Monday 22 July 2013

The s**t has indeed hit the fan.....

Well we had a good run...... Now my youngest dd is no longer getting DLA our Working Tax credit has been totally slashed....and we had an overpayment (which we told them about but were told to wait until the renewal!!!!) and the way they work is our claim will only go this year until August (when dd would have left school) but we advised them that she is staying on and it will be a new claim from them - upshot is they are taking all our overpayment from the remaining few months claims so we are dropping a huge amount..and when its re-instated even then its a massive drop from what we were getting... Been working at our out goings for the last few days and have slashed dhs mobile bill from £27 per month to £8 and dds bill from £20 to £8 too. I have also saved £30 over the year by not getting paper bills too. Cancelled Napster (plenty free music out there! lol) saving £15 per month. I am currenlty on Weight Watchers (lost 4 stone in jut under a year) but as I know the diet inside out I am going to get weighed at my eldest dds house (I dont own scales!) before she goes to Weight watchers and cancel that dd - saving another £21 per month. So thats £55 per month savings....If we are not going out so much I have cut back on our petrol allowances If I can manage on £250 for groceries for the month we will have enough to pay our bills and I can also reduce some of the money I put aside for my Freedom account (basically pots of money I fund every month - Birthdays, Xmas, Household, Car Repairs, Holidays and Emergencys)but continue to fund the pots for Car Insurance, Road Tax but there will be no extras. However, dh has a wee job but is sporadic money (its a renumeration for chairing meetings)so that money will be used for entertainment and clothes. Groceries are challenging - I have been buying seperate stuff for my diet but will have to start looking for cheaper alternatives - dh has a dodgy stomach and dd is a bit fussy so it will be a working in progress but £250 is the maximum I have and thats it - great if I can cut it down as that extra money can be used on something else - I have £84 to last me until the end of the month for food which is good - and we did an inventory of all our cupboards and freezers and the only thing we have to buy this week is milk, eggs and we have run out of fabric conditioner but will use vinegar instead! I did this years ago when paying off our debts but gradually we got more money and you live up to your lifestyle. We had savings we can dip into if needed but I will be happy if we can just manage on the money we have but I know its going to be hard at first. So watch this blog for cheap and cheerful recipes and ideas of frugal things to do!!!

2 comments:

  1. Sorry you have had to go thru this mess. Are there any local farms or markets where you can access produce cheaper? can you grow anything at home? know anyone with a garden who is exploding with things such as zucchini and who is looking to give it away?

    Just some thoughts. Frugal bootcamp here as well.

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  2. At least you know how to cope and should be okay with lots of forward planning and understanding from the family.

    Sometimes I wonder how many notches we can tighten our belts by before something truly snaps.

    Wishing you lots of luck with your future tighter budget, it sounds like you have made a brilliant start.

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