Hello! I am new and inspired!

MoneySavingKate

Hello everyone!

I am new and have been lurking for a while but have taken the plunge with my first post!I am just about to move out of London and to Bristol so my SOA is based on my living costs in the westcountry. My rent and bills is inclusive (and for a Londoner is a massive bargain!). One of the main reasons for moving was saving money. I am hoping to join the forces in the summer of next year and would love to have paid off most of my debt by then and perhaps even have *gasp* saved a bit!

I have spent a while moving my debt around a bit to get the best deals. My large overdraft is a graduate overdraft and is interest free so I am prioritizing my credit card debt. The smaller overdraft (with the larger interest rate) will be paid off at the end of November when I move (with my last big paycheck from my old job). The £30 pcm is the minimum on the card and I would of course like to spend as much of the money as I have left on paying it off as quickly as possible but as I haven't tried living on this budget yet I'll have to let you know how it goes!

I have followed lots of tips from this site and am now doing surveys to get vouchers (for treats as a well done for saving money elsewhere), have downshifted most of my shopping and am even cleaning with vinegar and borax to my mothers surprise! I don't think I can really make any more big savings and have ebayed most of my possessions so I think it is a case of just plodding on with the small things which feels like the hardest thing to do sometimes!

It is going to be a tough month I think (always is when moving) but I hope that I have budgeted ok for the move and new bits I'll need for my new home. If anyone knows where to get a bargain bed in Bristol please let me know!

Anyway just wanted to say hello, thankyou for your tips so far and I am sure there will be more to come. Also, it is really comforting to see people here who have paid off debt or who are going through the same thing.

Look forward to getting to know you all,

K

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................ 1026
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1026

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 29.25
Rent.................................... 300
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 35
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 714.25


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 500
Total Assets............................ 500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 250......(29.25)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 250.......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft 1....................1000......0.........0
Overdraft 2....................300.......0.........18.3
Virgin Credit Card.............1600......30........17.9
Loan from Uncle................400.......50........0
Total unsecured debts..........3300......80........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,026
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 714.25
Available for debt repayments........... 311.75
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 80
Amount left after debt repayments....... 231.75

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -250
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,300
Net Assets.............................. -3,050

Created using the SOA calculator at (it won't let me post the link!). Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

keza

hiya! just popping by to wish u good luck with ur move! and one comment about your statement of affairs, you shopping is good at £150 but with meal planning you could reduce this further. i feed me and my other half for £100 a month. good luck! x

kirstenc

hi there and welcome!!

I agree that the monthly spend is good but could be better if you plod onto the oldschool board and have a look at some of the tricks on there, my current grocery challenge is £190 for 2 adults a child and a cat!!! so you can do some big savings there!!

hope your house move goes well!

MoneySavingKate

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. I am just starting to get ok with the meal planning (my cooking isn't the best!) so I'll check out the old-school boards for some more advice!

K

SuzySu

Hiya Kate and welcome....

Have you tried Freecycle (you'll need to choose a local group near where you will be living) but I have got some fantastic things (including a brand new divan bed) from it!

Good luck and happy moving.

MoneySavingKate

Hi,

Just wanted to give you a quick update on where I at thanks to all your fab money saving tips! The move to Bristol went well and I am waiting for the first (weekly) paycheque from the new job. Going from monthly to weekly pay will be a change but I am quite looking forward to the new challenge, if anyone has any tips I'd be grateful. Already set up a standing order from my wages to bills account weekly so it should sort itself out easily. I plan to do another SOA after a few weeks when I get a better idea of my budget.

Taken another £100 off my overdraft and the same from my credit card!
I have £8 in the 20p jar.
About £11 in the small change jar but I want to wait until it is full before I count it J
Made £70 on Quido that will go on the CC next week.
Got a grant toward my OU studies that I didn’t know was available for £260
Got a £10 Topshop voucher and a £10 Starbucks for some surveys.
Made £13 on music magpie.
I also walk to 6 mile round trip to work to save £20 p/w on the bus (although I have to confess that I got the bus this morning but my trousers were soaked through just on the walk to the bus stop!).

I am also planning to make my Xmas pressies this year and have started already, doing some preserves and cookies! I just can't seem to stop money saving!

Thaks for all your help and ideas so far, I can't wait to be debt free!

Kate X

indiasdad

Hi Kate,

I've not really got any solid advice to give but I just wanted to sympathise with you after getting soaked this morning!

I live in Bristol as well and am sitting here at work still trying to dry off after that rain we had this morning

Fair play to you for walking every day though, it would be about a 3 mile trip into the centre for me but I usually chicken out and just jump on the bus in the mornings :rolleyes:

brokeinwales

Hiya Kate,
Thought I'd respond because your situation is very similar to mine - we earn roughly similar amounts, have similar fixed expenses and similar debt levels, neither of us have cars etc - so thought I should offer some support!

It's annoying, but it's not an enormous amount of debt, so with a few adjustments you should really be able to clear in not too much over a year. Definetly very do-able, and once you start to feel like you're making progress with it (takes a few months to start seeing the figures get closer to the magic 0!) you start to feel quite good about yourself...

Just a few thoughts from a DFW on L-plates (so by no means expert):
Mobile spend is quite high (although this may be because you don't have a landline), might be worth seeing if you can get a better deal. (Is it PAYG?)

As others have said, groceries are quite high - I made some cut backs following advice from luvverly people on this forum and mine is now about £35-£40 pm, and if anything I actually eat better. I've always cooked from scratch anyway, and eaten my leftovers for lunch the next day (pasta is great for work) - but inevitably there's days when I forget or have no leftovers, in which case I've found keeping a bag of cous cous, some salad bits, and some 9p Morrisons own brand noodles in a desk drawer has really helped!
I always find going to the shops just before closing to hunt out bargains, living off homemade soup (Recipe: whatevers in the cupboard + water + value stock cube then blitz with a blender or a potato masher), and porridge oats for breakfast are simple ways to cut down dramatically. I've actually surprised myself - thinking I was already fairly frugal, what I can save by more careful shopping.

Haircuts - Yeh, I spend quite a bit on mine too. If it's something that's important to you I think you can make room in your budget. Some people do swear by student nights, or freebies at local colleges which can save you a bundle (call in at local college and ask if they have a health and beauty dept. I once got my legs waxed for £2 this way). But if you love your hairdresser, may be worth considering just going less often - would it make a difference to go every ten weeks, rather than every six, for example? (I only go four times a year now and it's made no noticable difference, other than I need to keep the style slightly longer so the regrowth doesn't matter). If you colour, could you do it yourself? (not a great idea if you have highlights mind!). Should be able to free up an extre £10-£15 on average a month. Every little etc...

Could you maybe break down the entertainment budget? There might be some savings people could suggest there (people here know a lot about special deals and stuff - free cinema tickets, 2 for 1 deals etc can come in useful.). £25 a week seems like a lot to me, but you do need to leave room for some treats or you'll just be unhappy. Living in a city, going out can be expensive, and as you'll be new to the area, you'll want to be sociable - but once you've settled in a bit, consider whether it might be cheaper to have nights in with DVDs, wine and food (homemade cakes are great!) rather than go out.

Good luck with this, hope my little amateur comments were of some help!!

P.S.

I also walk to 6 mile round trip to work to save £20 p/w on the bus (although I have to confess that I got the bus this morning but my trousers were soaked through just on the walk to the bus stop!).

Seriously this makes you my DFW twin or something .. exact same story...