🗳️ ELECTION 2024: THE MSE LEADERS' DEBATE Got a burning question you want us to ask the party leaders ahead of the general election? Post them on our dedicated Forum board where you can see and upvote other users' questions, or submit your suggestions via this form. Please note that the Forum's rules on avoiding general political discussion still apply across all boards.
Time to be an adult I think . . .
Options
karmachilovething
Posts: 739 Forumite
So a little introduction. I've been a (very) peripheral member for a while now, but I've come to the conclusion that I need to actually be pro-active about tackling my debts, rather than just hoping it will happen by osmosis!
I'm single, living in a shared house (which helps with the bills), and my weaknesses are the obvious clothes, shoes and socialising. The SOA is a little deceptive on the amount spent on drinking in and out, as I have been studying for professional exams up until a couple of weeks ago. I suspect this might end up creeping up in the next few months if I'm not careful!
I'm not in massive amounts of debt, about £950 on a credit card, and £2300 overdraft, but I've had these debts since I finished University three years ago, and they fluctuate how bad they are but I never really get anywhere with them. Or at least that's how I feel. I'd like to get control of the debts and feel like I'm moving in the right direction.
So. here's my SOA. Comments appreciated but please be gentle!:o
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380.85
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.50
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
I put these under Food/Household below
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.50
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.35
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.50
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
This is the minimum repayment level, so clearing debt at glacial pace!
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
I do put £75 into a savings account every month, but it always end up comng out again later.
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.50
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.88
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.86
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.00
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Arts Council Wales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.15
Gifts General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.80
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380.85
Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,407.54
I'm single, living in a shared house (which helps with the bills), and my weaknesses are the obvious clothes, shoes and socialising. The SOA is a little deceptive on the amount spent on drinking in and out, as I have been studying for professional exams up until a couple of weeks ago. I suspect this might end up creeping up in the next few months if I'm not careful!
I'm not in massive amounts of debt, about £950 on a credit card, and £2300 overdraft, but I've had these debts since I finished University three years ago, and they fluctuate how bad they are but I never really get anywhere with them. Or at least that's how I feel. I'd like to get control of the debts and feel like I'm moving in the right direction.
So. here's my SOA. Comments appreciated but please be gentle!:o
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380.85
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.50
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
I put these under Food/Household below
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.50
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.35
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.50
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
This is the minimum repayment level, so clearing debt at glacial pace!
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
I do put £75 into a savings account every month, but it always end up comng out again later.
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.50
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.88
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.86
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.00
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Arts Council Wales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.15
Gifts General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.80
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380.85
Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,407.54
Total debt: [STRIKE]£9473.62[/STRIKE] £7,384.87 22% PAID
TAF #25 NSD 8/12 | Food £43.45/£50 | eBay 0/20 | Exercise 5/18
:T Proud to be Dealing with my Debt :T
DFD: June 2015
0
Comments
-
Hi Karma and welcome to DFWland.
It's a good job you had your lightbulb moment now as you are already getting more and more into debt each month by the tune of at least £27.
Your gas and electric are high but I guess you can't do too much about that living in shared accommodation unless you run round after everyone else turning everything off (might p1ss them off a bit if you're invading their personal space!).
How many people are sharing? Is it just two? If more then your rent seems high too.
Motoring/Public transport seems high too. Would it be cheaper to ditch public transport and just use your car? Otherwise your car is costing a lot for the amount of miles you use it for.
£116 for entertainment seems too much. Can you cut back on the eating/drinking out?
Over £200 on clothes, haircuts and beautification? You must be georgous! lol Do you really need any more new clothes? Can you sell some of the clothes you have? Could you use your local college for your beauty treatments and hairdressing?
Can you also knock down your Christmas, Birthday, Other gifts from £36 down to £25 max?
Regarding savings, maybe £75 is excessive. If you knock this down to something like £15-£20, it's hardly worth withdrawing it so there's more chance you won't?
Just a few comments, hope you get yourself sorted.
PooOne of Mike's Mob, Street Found Money £1.66, Non Sealed Pot (5p,2p,1p)£6.82? (£0 banked), Online Opinions 5/50pts, Piggy points 15, Ipsos 3930pts (£25+), Valued Opinions £12.85, MutualPoints 1786, Slicethepie £0.12, Toluna 7870pts, DFD Computer says NO!0 -
karmachilovething wrote: »So a little introduction. I've been a (very) peripheral member for a while now, but I've come to the conclusion that I need to actually be pro-active about tackling my debts, rather than just hoping it will happen by osmosis!
I'm single, living in a shared house (which helps with the bills), and my weaknesses are the obvious clothes, shoes and socialising. The SOA is a little deceptive on the amount spent on drinking in and out, as I have been studying for professional exams up until a couple of weeks ago. I suspect this might end up creeping up in the next few months if I'm not careful!
I'm not in massive amounts of debt, about £950 on a credit card, and £2300 overdraft, but I've had these debts since I finished University three years ago, and they fluctuate how bad they are but I never really get anywhere with them. Or at least that's how I feel. I'd like to get control of the debts and feel like I'm moving in the right direction.
So. here's my SOA. Comments appreciated but please be gentle!:o
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380.85
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.50
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
I put these under Food/Household below
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.50
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00 Are all of these in addition to your rent? Normally included in shared accomodation
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.35
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.50
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
This is the minimum repayment level, so clearing debt at glacial pace!
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
I do put £75 into a savings account every month, but it always end up comng out again later.
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.50
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00 This is quite high - could you cut down?
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.88
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.86
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.00 This really needs looking at. Could you cut back? Surely if you could then you could pay your debts off much quicker. £105 on clothes per month is a LOT. Also beauty treatments/haircuts...cut back?
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Arts Council Wales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.15 Monthly cost or a one off of £39?
Gifts General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.80
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380.85
Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,407.54
As in red above:beer: If I say something you like....Please hit the thanks button :beer:0 -
Hi there.
The SOA isn't too bad it just seems the clothes, beautifying and optical stuff seems to be bleeding a good bit of money away. Just because it's disposable income doesn't mean you should throw it away you know!
Join the £100 clothing challenge on here, that should free up enough to make a dent in the debt.
My daughter is a trainee beauty therapist and they are crying out for clients. The prices are half salon prices and all work is supervised, they even do evening appointments up to 8pm so give your local college a try, you could easily half that beauty bill.
Optical... wouldn't a new pair of trendy glasses work out cheaper in the long run?
Trim a bit here and a bit there, you don't need to go into full on war ration mode, but freeing up some money starts the debt ball rolling in the opposite direction.
All the best.
bb0 -
Thanks everybody!
I always knew that clothes were an issue, but the beauty bill really took me by surprise:eek: Will definitely be checking out my local college.
Poo, I'm shared with 3 others, and yes the rent is high in absolute terms, but unfortunately Oxford is horribly expensive for rent and we actually have a pretty good deal believe it or not! When I was looking for a room most places were a good £100 higher than I'm paying now, and not inclusive either Char-student.
It's pretty clear where the cuts need to be made.
Right, I'm off to join the £100 clothes challenge!
Total debt: [STRIKE]£9473.62[/STRIKE] £7,384.87 22% PAIDTAF #25 NSD 8/12 | Food £43.45/£50 | eBay 0/20 | Exercise 5/18:T Proud to be Dealing with my Debt :TDFD: June 20150 -
I used to live in Oxford so I know your pain rent-wise!
I am in a similar situation (only my debts are higher) - been out of uni for a couple of years and just thought my debts would sort themselves out now I'm earning but have accepted that is not the case, it still takes a lot of concentrated effort despite being on an ok salary now!
Do your friends and housemates know your situation or are they also money watching? Because I find it a lot easier to save money on socialising (also my downfall!) when I'm with those of my friends who are in a similar position. We do stuff like cooking dinner at each other's houses instead of going to a restaurant and pre-drinking cheap vino then sticking to water in bars (also helps with the hangover!)
The thing I find hard is feeling like I still live like I'm on a student budget 2 years into my career which I didn't think would be the case. But I know it won't be forever and I would rather take more drastic action now and be debt free asap instead of letting it drag on into my thirties!!
Keeping a spending diary or at least writing a monthly debt total (truthful!) which you can watch coming down are the best things that I can recommend doing.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 11 Election 2024: The MSE Leaders' Debate
- 343.9K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 450K Spending & Discounts
- 236.1K Work, Benefits & Business
- 609.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173.4K Life & Family
- 248.7K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards