My SOA :( any help would be MUCH appreciated!

louby_lou

Hey guys,

I can't believe I'm going to be this honest and tell everyone how bad I've been.

Well I've been looking at the site and posting on other things for a long time now. After my monster blowout at Christmas (and ever since then to be honest) I have come to the realisation that I can't afford to go on this way. I am desperate to clear my outstanding debt before I finish Uni in July 2007.

First of all my situation: I am a 21 year old student on placement in my Sandwich year (paid and frittered away im afraid) and will be going back to Uni for a year in September.

My Incomings are:

Wages: £942.35 (after tax and NI)
eBay profits: approx £100 (after fees)
Mystery shopping: approx £10/month

Total = £1052.45

My Outgoings are:

Gas = £20/month
Electricity = £10/month
Rent = £300/month
Mobile phone (PAYG) = £10/month
Landline & Internet = £10/month
Food = £100/month
Work food = £25/month
Drinking & nights out = £350/month (usually more) :beer:
Travel = £60/month
Clothes / non-essential purchases = £400/month
Toiletries (makeup, shampoo, moisturiser etc) = £15/month
Other socialising = £20/month
Credit card = £50/month
eBay fees = £10/month
Friends & family commitments (birthdays/anniversaries etc) = £50/month
Petrol contribution = £5/month
Communal house purchases (toiletries etc) = £5/month
One off expenditures (gifts for others/events) = £60/month

Total = £1500.00 (oh my god) :eek:

I think that I am over estimating on this big time because obviously there will be some months when I hardly go out or don’t travel home or dont buy so many clothes etc but still this is ridiculous! I am desperate to save some money for when I plan to do my masters degree so that I do not feel pressured to work. My banking looks like this:

Cash card: +£0.01
Student account: -£1516.53 (free OD up to -£1600.00) :mad:
Current account = +£250.00 (holiday savings)
Web saver = £0.00
ISA = +£3000.00 (at 5% and I don’t want to move it)
Nationwide current account = £0.00 (for use abroad to avoid charges)
Natwest CC = -£1796.24 (at 0%) :mad:
Capital One CC = -£11.74 (at a high rate of interest but I will pay this little bit off before any is allotted)
Topshop card = £0.00

I don’t drive and intend to re-take my theory (it has now expired) and learn on a 2 week intensive course in the summer which will be about £500 (I’ve previously had about 10 lessons). I don’t want to buy a car yet so that’s not an issue for the moment. I will be moving back in with my parents for about 6 weeks in the summer (rent free thankfully) before I move into my CHEAP (lol) student house in September. :rolleyes:

I have spent a lot on my credit card (Natwest) lately and want to stop using it completely. I want to pay the balance as soon as possible and also take my student OD back into the black. I want to keep the ISA for my masters degree and intend to top it up within the next year. I have contributed my maximum into it this year so want to concentrate my wages on my debt. I will be using another £150 of my next lot of wages to take my holiday spending money up to £400 (my maximum for 2 weeks in Barbados leaving on 17th March :j ). I paid for my flight on my CC and am staying with my boyfriend in his house there so no charge for that! :cool:

I would like to start saving for next Christmas so that I am not so tempted to buy things on the CC at the last minute.

I don’t know whether I should close the capital one credit card? It has a fairly low limit (I think about £2500) but the interest is high and I never use it as I don’t even remember the pin now haha. However I have had it for years – does this positively effect my credit rating? Or should I only have my natwest which has a higher limit at about £4500? I will close the Topshop card as I have only ever used it once and paid it off in full.

Any ideas please? I know that I MUST cut back on my frivolous spending – all I have to show for this money is usually a hangover and a massive clothing and shoe collection. This month had a lot of birthdays in it and one off events so I know it is high, also I have been buying clothes for my holiday. Still there was no need to go this mental eh?! I know that I can do food shopping for the month on approx £60 as I have done it before (vegetarian and trying to lose weigh haha).

If anyone can point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it. Also any suggestions re: my accounts would be brilliant – so sorry for the long essay!

Laura xxxx

toontastic

Looks to me like you love to socialise (which student doesn't) but from your SOA you really are spending a small fortune doing it. I think your drinking and nights out is way OTT, I was a student and managed the usual Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon without spending £350. Can you not drink a bit before going out which will save you, and use your female charms to get others to buy you drinks

You then include another two socilising amounts /events £60 and Other socialising £20/month. I think this is where you can save most of your money.

I notice your next large purchases go on Clothes / non-essential purchases. You sound very much like my OH lol If your buying clothes for the sake of buying then you really need to cut back on this. Give your self a budget of say £100 a month on clothes instead a month and cut back your nights out by £100 and you've already saved £400 a month leaving you jst over £100 over your income.

When are you adding your items to ebay as I believe there are cheaper times to add goods and having them on from Thursday and over the weekend seems to be what most people recommend for making the most money.

Work food, are you not able to take lunches in to work ? This could save about £20 a month. With these savings you can pay off and get rid of your Captial One card and start working on your other CC. I wouldn't worry to much about your bank debts at the minute as this is all interest free. In fact it might be a good idea to get rid of the £11 straight on to your bank account.

Hope I've been able to help a little.

skintchick

My Incomings are:

Wages: £942.35 (after tax and NI)
eBay profits: approx £100 (after fees)
Mystery shopping: approx £10/month

Total = £1052.45

My Outgoings are:

Gas = £20/month
Electricity = £10/month
Rent = £300/month
Mobile phone (PAYG) = £10/month
Landline & Internet = £10/month
Food = £100/month
Work food = £25/month What is work food? I spend £60 a month on all my food (and cleaning stuff too) so you can slash this down hard.
Drinking & nights out = £350/month (usually more) :beer: Nuff said!! You know you can cut this!!!
Travel = £60/month
Clothes / non-essential purchases = £400/month STOP SPENDING! Blimey love - your wardrobe must be impressive!
Toiletries (makeup, shampoo, moisturiser etc) = £15/month It doesn;t cost anywhere near this for toiletries - cut this down asap
Other socialising = £20/month More ?!?!?!? Stop going out so much!
Credit card = £50/month
eBay fees = £10/month
Friends & family commitments (birthdays/anniversaries etc) = £50/month Does it need to be this much? Sounds VERY high
Petrol contribution = £5/month
Communal house purchases (toiletries etc) = £5/month This is high too - what are you buying?
One off expenditures (gifts for others/events) = £60/month Is this not covered in one of the other categories? Why all of this extra spending?

Total = £1500.00 (oh my god) :eek:

I think that I am over estimating on this big time because obviously there will be some months when I hardly go out or don’t travel home or dont buy so many clothes etc but still this is ridiculous! I am desperate to save some money for when I plan to do my masters degree so that I do not feel pressured to work.


I hope you ARE overestimating!! You are spending way too much on toiletries, cleaning suff, food and yourself!! Why not do a budget planner for a tighter budget and see how you go?

vodkaqueen75

im no help im afraid, just had to post how jealous i am that your b/f has house in Barbados
Hope you get it all sorted, enjoy your holiday....if you have space in your suitcase i can curl into a ball quite easily......... :rotfl:

louby_lou

i know this is horriffic but it is pretty accurate for my Feb spending. Ive had my 2 best friend's birthdays in London on different dates, about 6 nights out in Portsmouth, a weekend where I treated my parents to a hotel and restaurant meals, a weekend in Brighton, valentines day, pre-holiday shopping etc. I know it is awful but this is the worst month I've had in about a year and its what has made me post! please don't be too disappointed in me MSE'ers! xxxxx

toontastic

This this isnt actually per month as you have suggested ? If thats the case can you provide an SOA for a typical month ? Don't worry we're not here to judge !

toontastic

Actually change that, I think what you need to do is sit down and work out what your bills are and then budget for the rest. Then you must try your hardest to stick to this, I'm guessing the amount you pay out changes alot each month, if this is the case then you really need to budget for your monthly spending. Rather than looking at your past spending look at future spending.

skintchick

toontastic wrote:

Actually change that, I think what you need to do is sit down and work out what your bills are and then budget for the rest. Then you must try your hardest to stick to this, I'm guessing the amount you pay out changes alot each month, if this is the case then you really need to budget for your monthly spending. Rather than looking at your past spending look at future spending.

That's what I meant only said much better!

You need to give yourself a budget and stick with it no matter what. It IS hard at first, but six nights out, weekends away, pressies for parents, clothes, etc are not allowed for us poor DFWs

louby_lou

the bills are probably the same its just the socialising and gift buying (and gifts for myself lol) that fluctuate. I know that if im serious about doing this I have to stop spending on nothing. This month I have been rubbish at taking food into work for breakfast and lunch. there have been a lot of meals out etc which have added up. I think an SOA for a normal month would be the same but about £250 less on socialising/clothes buying. still very bad though! what would anyone recommend regarding my credit cards? should i close capital one? i'll pay it off today i think.

CLAPTON

You don't really have any financial problems, you simply have a spending problem. You should aim to clear all your debts (even if they have zero interest rate) while you are earning real money and before you return to uni. Don't think of interest free debt as OK, its still debt and will need repaying. You ae lucky enough to have a high enough income to save/reduce debt by at least £600 a month and still have loads to go out with.
All assuming you haven't been spending some of that £350 on a very very liquid lunch...

louby_lou

I'm afraid a good chunk (£300) has to go on rent - wish it could go on liquid lunch lol