help me - need to find a way of making or saving £40 per week by April...

[juicychops]

i started working last April and as an insentive get £40 per week from Work and Pensions dept for returning to work for 1 year.

so this is going to stop in April and this is basically the only money i have spare per month after all bills, nursery & rent are paid. this spare money goes on things such as things that pop up such as birthdays, savings, extras if i go over budget for shopping/phone bill/petrol, treating me or ds to lunch out, clothes for ds, road tax.

i dont know how the hell im going to cope when this stops. My car insurance was due to go down a bit in July when its re-newed which would of saved me a bit, but wont now as i crashed it on Boxing day so if anything will probably cost me more than it does now.

feel a bit low concerning money at the moment. i know there is always someone worse off than you, but i have alwaysworried about money and now i have a proper reason to! i cant see what i can cut back on

Is this NTL/Virgin? My dh told them that they were too expensive & was going elsewhere, was chatting for about an hour - but eventually learnt there is a dept called retention/retainers - and in about 1 minute of speaking to the right person they halved the cost of 4meg broadband & free phone calls all times to £19.99. Worth a go?

I pay £17.50 a week for 2.5 hours ironing - I saw her advert in the Rural Trader which is a magazine advertising local services that drops through the door. Do you have something similar?

Also you or dh should check through work personnel if they operate the child care voucher scheme, if you are not claiming working child tax credit. Without going into all the details, you can save up to £1200 on childcare costs by saving on the tax you pay.

And if you get free phone calls no need to text unless of course you're addicted to the joys of text

moneysavingexpert.com has a section where you set aside several hours and go through your finances with a fine toothcomb. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's supposed to be a bit of a one-off and save you £100s.