My SOA - any advice?

want2bmortgage3

This is the problem:
Febuary Outs
Mortgage £644.40
Council tax £0 (paid 10 installments get 2 months free)
Home insurance £13.43
Landline £12.00
Mobile phone £0 (cancelled DD but got £20 bill to pay)
Gas £135.40 (3 months)
Elec £76.29 (3 months)
Water £0 (paid up last month)
Food £104.29
Petrol £80.00
car tax £101.75 (ran out end feb had to renew)
Internet £12.23
entertainment £2.93
diy £8.31
mortgage overpayments £100.00
OUTGOINGS £1,291.03
INCOME £1085.21
Balance Feb: -£205.82

Debt_Free_Chick

Febuary Outs
Mortgage £644.40
Council tax £0 (paid 10 installments get 2 months free)
Home insurance £13.43
Landline £12.00 Only £10.50 in your budget
Mobile phone £0 (cancelled DD but got £20 bill to pay)
Gas £135.40 (3 months) Only £15 in your budget or £45 for three months
Elec £76.29 (3 months) £20 in your budget or £60 for three months
Water £0 (paid up last month )
Food £104.29 £80 in your budget
Petrol £80.00
car tax £101.75 (ran out end feb had to renew) £15.42 in your budget
Internet £12.23 £7.50 in your budget
entertainment £2.93 nothing in your budget
diy £8.31 Nothing in your budget
mortgage overpayments £100.00 Nothing in your budget

Your budget needs to accurately reflect what you need to spend - gas is a good example. There's no point in having £15 a month in your budget when your bill for three months suggests that you need to allow something like £45!!

When you have amounts in your budget to pay for future bills e.g. gas, leccy, car tax etc - you need to put these amounts into a savings account so you have the money ready when the bill comes in. As you've just paid all those bills in February, now is a good time to start this.

Whilst overpaying your mortgage is no bad thing, it can't happen with money you don't have. You would be better putting any surplus you have into the savings account first and building up a buffer fund for unforeseen emergencies.

You need to tweak your budget and then spend only in line with your budget. Once you start spending money that isn't in your budget, you know you're going to be "in trouble". This is why an emergency fund is an absolute must - it's where you would have found the money to spend on entertainment and DIY.

Update your budget first and aim for it to be achievable i.e. a realistic reflection of what you need to spend/save every month to pay all your normal bills.

HTH