Dipping my toe in

jayss

Been lurking a few weeks, ready to get started.
Its not an unmanageable debt but it is far, far too much and I have been
sticking my head in the sand.

The Debt is mostly due to a couple of periods of unemployment,
recent relocation for new job and a holiday(which i needed but oh so should never have spent so much),
and much as hate to admit it probably just spending too much, using the card when I shouldnt....

Now I'm almost settled, new job, new home(have keys, move in at weekend), its time I started facing it, tackling it and eliminating it for good.

SOA posted below, I should be able to tighten my budget.
But will need to redo a few months down the line when I know what things cost and what I'm actually spending.

Am in process of moving into new build rental flat hence no idea about electric and water bills.
Electric, have clause in tennancy that says if I change it have to change it back when I leave so hope it will be competative already.
If I have underestimated wildly do shout (1 person in 1 bed flat, all electric).

Groceries and going out I'll be working on, having moved out of london I'm
not sure what I will be spending or is reasonable to be spending. Living alone means I'll be cooking more (no flatmate hogging kitchen all weekend) and so eating out less.
Also my new job has (so far) much more reasonable hours so no buying food on way home and wasting what was in fridge.
But I have minimal supplies to move in with and will need to create a store cupboard.

There are still things I could do with furniture wise, I'll
manage for now but may have some more spending to do.

Once I've been working 6months I'll be applying for interest free cards.

Have been lurking for a bit, so thanks for all the help so far.
Especially for all the cashback talk, have
some due (£100 just for broadband whoop) and have started trying the daily clicks. Not yet found the free scratchies. Also loving the cheap cleaning/laundry options on the old fashioned board. Think I best look to join a grocery challenge and also learn more about meal planning/cooking/freezing etc.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1955.24 *Approx april onward, Will be higher this month as no tax
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1955.24
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 495* rises to 585 in september
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 103.76*based on this year and assumed band and 10months
Electricity............................. 25* No idea yet i may be way off
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25* No idea yet i may be way off
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 30
Groceries etc. ......................... 200* Based on former working lifestyle - spent far less when not working.
Clothing................................ 50* Usually zero but trying to be realistic many of my work clothes are coming to the end.
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 65
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15* Contact lenses currently suspended as have loads to use up.
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20* Still getting quotes but is hard as many comparison sites do not recognise my postcode yet
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1258.76

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card mbna...............9901.55...250.......15
overdraft......................2000......0.........0 Not sure of rate, its not hefty, am within limit(3k).
family.........................1500......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........13401.55..250.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,955.24
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,258.76
Available for debt repayments........... 696.48
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 250
Amount left after debt repayments....... 446.48
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,401.55
Net Assets.............................. -13,401.55
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

RAS

Hi

First thing to do is to join your local group on www.freecycle.org and then get the bits you need for the flat and clothes for nothing.

Second thing is to cut your ents budget.

Then play with the snowball on www.whatsthecost.com so you understand the impact of paying and extra £100 per month off your debts and how much money that will save you.

jayss

Thanks

Without a car freecycle is a bit hard, have used it to get rid of things in the past.

Entertainment will be reduced, have couple of commitments in april and july(arranged before leaving previous job) but saying no to everything else.
Will need to go out some, as need to meet people other than work collegues.

Horace

£200 on food is a lot, i live on my own in a 3 bedroom flat that is all electric too. If I have a visitor staying over then my budget goes up a bit but then that person does contribute and will even buy the shopping especially if I plan it right and run out before they come:rotfl: I guess that I would spend no more than £50 a month and there are times when I spend less. There are two items that I have got that are the best - my freezer which is full, I buy meat from my local butcher and always bulk cook so I have made up my own tv dinners. The other thing is a Standard Remoska - the ladies over on the Moneysaving Oldstyle board keep going on about them so I got one, what a boon it is, although its electric it doesnt use up much electricity and you can cook most things in it.:D

£200 on entertainment is a massive amount - why not look on the freebies board as sometimes they mention free cinema tickets. if you get Martin's weekly email then that normally has meal deals on it which helps when you go to the pub etc. etc.

Furniture can often be bought cheaply from charity shops and the added benefit is that they will deliver too and not charge much for delivery - so that's worth a thought if you are looking for some furniture.

If I think of anything else I will post again.

Good luck with the move.

lxpeanut

I think your electricity may be a little low. It depends on the flat but I'd say about £20-£30 a month in summer and up to £50-£60 a month in winter depending on the heating and how insulated the flat is or how cold tolerant you are . These are based on what I used to spend when I had an all electric flat with no central heating just electric fires so it might be a bit lower if you have heating or invest in some storage heaters.

jayss

Thanks, I've never had electric for heat/water so no idea what to budget, dont want a big surprise.

Not planning on using the heaters, well for a good while, hopefully the worst of the winter is gone.
The carpet is pretty thick(double layer for soundproofing) and the windows new, but it has blinds not curtains.

Last place had the worst sash windows with huge gaps and was so expensive to heat, when the heating was working :mad:

Will look for out for charity shops that can deliver :beer: dont know the area at all yet - walking round finding where everything is may keep the entertainment budget down.

Horace

My landlord has put blinds in my flat too which are ok but I don't think they work too well because it always seems to be quite bright (mind, I think that is due to the fact that all the houses over the back seem to have security lights that are on all night:rolleyes: ). So I know where you are coming from re blinds.

Waspeze

My 1 bed flat costs about £50 a month electric (averaged over a year) .. no gas either.

Also 25% council tax discount for living alone.

Swampmonster

With reference to your contents insurance;

we had the same problem as you with a new build property and the postcode not being recognised. The only one that did was cooperative insurance and the quote was really good too.

If you keep having problems with the postcode you might have to tell them the plot number and development name instead as it is very often totally different from the address. One thing I did was to take a copy of my tenency agreement down to the local royal mail sorting office and check they had got my postcode recognised on there system which they hadn't. Once they put it on, it was virtually always recognised after that. ( very useful when you need things delivered and the drivers are using satnav!)

Hope this helps

Swampmonster

rubyslipper

Hey Jayss

Just wanted to give your thread a little bump and to say I hope you're doing OK. Keep posting and let us know how you're getting on.

Ruby x

jayss

Thanks. Not much news yet, felt a bit onhold until today.

Moved in at the weekend, have a lot of unpacking to do.

Have had a nice email from royal mail (I contacted them through the postcode finder service) and they've added my flat (and loads of the other flats) to the service but said it can take a while for it to filter through to companies who use their service.

Have groceries due tonight - did through mysupermarket via topcashback to hopefully get £4 later. Spending a whopping £148, not very MSE but am starting almost from scratch and its all multiples of value stuff, shouldnt need to shop again for a good while.

Going to count up the debt total tomorrow, as get paid wednesday and its always going to be getting smaller from now on.

Still waiting to hear on council tax band, only a few have been banded and as site plan numbers are diff to address cant work out what size places have been done.