Not to winge or anything...

headcovers

You don't mention the size of the flat.

Is there any potential for renting out a room?

Badger_Lady

OK Clapton - I'll give it a go!
This is based on my "Expenditure Report" for February (so monthly):

: Income - £1263.34
__________

: Mortgage Repayments - £677.66

: Bills - £320.63
£77.00 Council Tax
£21.75 Water
£11.50 Electric
£53.50 BT
£35.00 Mobile Phone
£10.99 TV License
£18.00 Sky (because I am a movie addict - I know it's wrong!)

TOTAL MORTGAGE + BILLS = £998.29
__________

: Loan with parents - £4000, currently not repayed
: Overdraft - £2500 @ 2%, currently not repayed, but incurring bank charges of £20 per month
: Credit Card - £1,500 @ 14.5%, minimum payment = £32.00

TOTAL DEBT: £9,000
REPAYMENTS: £52.00 per month (including charges)
__________

1-bed flat is on 100% mortgage , £111,000 @ 5.9%. Cannot remortgage until May '07, current equity is £1000.

No partner or chidren, just a cat!

Last month, I spent £133.70 on food, £31.47 on petrol and £49.47 on socialising (including work events).
__________

Does this help at all? Am I just a whinging idiot who doesn't know how to constrain her spending (I do worry about that - so be blunt, I can take it)..?

moozie_2

Don't worry, you are not a 'whinging idiot'. Lots of peeps with good advice and knowledge will be here soon.

My observations are:
- BT seems very high
- Is your mobile on contract? Can you cancel and go on PAYG? Or reduce your monthly payment?
- £133.70 for food for one person and a cat seems a lot to me. Any way you can reduce that?

You have room for improvement, chin up

tyllwyd

About the money earning - there is a 'Bit on the side' thread in the mortgage-free forum.

My favourite links are loquax (http://www.loquax.co.uk/) for competitions - you never know; freestuffjunction (http://www.freestuffjunction.co.uk/) and ilovefreebies for mystery shopping and surveys (http://members.lycos.co.uk/ilovefreebiesuk/Hints%20and%20Tips.htm)

Dooyoo is https://www.dooyoo.co.uk ciao is https://www.ciao.co.uk and AQA is http://www.aqa.issuebits.com/

tigerlily

There are a couple of things which stand out for me.....
I also live on my own in a one bedroom flat so am kind of comparing your list to mine!!
£11.50 for a months electricity? seems a bit low to me, do you use gas aswell for heating etc?
Over £100 on food for one person and a cat sounds very high, mines about £60 per month for me and a greedy dog!! lol
Your BT bill does sound very high, mine works out at about £25 per month including charges for 1899 etc who I use for most calls.
I am currently budgeting hard to clear debts and for me £50 for socialising would last 2 if not 3 months, I dont have an empty life just a creative one!! lol
Hope some of that helps, good luck.

Badger_Lady

Thanks Tigerlily, it is good to compare! -

The electric is just because I always wear a blanket in the house, so my storage heaters are rarely turned on, and the hot water boiler just works on night-time rates. I cut this in half when I switched to a special deal British Gas were doing - Southern Electric were charging closer to £20 pcm.

You're right about BT, now I look at it - this includes my broadband, but I only make 1 call a week (to France, but still..?) - I'm just trying to find my last bill so I can figure it out... in the meantime I have switched to the new Primus deal - just waiting for it to come through.

I know what you mean on the socialising - but:
* I never drink alcohol at pubs / clubs, only soda water (which is either free or cheap);
*most of my parties are at people's houses so the only cost is £5-10 for a couple of bottles of wine (I do get invited to at least 1 party most weeks though);
*last month's spending was boosted because I took my Brother-in-Law out for dinner in return for fixing my car - that alone was £35, but probably saved me £60+ in mechanics fees!

I probably am being a bit luxurious with my food, but it's such a bargain - my canteen at work gets me a full 3-course cooked veggie meal every day for under £2.50, so I just have a salad / snack when I get home. But I love this because I never, ever have to cook! And I know it's not cheap-cheap, but it's still not expensive.

kathfisch

Badger lady,
have you looked at the other boards on this site and the advice articles written by Martin? There are so many tips you could benefit from, with regard to BT bill, mobile costs, food etc.

Try here for advice about all sorts of cost cutting on home and mobile phones (particularly of interest for your international calls, lots of good tips on that).

The Money Saving Old Style Board (here ) is a fab place for advice about eating, cleaning etc on a budget. Have you had a look there yet? The "Mega Indexed Thread" near the top is a collection of discussions, recipes etc on every topic possible! There is also a Monthly Grocery Challenge where everyone sets themselves a budget and helps and supports each other to stick to it. It can really help one's motivation to save if you're posting the results on a thread!

On that thought, why not join our daily spending diary thread, we note our spends each day and tally our "no spend days" excitedly! Its just a bit of fun but motivating too.

I hope some of the links above help!

Best of luck

Kath

scotgirl

I don't know if you can cancel or change your contract mobile but I moved to Tesco Value (it is serviced by o2) and have saved a fortune! I took my number with me too so no hassle.

in*the*red_6

Badger_Lady wrote:

Last month, I spent £133.70 on food, £31.47 on petrol and £49.47 on socialising (including work events).

Hi

You have a car, but no mention of insurance? How do you pay this? Also no buildings or contents insurance is this right?

Badger_Lady

scotgirl,
Mobile contract ends in May... didn't know Tesco's had a mobile now! Will have to check it out - I have to admit I'm a fan of the non-food Tesco Value stuff I've tried! Cheers for the tip :-)

Hi in*the*red,
Yeah, no I don't have buildings or contents insurance - forgot to put Motor down (although it is on my personal budget of course!) £41.41 a month. I am thinking about selling the car just to save the £75 a month it costs to run - it's just one of those luxuries it's quite hard to imagine living without!

Thanks kathfisch,
Still quite new here, so finding my way around is a bit of a challenge - cheers for the pointers, I'll definately get on there!

Wow, you guys are all so helpful! I really appreciate all your comments - sometimes you just need to obvious stuff pointing out!