DFW diary

mm244

I thought I'd make comments on my original SOA to keep myself motivated to carry on cutting down!

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 950
this includes 2nd job & mileage allowance
Partners monthly income after tax....... 400
Self-employed plumber & things are just starting to pick up :j
Benefits................................ 0
Have phoned to ask for a working tax credit application pack (still waiting )

Total monthly income.................... 1350
We've done a couple of car boot sales & I'm going to try selling books on Amazon & use the MSE guide to ebaying.

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 570
Council tax............................. 71
Electricity............................. 113
Have applied for a cheaper tariff but have heard nothing yet. This figure includes arrears.I'm becoming more vigilant about switching things off!
Oil..................................... 0
We do have oil central heating but can manage without at the moment - don't know about the winter though!
Water rates............................. 27
This seems to be a fixed amount, not dependent on how much we use?
Telephone (land line)................... 25 Internet Services....................... 10
Will check out cheaper options for these two
Mobile phone............................ 70
Can't change tariff till November
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 17
Thinking of buying freesat box rather than paying out to sky, but as NWAngel has suggested I'm going to barter with them, see what they can offer!
Groceries etc. ......................... 260
Will definitely be checking out the boards for ideas about how to reduce this. I'm ashamed to say it includes baccy, we both roll our own but I am seeing an NHS stop smoking counsellor this week
Clothing................................ 5
This is not accurate - I haven't bought any new clothes at all this spring/summer
Petrol/diesel........................... 165
Have signed up for weekly emails from petrolprices.com & use the tesco £5 off a litre vouchers whenever possible. My job involves a lot of driving & I get 40p a mile from work, which I suppose isn't bad.
Road tax................................ 33
Car Insurance........................... 42
Will be checking if we can get them any cheaper
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
No prescription charges because we live in Wales, this is my Denplan payment which I can't stop as I have a lot of trouble with my teeth!
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
We have 2 dogs & a cat but no insurance. They're pretty healthy at the moment, if we needed the vet we'd just have to find the money from somewhere
Buildings insurance..................... 17
Contents insurance...................... 17
Life assurances ......................... 60
We're sorting these three out today
Other insurance......................... 35
This is a mortgage payment protection policy - I've cancelled the direct debit & will be writing to them today to cancel policy.
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Nothing spare at the moment for any of these - I'd love a decent haircut or a night out!
Total monthly expenses.................. 1584

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 91500

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 77000....(570)......5
Total secured debts........... 77000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Loan...........................8300......155...... .7.5
credit card....................7210......150.......15
credit card....................4500......90........16
Total unsecured debts..........20010.....395.......-
I'm going to cancel the PPIs on all these

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,350
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,584
Available for debt repayments........... -234
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 395
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -629

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 91,500
Total Secured debt...................... -77,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -20,010
Net Assets.............................. -5,510

Phew! At least I know now where to start. I always find it hard to see what are the priorities & baby steps work for me...so insurances today - that'll save quite a bit.

milliemonster

you look like you're on top of your SOA here, well done for making such a positive start!

You say your income of £950 a month includes a 2nd job, is that right? surely you can't even be on the minimum wage here???

Chase up your working tax credits, also could you be entitled to council tax benefit here aswell?

mm244

milliemonster wrote: »

you look like you're on top of your SOA here, well done for making such a positive start!

You say your income of £950 a month includes a 2nd job, is that right? surely you can't even be on the minimum wage here???

Chase up your working tax credits, also could you be entitled to council tax benefit here aswell?

Thanks milliemonster - both jobs are part time - I forgot to mention that! One's 18.75 hours p.w., the other just 6 hrs - both pretty well paid for rural Wales I think.
I should add ten hours pw moneysaving activities to my debt-busting plan & stop watching so much big brother
When I checked entitledto.com it didn't seem we'd be eligible for council tax benefit.

hypno06

Could OH get a part time job while the plumbing picks up?

Ebay, mystery shopping, etc......check the "up your income" board for more ideas that can be easily incorporated into your normal day.

Groceries - try a storecupboard challenge, and head over to the old style board for ideas on cutting back. If this is for 2 people you can easily cut back - we have a budget of £250 for 5 of us and many people on here would say that even that is too much!

Also, have a look at the £10 a day challenge - if you can get an extra £10 a day, that is £300 or so a month which is almost half your shortfall.

mm244

What I've done so far on my road to saving a bit of money (& my sanity )

• Claimed £52.50 chequeback on my mobile
• Saved £14 p.m. on house insurance
• Sold two broken mobiles for £30 worth of M&S vouchers
• Cancelled extortionate mortgage payment protection insurance saving £35 p.m.
• Switched electricity tariff (waiting to hear from them) but perhaps should've delayed this in view of latest price hikes
• Requested working tax credit application form (again!)

Next steps:

• Stop smoking (which is costing me £76 p.m.!! :eek:) (wish me luck)
• Keep all grocery receipts to see exactly how much we spend then start proper food budget
• Check if we can use a freesat box with the sky aerial & ditch sky
• Cancel payment protection insurance on loan & credit card

Sadly neither of us can get life assurance any cheaper than we're paying now, because we're both ancient and smokers! Got loads of quotes yesterday, nothing doing

Feeling quite pleased with myself today :cheesy:

mm244

I took the plunge today & started a spending diary, gathered up all the receipts since August 1st & itemized everything. I was horrified:

• Petrol for my car: £55.79
• Diesel for OH's car: £30.07
• Tobacco (both of us): £22.81
• Booze (both of us): £17.98
• Food & household stuff: £57.18
• Cash withdrawal: £10 (have no idea what this went on)

Grand total for just 9 days: £193.83 - it's ridiculous.
Note to self: Get a grip!

mm244

my spending today: nada!