

What about food budget? It's not mentioned but could you cut that back at all?

It’s for 2 cars- both about 12 years old and only worth £6000 between them. The tax and insurance is for both per month

Don't upgrade mobiles.
Pay extra towards loan if they aren't any penalty fees for doing so.
Can you walk more or to shops/work? Get a job locally to cut commuting costs?

If you have life cover with your mortgage why do you have a separate policy?

How often do you shop around re tv/broadband/mobile

Boiler cover - we’ve stopped ours as not worth it, BG v unreliable in terms of call outs. We just use a local company who charge a £100 call-out plus parts. Over the year we will pay far less.

I’d recommend you use the budgeting spreadsheet on money saving expert website - it will include every single expense down to the haircuts, lunches, holidays etc and match against income. This will help you forensically examine where you might be able to cut down a few quid here and there. It goes without saying that most people can save an awful lot on supermarket shopping

How often do you use the caravan?
We go on a caravan holiday once a year- Just Haven and not in summer holidays, a 4 night stay, for 6 was £400 but that inc meal out 5 night...

Unless elderly pet, it’s a lot, aged cat 12, gave up insurance years ago, saving seems wiser

@VanCleefArpels

If you have life cover with your mortgage why do you have a separate policy?

How often do you shop around re tv/broadband/mobile

Boiler cover - we’ve stopped ours as not worth it, BG v unreliable in terms of call outs. We just use a local company who charge a £100 call-out plus parts. Over the year we will pay far less.

I’d recommend you use the budgeting spreadsheet on money saving expert website - it will include every single expense down to the haircuts, lunches, holidays etc and match against income. This will help you forensically examine where you might be able to cut down a few quid here and there. It goes without saying that most people can save an awful lot on supermarket shopping

Thanks for the info re local company for boiler cover- we are with British Gas and have needed them every winter at least once for something boiler related so wouldn’t want to cancel but could be worth finding out about someone local so will look into that.

Re phone broadband etc I check every time it comes up- that is for 2 mobiles (£21 for both for unlimited everything) and phone line at home plus broadband.

Re life insurance we don’t have mortgage cover on our mortgage. That is a separate life insurance policy that would clear the mortgage.

@Tulips21

How often do you use the caravan? We go on a caravan holiday once a year- Just Haven and not in summer holidays, a 4 night stay, for 6 was £400 but that inc meal out 5 night...

We go every bank holiday plus 2 weeks in summer hols. We pay no more than £18 a night sometimes £14 a night depending where we go.

Not sure if this would help in your case....
www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/save-money-with-a-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc/

[quote Wilma55]Not sure if this would help in your case....
www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/save-money-with-a-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc/[/quote]
Thank you that’s what the NHS payment is for. DH takes 5 medications a day so this is a godsend!

Do you find that you have things that come up every month that you haven't accounted for, then you go oh but write that off, that was a one off, it doesn't count.

You have to start counting these things and planning for them. For example Christmas comes around every year, so if you put away 20 a month you'll have 240 to spend. Or there will be a car repair, vet's bill etc. Having a kind of "unexpected expenses"pot you contribute into and can pull out of for those kind of things means they don't disrupt your budget overall.

The cars sound really expensive to run. It might be worth costing up something newer even if that means leasing or finance, just to see what the actual difference day to day would be in tax, fuel, maintenance etc.

Get rid of the Pet insurance, Gas cover and Breakdown. Continue to pay the same amount into an account (ISA) £111 per month. You will accumulate £1332 over the year, if you do this for 2 years you will have a nice fund for "mishaps" You can then reduce payments to say £40 a month to keep it topped up.
Swap mobiles to unlimited data (hotspot off mobile devices) and ditch the home broadband package.
Find a neighbour or local farmer who might store the caravan for less.

The car tax seems expensive even for two cars, are they very big engines? Switching to a smaller more economical engine would cost less in petrol as well.
Also if you pay monthly for tax and insurance it’s always more expensive than one annual payment.

Car finance is so ridiculously cheap at the moment it is often far more economical to start again with low tax tariff vehicles

@Xanorra

The car tax seems expensive even for two cars, are they very big engines? Switching to a smaller more economical engine would cost less in petrol as well. Also if you pay monthly for tax and insurance it’s always more expensive than one annual payment.

But we are spending £104 on car tax and insurance- there is no way we would get 2 cars on finance for that is there? Also we do about 240 miles a week between the 2 of us- would we save a lot on fuel with different cars? (Currently between £200-£250 pm)

@saleorbouy

Get rid of the Pet insurance, Gas cover and Breakdown. Continue to pay the same amount into an account (ISA) £111 per month. You will accumulate £1332 over the year, if you do this for 2 years you will have a nice fund for "mishaps" You can then reduce payments to say £40 a month to keep it topped up. Swap mobiles to unlimited data (hotspot off mobile devices) and ditch the home broadband package. Find a neighbour or local farmer who might store the caravan for less.

Thank you will look at doing unlimited data instead of the broadband and phone line- hadn’t ever costed that or considered it. My concern with cancelling those (boiler/breakdown/pets) is needing a bulk of money to pay for those if we don’t have the cover. We have zero savings and cannot take a hit from any of those as likely to be expensive (injured cat for example cost £900 followed by boiler breakdown that would have cost £600 in 2 months last years). But will discuss that with DH as a possible option.

Keep the pet insurance definitely. I cancelled mine for my cat at the same age and she lived til 20 and it cost a fortune i the last two years. It's not too bad, I pay £44 for one 2 year old dog!

Your water seems very low. I was paying £20 then got hit by a massive bill and told I had to pay £130pm! Just check where you are with it. I pay £80 now to try and get debt down my monthly cost is £50,for two of us.

I can't see any food bills here, but we save so much now we are vegetarian, seriously. Meat is so expensive, I can't believe we used to buy it now! Vegetables are so much cheaper, you can find cheaper still if seasonal or frozen. Cook from scratch, throw in canned beans and pulses. Veggie lasagne, chilli non con carne, pasta bakes....so east when you get into it. Not to mention healthy, and better for the environment etc. Save on your water bills by showering and not bathing, and only flush loo after number 2's!!!

As someone else said is it ‘one off’ things that are causing issues and meaning you go into overdraft?