A packet of 10 and a 2 litre bottle of diet coke please

savingholmes

mammamia2 wrote: »

Monthly income after tax................ 615
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 480
Other income............................ 200
Total monthly income.................... 1295


Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 15
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 39 Look at changing suppliers perhaps thro quidco - I moved to talktalk at £17 per month which includes internet and phone - can be paid upto £50 for doing that in cash back (approx 3 months later)
Mobile phone............................ 40 Too high - you need to look at downgrading your contract - ring them up and see if they will - explain that you are struggling to pay - they would rather downgrade your deal than give you stuff for free. Failing that you may be able to sell it with your contract...
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 360 If there are only 2 of you and 1 of them is only 6, you must be able to make significant savings here. I spend that on 4 of us including Xmas presents, luxuries etc (that I shouldn't be buying either!:o ) I've been doing the downshift challenge where you go down a brand as far as you can until or unless you are uncomfortable... or in the case of my DD she will eat Heinz spag bol 80p but not stores own at 35p but then she won't eat mine either! There are other things tho that I've downgraded without anyone noticing. I've downgraded to value mince beef etc and sieve off the fat.... The biggest tip is to make sure you have plenty of milk and bread in so you are less tempted to nip to the shop!
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 30 If this is all you spend a month which I doubt - perhaps you should consider selling it as with insurance etc you will spend way more than this. Can you manage with just public transport for now?
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15 check out whether you are getting everything you are entitledto at entitledto
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20 use the £10 a day challenge to try and raise money for this
Haircuts................................ 10 - Can you get a student to cut your hair and reduce the price? Or get a friend to help you with dyeing your hair etc?
Entertainment........................... 50 Can you cut this down to more like £5 per week - I go out to the pub with a friend and buy a pudding and a drink 1 week in 2 for upto £7. Use the demotivator (on the right hand side to work out what your luxuries are costing you - in this case £600 on entertainment when you owe £11K??? You could bring your DFD forward significantly if you halved the spend here / stay within budget!;)
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1285

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
Dmp/ payplan...................11000.....43........0
Total unsecured debts..........11000.....43........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,295
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,285
Available for debt repayments........... 10
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 43
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -33

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,000
Net Assets.............................. -11,000


So there it is does not look to bad on paper but believe me it never plans out like this ! my car expenses (except tax) and my t.v. license is kindly paid for by my parents which i am very grateful for and really want to pay for myself but they insist . My groceries includes the daily packet of 10 (tut tut!).

This is a basic SOA as i do get housing benefit and commission which i have not included as income as these things are always changing and are not a set amount .

Hope that helps - not intended as criticism just some guidance on areas you could target... Good luck!

I worked out using the demotivator that I spent £2850 on luxuries a year! It is improving!

Numpty_Monkey

The lanline/internet package is dear i pay £16 a month broadband landline free local and national rate evening and weekend calls (reminder to self get a timmer )
You could be getting to a good time to renegotiate your mobile contract , like most companies they like new customers don't like to lose customers, the ones in the middle can get stuffed
Daily clicks are a way of earning free money not a lot and takes sometime
but if you do it for a plan like next christmas no reason you can't have a few extra hundred pounds in cash or vouchers
Eagerlearner has a thread about it and will send you a list

LoopyLinz

mammamia2 wrote: »

hi loopy linz ,

I try to be a domestic goddess only between the hours of 9am-3.30pm when daughter is wrecking the classroom instead of our house . I have been lurking in the old style thread but again dont know what to do first it is like being in a sweet shop .

Hi Mammamia

I know what you mean! Although I post on there occassionally I havent joined any challenges yet. Was considering the grocery challenge. At least that has boundaries I set myself. If you know what I mean? If you want I would be more than happy to try to help you out with this one? Maybe we could help each other! Have tried (where possible) to move down a brand, or two in some cases. So far havent really found anything bad.......think I have to hold my hands up and admit Im a packaging snob! lol! So what I do is move the stuff from the packaging into storage containers.

Maybe with the mobile contract you could try calling them to see if there is anything they could offer? Suppose you have nothing to loose.

Will pop back if I can think of anything else

Linz xoxox

Barneysmom

HI mamamia, I'm not going to nag you to stop smoking, only you can do that. But you could save buy rolling your own. We do that nad save loads.
Instead of 20 ciggys beteween us a day, we now use 2 50g packs of tobacco.
Coke is bad.
Coke is bad.
Coke is bad.
It'll rot your teeth hun xxxx

mammamia2

thanks for all your comments really appreciate it .

I am stuck with the telephones . I have phoned 3 mobile and they say that i cannot change contract till dec 09 or i could pay £300+ to cancel (are they having a laugh :rotfl: ) However it was not a wasted phone call as found out i am paying an add on for internet service at £2.50 and a £4.00 non direct debit charge every month ( £4.00 for 3 bits of paper !!!!) worked out at around 70 a year as one of you said i could sell it but where do i start .

As for he landline and internet it is actually £59 a month but as it was a gift from parents for x-mas last year they pay the £20 internet bit or a year i am in contract with BT till x-mas this year then I am going to have to change .

I know coke is bad bad bad but least i will be shiny on the inside well not really if i smoke 10 a day ............it was worth a try though .:p

Although entertainment seem high i dont actually go out to pubs and clubs this is for daughters friends presents /her days out actually thinking about it it is way too high .:rolleyes:

Cant get rid of the car !!! I need it and probably do put more than £30 in petrol .

Hands up i do spend way too much on food . i am off to asda in the morning with a strict £50 budget .:cool:

I am just loving these faces :T

jenjade

as you have spent to much on food in the past can you got through the cupboards freezer etc and use up some stuff rathre than buying more i did this for a few weeks and it saved me a fortune. my shopping budget is £150 for one adult and a 6 year old that covers food washing power tolietried etc seems to be working ok i am still trying to reduce it a bit by problem was storing to much food in my house and my love for special offers.

if i was you i would write a list of all the things you need to look at doing like quidco etc and then try to do one a day also e bay is great for selling stuff so is amazon.
good luck

Willsnarf1983

Barneysmom wrote: »

HI mamamia, I'm not going to nag you to stop smoking, only you can do that. But you could save buy rolling your own. We do that nad save loads.
Instead of 20 ciggys beteween us a day, we now use 2 50g packs of tobacco.
Coke is bad.
Coke is bad.
Coke is bad.
It'll rot your teeth hun xxxx

lol i like how you point out coke is bad but cigarettes....nah there fine

Will

too_much_debt

Hi

I am addicted to Cadbury's Dairy Milk and Pepsi Max. I keep saying I'm not going to buy the Dairy Milk anymore but when I go into Iceland and there is a big bar of if for £2 I do tend to pick one up if I've run out, but I'm NOT going to do that any more (hopefully) problem is I have no will power, but £2 say twice a week is £4 so that is £16 a month and that is way too much so definitely not going to buy it any more.

The Pepsi Max in Iceland is only £1 a bottle rather than £1.60 in Tesco so I do treat myself but not as often as the Dairy Milk.

Note to self - I Must Not Buy Dairy Milk Chocolate!!! Am getting a bit sick of it now anyway.

Barneysmom

Ah man the Dairy Milk addiction
I have it and I'm not ashamed at all - we have to support our national companies at the moment................:rotfl:

mammamia2

Right ho here goes !

I got this weeks working tax credit today and withdrew it all from the bank. i asked the cashier if i could have £40 of it in £5 notes so that i could have a fiver a day and i am going to put one £5 note in my purse at the beginning of each day and leave the rest at home if it is not there then i cant spend it :cool:

been food shopping as well I have a £50 budget for this week and believe it or not got all that i needed for £30.00 in asdas and £6.00 in butchers (not sure if butchers was "cheap" . pound and half of mince and 2 chicken breasts hmm! ) . Also realised that i needed wood chip,food and hay for rabbit costing £4.05 this came out of the food budget have no idea why as i will not be eating it !:D still have about £8 left which is good as i am having a few friends round on friday and this can be used for pizzas anyone know of any good supermarket deals on pizzas at the moment ??

Managed to pay the rest of the council tax i owe from last month and a bit off the £40.00 rent outstanding from last month :T :T

Also got daughter one of her birthday presents which is now cleverly hidden inside a suitcase at the back of the ironing cupboard :rotfl:

oh and i popped in to lidl and picked up a italian cake for just under £4 which was fantastic as they cost near £20 in carluccios (the only place i know they sell them which is near me ) :j

my £5 for today is nearly all gone £2.88 on cigarettes and 99p on a little wallet/folder thing with sections to split up my money .Envelopes probably would have done the job .:rolleyes: so i will be in budget for today if i do not step outside the house .

Going now to crack on with the letter to reclaim bank charges . I am scared