Over Bills

I am a Mum to two- DS 20mths and DD 6 wks, I have been an at home Mum. We have just moved house and my DH changed jobs, slight pay decrease a move that should pay off long/medium term. I went through our bills last night - whilst we have $18K in savings and only debt is Mortgage - our bills nearly are our full income...I am soo sick of bills going up. The only luxury is Sky - movies and sport, but we very rarely go out so this is our entertainment. Yes we eat well and I can bring our food bill down, but otherwisee I am stuck. Looks like I may have to go back to wok and pay for two kids in childcare which means Id have to get a great paying job to make it worth while...
Our mortgage is $270K approx so $440/wk, food $200pw, sky $90/mth, other bills rates, petrol, power, water, phone etc i have gone through and yes we can cut food, we dont need sky - but thats our entertainment, we have 2 cars but mine seldomly used, ds goes to one activity per week at $75/term, otherwise we do free stuff, we do have internet at home, but have family overseas so use it for skype plus my dh work - so otherwise what cann we cut back on....so depressing....oh and we are fully insured ie house contents car income health etc

can you lump sum $10k OFf your mortgage and get the payments down lower? have you got them set up weekly automatic payments (or fortnightly depending on DH pay)

have you looked at http://www.workingforfamilies.govt.nz/


have you applied for the $1200 rebate you get when you haev a newborn?

http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/9/8/982d938045f5f783a3f9bb7747109566/ir271.pdf

$270K is a large mortgage to repay off one income, IS IT FIXED TERM? Maybe talk to bank to look at options like float some and fix some.?? we just lump summed some off ours is now down to $100K and its helped lots also on floating rate at mo which has made a difference as was fixed at 7.5% before that

Have you thought about ditching sky and hiring dvds instead ? Our local has a day where you can get weekly movies for $1 and days where new releases are 2 for 1. I used to spend $6 a week for dvds for thw kids and us.

Also it'd be worth looking at selling your car if you don't use it very often. Depending on where you lie and what public transport is like in your area.

Only buy veges/fruit that are in season.

Like Kebekat said, there are loads of ways to save money / cut down f you're willing.

This is a really good budget worksheet. Good luck :D

I agree with shopping around. Also your internet can you cut it back at all? To a smaller plan I mean. Does food include groceries/other items?

Pretty much what MamaT said we did too. And as there is only 3 of us we have $130 a week now for groceries - meat, vegies/fruit, toilet paper and whatever else we need and every few weeks we get dishwashing liquid, shampoo, soap and other minor bits and bobs too. But on special, in season and shop around for good deals too. I don't buy the most expensive things either. I don't care about the brand/label.

blossombaby wrote: I can't beleibe you guys that spend around $100 at the supermarket i have tried so hard and just can not get it down - tho most of ours is time - we both work fulltime i'm gone from 7.30am till 5.30pm so don't have alot of time to prepare my own sauces etc. it also alwasy cost me around $50 more if i take hubby

I don't take DP. He easily adds Money to ur groceries. I do buy one or 2 extras if things are on special but basically I get the cheapest milk in the size I want (unfortunately DD is dairy free so I have 2 buy 2 cartens of rice milk a week too which is about $7), I get the cheapest 18 pack of loo paper x2 a week, I do use cloth but I also use sposies at night and sometimes during the day but again buy the cheapest pack. Wipes - none I use separate face cloths I have set aside. I only buy the fruit and veges I need and in season. I do buy sauce mixes but again I got for the cheaper brands.

I also do meal plans too so I stick to what I need and not what I don't need. We are only a family of 3 but we all eat the same and at the same time and you need to be really disciplined. Sure there are lots of things I want and would love to get but I don't unless there is enough left over after I have all the essientials. Oh and no fizzy either. We want something sweet we have juice mix.

We don't have sky - we paid an extra $20/month to get unlimited broadband and download movies etc instead.