Colleen said:
We are a married couple with four children. I work full time earning €24000 per annum, my husband also works full time earning approx €32000 per annum. We have a mortgage paying €800 per month and our child care costs are €200 per week. We are struggling, is there anyone out there who can advise us on how to get help. I pay alot of money in tax, there was nothing for me in the last buget except for €1000 for our yougest child.
MABS is good advice but some practical measures you can look at now.
Is your current mortgage the best deal you can get? Banks are competitive these days and you may be surprised to find that you could improve on this.
Together with the mortgage, tax is usually the biggest expense. Like one of the posters suggested, are you claiming everything you can? There are a host of things you can claim relief against such as bins, pensions, mortgage,
Can you take on a second job or find income from somewhere else. Are you currently part-time or full time, could you use a skill you have at weekends or evenings?
How many cars do you have? Are they new or secondhand, do you really need them?
How many holidays do you take in the year? What type of holidays?
Do you still use Eircom for telephone calls - switch over to the low cost operators such as Tele2, much cheaper.
A great tool to budget with is Microsoft Money - it will get you thinking about spending in areas you never thought about - right down to the no. of times you visit the cinema in a year. All these things add up.
Hope the above gets you thinking
good luck