Staying on the thin and narrow

cashwise_2

Hi

Thanks to those all those with diaries on here, after reading them, I feel it may be my last hope of staying disciplined. I tend to go between being too harsh and then very laid back with expenditure etc.

I got into debt for a number of reasons stupid reasons, nothing valid and little to show for it. I finally want to be honest with myself and track whether or not I am making progress......

So here goes

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2000

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 11.65
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Personal Allowance...................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 966.65

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan 1.........................16705.....300.......7.4
Loan 2.........................6800......290.......0
Card 1.........................3060......60........10
Overdraft AnL £5 pcm...........1500......0.........0
Card 2.........................3000......90........4
Total unsecured debts..........31065.....740.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,000
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 966.65
Available for debt repayments........... 1,033.35
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 740
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 293.35

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -31,065
Net Assets.............................. -31,065

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

hypno06

Ok, so you show a surplus "on paper" but I guess that the reality is very different.

Get yourself a note book and for the next few weeks write down absolutely everything that you spend......see where the money is really going to - then you can tackle it and reduce it.

Also, have a play with the snowball calculator on https://www.whatsthecost.com .

Lucifa73

I think you may have missed a few things - clothes, morning coffee sops, magazines, nights out, Christmas, birthdays, hobbies, home/contents insurance....? A spending diary is definitely a good idea.

Sunny_Donny

Hi Cashwise
Come over to Moneysaving Old Style Board and look at recipes and ways to reduce your food budget and enter the grocery Challenge for August - read July's posts and you will see how it works. Everyone is friendly and will help as much as they can

cashwise_2

Thank you all for the advice. Hypno, I will do that, I have tried to keep a spending diary and when I see I am spending significant amounts, I abandon it...not good I know. I will endevour to put all my costs here so I don't cheat.

Lucifa, I don't have home and contents insurance. The clothes, birthdays etc I thought could come out of the £100 - do you think I'm being too strict on myself? I am quite good these days (fingers crossed it will last) and I tend to use the clothes I have accumulated and buy the odd thing.

I do spend about a fiver on chocolate, coffee magazines etc which I have left out. I will post my expenses as I go along

cashwise_2

Thanks Sunny Donny, I have lurked there before but have not been good enough to do menu planning etc. Will check it out and try to do a menu plan so I only buy what I need. Food is a major weakness. Funny thing is, I have never bought a pre-cooked meal, always make things from scratch but for some reason I buy too much food and tbh have never really tracked exactly how much I spend on it.

Will let you know how I get on with the challenges you suggested and menuplanning

sidnee

What about Internet? Do you own a car?? (i.e. Car Tax/Insurance/Petrol/MOT) Is water included in your rent? Groceries are most certainly too high... You could halve that easily. A&L Overdraft £5pcm? Does this needs to be added to the Monthly cost of this debt?

You really need to write down everything you spend to the final penny, and update the SOA accordingly. Go through each category and ask yourself "Do I spend money on this?".... Sometimes you don't recall you actually do...

There's a fine line between being too harsh and then falling back into the same trap as a reaction. There's loads of ways of making the situation more bearable!

Lucifa73

cashwise wrote: »

Thank you all for the advice. Hypno, I will do that, I have tried to keep a spending diary and when I see I am spending significant amounts, I abandon it...not good I know. I will endevour to put all my costs here so I don't cheat.

Lucifa, I don't have home and contents insurance. The clothes, birthdays etc I thought could come out of the £100 - do you think I'm being too strict on myself? I am quite good these days (fingers crossed it will last) and I tend to use the clothes I have accumulated and buy the odd thing.

I do spend about a fiver on chocolate, coffee magazines etc which I have left out. I will post my expenses as I go along

£100 a month might be enough for those things - I don't know how many birthday/xmas presents you need to buy.

I do think the key thing is to know what you are actually spending and where rather than just have a general 'extras' pot that you think should be right. Once you get to grips with what you spend on you can then work out where you can save.

cashwise_2

Thanks Sidney and Lucifa. My partner pays for the items you mention including all car expenses. I'll add the £5 for A and L and as Lucifa says I think I am estimating some of those things rather than putting exact amounts. Will log my expenses and redo the SOA in a few weeks time to incorporate those things. I tend to go on waves of being quite good with plenty of NSD to waves of going out and spending alot!! On a good wave at the minute so will see how it pans out

wish me luck

Lucifa73

cashwise wrote: »

Thanks Sidney and Lucifa. My partner pays for the items you mention including all car expenses. I'll add the £5 for A and L and as Lucifa says I think I am estimating some of those things rather than putting exact amounts. Will log my expenses and redo the SOA in a few weeks time to incorporate those things. I tend to go on waves of being quite good with plenty of NSD to waves of going out and spending alot!! On a good wave at the minute so will see how it pans out

wish me luck

I still have good weeks and bad weeks but since MSE I find they are a little less in the extremes:p

cashwise_2

Time to report my expenses. Spent 2.00 yesterday as I was starving and didn't have time to prepare something, better than the takeaway that would have cost about £7-10. Spent £106 today shopping at a cash and carry - I do this once evey 6 months or year and stock up on washing powder, toilet paper, washing up liquid, rice, pasta, vegetable oil, olive oil etc. This is included in the £200 per month I put in my budget which should be slightly less over the next few months. Also spent 10 on Meat and £21 on veg, bread etc. Will be bulk cooking. Also spent 80p on water.

Total spend yesterday - 2.00
Total spend today - 137.80