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How do you afford it?

Hello all, i've been back to work now since 25th March. Summer is at nursery. We claim for Child Tax Credit and this has now been reduced down to ??75 a week (it was ??100). Summer's nursery is ??620 per month. We have mortgage, bills, credit cards etc all over an outgoing of about ??1,000 amonth. My wage alone can just about cover the outgoings although i do use the Child Benefit. My OH's wage goes on food shoppping which is huge and he then pays ??150 a week towards Summer's nursery fees. We are really really struggling. The Child Tax for this year works out on my wage being maternity of about ??8,000 so next year it's going to go down again.

How the hell do you survive? Any tips to save money will be great. I need my wage for mortgage etc so it's not an option to give up work as i can't see that i would get my wage if i gave up work. I can reduce Summer's nursery fee down as i'll put her in nursery at 9-5 instead of 8 -6, just means i'll have to work my dinner hour.

How are you coping?

Replies

  • firstly, look at why the food bill is huge & see about cutting out brand names. If only 3 of you in the house then no more than 60 per week should be enough with extra once a month for toiletries/cleaning products. Try cutting out fancy brands & going for supermarket own or budget brands. It was proven on the money show that things like sainsburys package fresh meat is exactly the same as their own budget range with the only differnce being the packaging & not having the fat removed prior to packaging. Same for some brand tins of food, there isn't much in a tin of baked beans & lo wont notice if it was heinz or asda anyway. Swap frozen meat fillets instead of fresh, buy somethings end of day when supermarkets are getting rid of some things cheap cause near sell buy date, then eat for dinner that night.

    All little things that will & can save you money. Look at how much & what you throw away then stop buying so much or that thing.

    What do you both spend on lunch, do you buy from a sandwich shop every day? Try having home made luch 3 times a week & shop bought 2 times as a treat. I used to spend approx 6 pounds per day on lunch then started bringing in home made or tin of soup & a sandwich from home, total cost per day ??1.50. Massive difference.

    Secondly, see about getting a loan to pay off all credit cards & reduce the monthly outgoings on that, then cut the cards up. Only buy what you can afford to with money in the current account. Start thinking "If you can't afford it, you dont' need it".
    Credit cards are the most expensive form of borrowing so get rid of them.

    See if either you or oh get childcare vouchers through work. I recently took this option on my compensation package & they amount to ??248 per month tax free, making a saving of 99 pounds per month compared to if I pay after my taxed salary, as I am on a higher tax bracket. Both of you can claim for one child if your companies both do it, meaning you could potentionally be saving nearly 200 per month in tax payments depending on your tax code.

    Then there is the obvious ones, like smoking or drinking, if either or both of you smoke, try to stop or cut down, see the gp, you can get patches on prescription which will be cheaper than the fags. I stopped 4 years ago when I realsied that I could't afford to smoke & buy a house. !!

    Look at your or oh's drinking, for example, if oh goes to the pub 3 times a week & spends around 20 quid a go, then that is 240 per month. All money pissed away (literally image)

    Hope some of these tips help? image

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