mothers on the verge

And... I spent nothing! Oh, except for £2 in the collection plate at church (God doesn't hand out receipts so you'll have to take my word for it.) What I have done, however, is figure out the weekly cost of each of the direct debits that fly out of the joint bank account (actually, I'll come clean - I made Alpha work it out for me). I'm not sure if all this comes under 'housing' which by the rules of the game are not included, along with income tax and childcare (you can read the original post here ). However, the UK is so brilliant at applying stealth taxes it would be financially foolish to ignore them. Here goes: Council Tax: £39.23 House contents insurance: £5 Car insurance: £7.69 Road tax: £16 Congestion charge: £16 Service charge: £35 School lunches (for two children): £11.66 Gym membership (Alpha, me and the kids get to swim): £40 Utilities: £40 Telephone (landline): £4 Mobiles: £20 Cable & broadband: £7 OMG. A truly shocking total of £241.58 . And th...