Urgh just doing my budget and it's crappy crap crap

[nutcracker]

I am trying to organise myself and my finances so that I do not keep running out of money or food all of the time and have to go borrowing off my mum.

Ok, monthly incomings are £831.48

Monthly outgoings are £821.48 and I didn't include clothes in the outgoings, so thats £10 a month to keep 1 adult and 3 kids in clothes and shoes.

Have budgeted for £20 a week for a driving lesson (haven't started yet), but at this rate i'm gonna have to forget that.

Have budgetted £60 a week for food, if I could get it down to £40 that would be great, but is highly doubtful I think.

I do have quite a bit of debt but at the mo I cannot reduce any of the payments.

I need a job.

also - iof you genuinely spend 10 quid a month on your mobile then ok - but if not i have a i2 card speare where you have to top up 10 quid a month, but for that you get the 10 quid of credit plus 1000 free texts
brought my mobile bill down as i use it purely for texting

primus option 2 saver
you need to specifically ask for this though as you will not get it ohter wise

posycal ~ where do you get that phone deal? thanks

1899

the mobile one

just to clarify - evening and weekends calls are free up to 90 mins per call.......
basically if you want to make a call longer than 90 minutes, you hang up after 89 minutes and call them again
it is definitely 90 mins per call and not per total calls (I quizzed the guy on the phone about this and several other things as I trhough it was too good to be true)

Good point about power suppliers Pablo but it does vary from area to area so Uswitch would be able to tell Nutty which was cheapest for her.

Popsycal, that's a great phone tip but as Nutty has internet she may as well get free calls along with that. If you do it right you have no pre number to call and calls are free at all times....we do have a prefix number with our Tiscali service as we switched from BT before we did our research.

the o2 one?
i think i have 2 sim cards...
will check...
will also search online for you

Popsycal at thought of having an indepth phonecall with an alarm clock next to you! The talktalk and tiscali deals might have a time limit too but am never on the phone that long...too much time on MN you see.

Is exDp contributing regularly ? Can you cut nursery hours for the time being to the 5 2 1/2 hour sessiosn so you don't have to top up ? House contents insurance ?

Agree about postponing driving - what if you tried to save half of that into a specific account so when it reached the equivalent of say 10 lessons you can start ?

cant find a link for the o2 sim online...again Janh is the lady to ask

I never have a 90 minute phone call either

I have an O2 sim which is probably the same but I get 50 free minutes with every £10. Basically I use these to chat and the topup to text but never top up each month....the free mins just start after I top up. You can choose texts or minutes when you get the SIM....not sure where you get it tho as my SIL bought a stack off ebay ages ago.

If the children are having a cooked meal at lunch time, then you can definitely give them something less at nigth time. Maybe jacket potatoes and beans/chesese, sandwiches, eggs, pasta and cheese. If you do want to do hot meals go for casseroles full of cheaper veg and cheaper cuts of meat, and then cook on low heat for hours, or things like cottage pie.

Can you share a lift with anyone for the shopping?

Agree that brithday fund could be reduced, but would be tempted to move some it across to a leisure fund - for a couple of nights away as a holiday or so.

the sim crads are free.....

LOL, I knew the b'day/xmas would get mentioned.
That is for 3 kids birthdays, 3 kids xmas pressies and then family xmas pressies and food sp personally I don't think it is alot, considering that we don't have a holiday or buy toys any other time of year.

Oh and yep we'd love a holiday but as I said, I don't drive and so even the cheapest holiday goes up loads when you factor in train or coach travel nevermind spending money. The kids are used to not going away anyway.

I do need to change phone, internet etc yep and can get 3 for £30 with telwest so will do that.
Mobile, yep I can not put credit on I suppose.

Oh regarding the gas and electric, I am on pre pay meters and I did look into getting it changed but the amount I got quoted was more or less what I pay now.

Erm ,what else was I going to say......oh food, i tend to get a bit here and there, co-op as thats closest and then aldi or iceland too. I could do a whole shop at asda or aldi and get a taxi yep, but the taxi would be about £5-£6 so dunno if that would be worth it.

i know bt do a deal including a mobile,internet,phone all in one.

www.bt.com

also,have you contacted your creditors?would they slightly reduce payments, especially as you are on benefits?

the jobcentre does offer a social fund loan if you had any immediate worries like paying for food,etc.i know its more borrowing,but if it was for food...

my ds's have school meals twice a week when im at university,and in the evening i give them cheese on toast or beans on toast-its ok!

also make big pots of stew,etc as stewing meat is very cheap.it can be frozen too.when im a bit poor i go to morrisons on a sunday afternoon at about 2pm and some of the produce is reduced but fine,especially for the next 2-3 days anyway.

could you halt your driving lessons,if you couldnt afford a car soon anyway?you could restart when things were more balanced.

hope you work it out

this thread talks abotu the sims - but looks like the deal is over
I do think i have at least one though....

dont fdo the bt fusion deal...

Haven't started the drivcing lessons yet, but really want to as I feel really stuck all the time.

this may be a rude question so im sorry...

could your parents pay off all your debt and you repay them,say £100 a month? i know it would take a long time but it would give you a clear slate and no more hassle/scared of post/phone calls etc.(can you tell ive done this?!)

and you could pay them back more than £100(or whatever) when things were better?

this is the best o2 deal i can find at the moment

Unfortunatly not Scorpio, my dad is short of money himself right now and my mum has non to spare either.

oh ok,worth a try i thought

Is there any scope for increasing your income? P/T job, ebaying unwanted stuff?

Driving lessons might have to go on hold, phone can be reduced, birthdays money really is too high, there's no saving towards clothes (that's got to be at least £30 a month for all of you) or an emergency fund (so that you don't have to reach for the credit cards)...and the Trust fund payment should go too, you shouldn't be saving when you have crippling debts.

If you rejig it all and you still can't afford the debts then you may have to go on a debt management plan (DMP) - you tell your creditors how much you can afford to pay them and they'll have to accept it, they won't like it but tough (as long as you've trimmed your expenditure to a reasonable level). It will trash your credit record though, but then do you want to take out more credit any time soon?? If you do need to do that contact CCCS (or Payplan or the CAB) and they'll help you.