Serious budgeting. Remind me.....

[popsycal]

We are going to be seriously skint this school year. We have overdrafts and use them - although we rarely spend more than we earn now, they have been that way for some time. The bank will soon no doubt demand that I get rid of my overdraft as I am rarely in credit (we have several account but my particular one is not healthy).

I completed the budgeting sheet on moneysaving expert and we pretty much break even in outgoings and incomings, factoring every thing in. But having to pay childcare this academic year has tipped the balance.

So far, we are:

• menu planning - and TRYING not to 'pop' to the local shop for milk and come back with more.
• using only one car - partly through force as DH's is broken and we can't afford to get it fixed
• our mortgage is on a decent fixed rate until MArch 2008
• we have the cheapest landline phone (Primus saver and 1899)
• free broadband
• pay and go phones on 1000 free texts
• gas and elec are a decent tarif as we changed last year (pay £55 a month in total)

I really can't think where we can save (the rest of the outgoings are household bills/insurance, a car loan.

Any more cost cutting measures?

We rarely go out, hardly buy any clothes

We earn a decent income but obviously need to earn more even though our outgoings are not extortinate

are you entitled to any tax credits?
if you pay bank charges, would it be cheaper to get a consolidation to loan to clear the overdrafts and pay a loan payment rather than charges?

any way of getting any more money in if you have cut everything going out?

We get the standard tax credit. I emailed them to say our childcare costs had gone up but it makes no difference. You are right about overdraft charges though.....
0% credit card perhaps (though we did that a few years ago - do we never learn).

I am about to claim tax back on 6 years of union subscriptions so should get 100 quid or so.

I asked work they could keep me in mind for an extra days supply (having to work an extra day to pay for childcare because they changed my working day grrrr) but they have no supply money to pay out.

Oh pops that is the trouble with teaching part time isn't it? My sister is in the same boat, she is on mat. leave and got all sorted out with childminders etc but then got a text to say that her days had changed. So with her youngest being under 1 the CM couldn't have him on different days and the two boys will have to go to different chldminders. She is quite stressed with it all.

Could you do some exam papers?

I could do - but that isn't until May. The child care thing has really annoyed me tbh. My mum usually has ds2 on the 2 days I work but they changed my day to one of the days that my mum cant look after ds2 - school knew this too. So I am having to pay out almost a third of my month's salary for one day per week childcare.

I thought my sister had done some stuff at other times of year. Might it be coursework or something?