My SOA

Rad

I’ve been reading here for a while and have started to make some changes that have been suggested but I am wondering if anyone can come up with anything else.

My SOA

Rent - £375pm – Going down to £287 in August when I move house
Contents Insurance - £8.90pm
Rates - £40pm
Mobile Phone - £35pm – Going down to £20pm next month
BT - £11pm
Broadband - £9.99pm
Gas & Electric - £25pm
Food Shopping - £20 pw
Eating out /drinks with friends- £10 pw
Lunch at work - £10pw
DVD rental - £9.99 pm
Clothes – about £30pm
Make-up and toiletries - £10pm
Hair - £30 every 6 weeks
Contact Lens - £25 pm
Buses and taxi’s– about £10 a week – some of this I claim back from work.
Impulse buying – at least £30 pm – usually shoes, makeup or getting my nails done.

Savings and Loan Repayments (by Standing order)
ISA - £40pm
Pension - £50pm
Credit Card - £50pm
Student Loan - £20pm


Income - £990 – hopefully going up soon
Also my Mum/Gran takes me on a big shopping trip about every other month to help out so this takes food is under £10pw sometimes.


Debts
Student Loan – about £11,000
Credit Card - £460
Overdraft - £750 – interest free till December.

Also I’m going to the USA in November and have paid for my flights with my birthday money but still need to save some more spending money/Christmas present buying money to take with me, I think I need another £400.

Any advice would be great.
Thanks
Rad

Emmzi

First thoughts
-packed lunches saves a tenner a week!
- Contact lenses seems high,what kind are they?
- DVD rental - tried using free trials instead?

newmoneysaver_2

Have you listed everything? What about TV License and coucil tax?

Everything else seems to be low, so the only other savings would be clothes and impulse spending. Could these be cut right back. How about keeping a spending diary to help stop those impulse buys.

I have just work out that with your current monthly spending you only have £90 left, this is without paying anything off your overdraft. I think youwill have to look at ways of making more money in order to save to go to america!

Can you post your aprs/min payment etc for your credit card?

You pay into your isa, does this mean you have savings?

You pay a high amout into your pension, is theis nesessary, can it be lowered until you are debt free?

Sorry to sound nosey, but it will all help...

calleyw

Hi Rad,


Right I am going to be a go in to mean person mode and do a slash and burn on your budget. It is nothing personal and I am nice person really I am. And you seem to be doing not badly at all with your SOA. And I just nitpicking.


Lets have a look:

Mobile Phone - £35pm – Going down to £20pm next month -if you dont use the phone much why not go over to a PAYG and put just £10 a month on.

BT - £11pm - That is just line rental do you not make any calls

DVD rental - £9.99 pm - Do you really need this. Why not start your own dvd swapping group amongst your friends. Would cost nothing and means that your own DVD's see the light of day. Also there are lots of freebie rentals around.

Lunch at work - £10pw - I assume you spend £2 a day. Why not take lunch with you 4 days a week and eat at work once a week. Saving of £8 a week.

Clothes – about £30pm could you not trim that down by say £10 a month for a couple of months. Or not buy anything for a couple of months once you have checked in your wardrobe to see if you really need anything.

Contact Lens - £25 pm- Unless they are special lenses I have seen Boots offering contacts for £6 pm.

As I said I think you are doing really well. The only thing you might want to look at though is your overdraft as the interest rate might not be very nice.


All the best. And feel free to totally ignore anything I have said in this reply I will not take it personally :rotfl:


Yours


Calley

calleyw

newmoneysaver wrote:

Have you listed everything? What about TV License and coucil tax?

I thought they said the paid rates of £40 a month. Which in old money (I am only 33) is what it was way before the poll tax.

You assume they have TV. If I did a SOA I would not put that on there as I don't own a TV. But it is good point and one I missed.


Yours


Calley

gallygirl

We'll be nice to you as you're obv v young so deserve to have a little bit of fun..... BUT... you can't pay off debt AND but lunch AND impulse buy AND have holidays in the USA. Something has to give....

1. Assume savings are for USA, in which will allow it (just....)
2. If I was you I'd stop pension and chuck money at debts instead, £50 pcm will make a bigger inroad into debt than into a pension.
3. Agree with emmzi etc - take lunch in, look on internet for contact lenses, cancel DVD's.

Having said all that, can you please talk to my DD and make her see some sense - you've got the right attitude! Good luck.

missk_ensington

I wear those new acuvue water based contact lenses and they're meant to be weekly, the ones I have in now Ive had in for 4 weeks and Ive been doing this for 2 years!. Mine should be about £25 a month, but I dont buy by Direct Debit I buy a 3 or 6 months supply and make sure they last double that amount. My eyes haven't deteriorated since wearig them ages and its saved me fortunes.

As a kid my Mum wore contacts and I remember her having one pair a year or something daft like that and she had to clean them. If it worked back then, it works now! Just make sure you give them a soak every few days! Ive actually gone as long as 9 weeks with a pair before today!

You can't wear cheap contact lenses after having decent ones, I tried it and felt like I had something constantly scratching my eye.

How old are you?

missk_ensington

This might seem harsh but can you not get a better job? I see you have a degree as you're paying a student loan, but you're earning around £15,000 a year if I caculate correctly, which puts you on the borderline for paying back loan. Id do one of two things-reduce my income to below £15,000 so I dont pay the loan back yet, and get a job that pays more.

I don't have a degree (yet!) and I get £20,000 pro rata in the North of England as a PA, if I had a degree there's no way I'd work for the same (or lesser) wage as someone who's never been to uni

Also, putting money in an Isa is absurd- the best rate Ive seen on ISA's is about 7% so you're receiving maximum 7% on your savings, but paying probably 17% interest on your credit?!?!?!? Withdraw the money and clear the cards!!

beanielou

Why dont you get a wee part time job for a few months to save up spending money for America? just a thought.
Welcome to MSE
Great first post

CosmoCat

welcome to mse. you're doing very well by keeping lots of your bills down. well done to you.

have you tried listing stuff on ebay, amazon? do you have any old school books that you might sell. i saw somewhere somebody said they were listing stuff on ebay for their friends at a commission, that might be a good sideline for you.

all the best.

jonnydoe

Trouble with having a degree nowadays is that not many employers value them anymore (unless 2:1 or above or masters/phd). I graduated with people in 1996 with 2:2's who are yet to earn over 20k yr! Bloody ridiculous, I've been lucky myself financially but certainly do not work in a job that uses my degree..

Learn a trade... that's where the money is.. You'll save yourself on student loans also..

(of course I am speaking generally and there are exceptions to the rule)

I'm not bitter!

JD