FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 2, April - June.

stitching_witch

Since being made redundant in September we have pared down to minimums so do not go on holiday, don't go out and don't buy DVDs and CDs etc. My one luxury is a haircut once every 3 months!

Here is my SOA as it stands today. Hopefully the reduction in income will mean a slight increase in Housing and Council Tax Benefit at a later date.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars/motorcycles owned........ 3
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 557.7
Other income............................ 422.14 (PPI for loan + housekeeping from DS)
Total monthly income.................... 979.84
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 236.06 (inc HB)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 37 (inc CTB)
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 47.34
Telephone (land line inc Broadband)..... 30
Mobile phone.(mine)..................... 10
Mobile phone.(DH)....................... 25
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 70
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 50 (Insurance + MOT for motorcycle)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 13.40
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 7
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Allotment and chickens.................. 15
Total monthly expenses.................. 907.92

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 1700
Total Assets............................ 3700

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds Loan....................5100......297.......14.9
Nationwide C/Card..............1670......55........16.7
Lloyds C/Card..................1740......50........23.9
Inland Revenue.................200.......25........0
Barclaycard....................1770......45........6.7
Total unsecured debts..........10480.....472.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 979.84
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 907.92
Available for debt repayments........... 71.92
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 472
Amount short for making debt repayments. -400.08
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,480
Net Assets.............................. -6,780
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.


Not good at all! :eek:

candygirl

Have had a fab weekend.Met what seems to be a nice Mr Meerkat on Sat night, so will see after our date on Friday.God i'm nervous already:eek::eek::rotfl::rotfl:
Have sold a skirt for £15 on ebay, that I got off the car boot for £1 so whoopeeeeee:j:jAlso sold some more clothes and made about £35 this weekend so not bad really:D:D
Just been to ADL1 and got fruit n veg inc grapes and new pots for 69p each:p:p
Am now having a little chill.
Hope all the poorlies and peed offs are feeling better xx:A

Frugaldom

Stitching witch, the first thing you need to do is contact all your card & loan companies with proposals for greatly reduced payments until your income increases. At least if they know what's happening, they won't lean so heavily on you with penalties and will realise that you really are keeping them informaed and doing your utmost to stay afloat. Without knowing circumstances, it's very hard to know what can be cut back:
Do you really need 3 vehicles, for example?
Is there a specific reason that it's costing you £60 a month for fuel
Do you need to spend £35 a month for mobile phones
Could either of you do part time work or some kind of work from home?
Have you a local LETS group for bartering skills and products rather than paying as this could cut down on grocery bills.
Is this major deficit likely to be long or shorterm?

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 7

I'd forget the above for the moment, as £27 is needed more urgently elsewhere. Homemade cards are fine and a pair of scissors for haircuts.

Sorry for all the questions but I really hope you can sort something out, as it must be a nightmare of a worry. If you have an all inclusive phone package could you even do some telesales from home?

stitching_witch

Looks like a bit more information is needed then.

I contacted my credit card companies and the Inland Revenue back in January with the (admittedly very low) token offer of £1 a month. Nationwide and Barclaycard both answered saying the offer wasn't high enough. Lloyds and the Inland Revenue didn't even bother to reply!

The three vehicles are adult DS car (perhaps I shouldn't have included that), the family car which DH and I share and his motorcycle which has lived, unridden, for two years in the garage as he fell ill the weekend after he bought it. (see below) We live in a rural area and rely heavily on our own transport and hence diesel costs of about £15 a week.

I have huge problems convincing DH to cut back. For example I changed my mobile from £25 to £10 a month - he won't! The bike could be sold for £1700 but "it'll be worth more if I repaint it" - just sell it!!!

I am trying to set up a business from home, but it's slow going and anything we earn will be taken off our benefit so no real gain.

Hopefully this will be short term-ish. DH has been off sick for 23 months, but on Friday we go to see his employer to see if there are light duties/phased return options for him. If so, it could mean a slow return to work on reduced pay. Fingers crossed!

landregistrylass

Nualabuala - I have to wait 2-3 weeks for the results of the breast screening. All was well last time, and I dont smoke, so 1 less chance of a problem. Seeds really coming through at a rush now - they feel liek my babies. I am so proud!! When I get to !!!!! them out into bigger pots I may need some words of encouragement, this is my first time after all. Rhubarb crumble which I made at the weekend has finally been finished. The rhubarb was from the car boot sale and was scrummy. I had all the bits in for the crumble mixture, so I am dead chuffed with my little self.

landregistrylass

Ah............it seems like I wasnt allowed to say the word that has been in use for hundreds of years which means moving seedlings on. How very strange that such traditional usage could be envisaged as causing offence.

Blairweech

Stitching Witch - Hugs to you, hope things get better soon. I think you need to re-contact your creditors, and keep hassling them until you can reach a compromise for payment amounts - at the end of the day, you just cannot afford to pay them what you are currently paying. Have you shown your DH your SOA, so he knows where the money is going? Even reducing his mobile temporarily could make a difference! I find the trick with men is to make them think it was their idea in the first place Also - your vehicle insurance seems pretty high - £70 a month, and then another £50 for a motorcycle which is not being ridden? Could you switch to a water meter, it might make things cheaper...whereabouts in the SW are you (if you don't mind my asking)?

Made some mango ripple ice cream today - the veg man at the carboot gave us a free box of mangoes 'cause they were bruised. Hope its nice, will find out tomorrow. I have also sunburnt my face and shoulders :mad:

stitching_witch

Blairweech wrote: »

Also - your vehicle insurance seems pretty high - £70 a month, and then another £50 for a motorcycle which is not being ridden? Could you switch to a water meter, it might make things cheaper...whereabouts in the SW are you (if you don't mind my asking)?

I agree about the insurance. The car is actually £12pm RAC (which has been used on numerous occasions:() and £58pm insurance but I lumped them in together. I want to reduce the car insurance, but DH has convictions and this is honestly the lowest we could get it for. The same applies for his motorbike insurance, which I think is unnecessary as the thing is garaged, but he's worried about theft/fire etc. The sooner we get shot of it the better.

I've never thought about a water meter. How could I find out if it would work out cheaper? We live on the Wiltshire/Hampshire/Dorset borders.

NualaBuala

Evening all :hello:

Candygirl - am excited for you! Keep us posted won't you? :j

Sorry I'm no help Stitching witch, but I have my fingers crossed for you. Have you posted on the Debt Free Wannabe thread? They're very knowledgable and helpful and I'm sure they've seen situations similar to yours.

Blairweech, that ice cream sounds gorgeous! At least it will keep you cool if you're feeling a bit hot and sunburnt - you poor thing!

At least that's not a long wait LRL - fingers crossed for you (not that you need it I'm sure!). Well done on doing rude things to your seedlings! :rotfl:The censor is a little over-zealous sometimes I reckon!

Thanks Cheryl and BigMummaF for your budget info. You put me to shame really. I am frugal compared with my friends but I have a long way to go before I reach the big leagues. In my defence, I think food in Ireland is a bit dearer, but I know I can do better so I will keep trying. I'm not going for a rock bottom budget at least for now while I can afford it but there is a definitely room for improvement!

Kiwi, I thought the same as Grandma247, I find toiletries quite cheap here (and am guessing they are even cheaper in the UK) - all those 3 for 2s and BOGOFs mean I have enough shower gel to last me well into 2011 and maybe even into 2012! I'm sure your budget will work out just fine - and you'll save money on home heating while you're away!

I've spent nothing today. I had the 2nd lot of homemade falafel for dinner - cheap and very tasty. Salad wasn't particularly cheap but was really nice with it and is getting me into good eating habits. :A

I saved money by not renewing my anti-virus subscription which expired today. I had paid for McAfee last year but thanks to the helpful folks on the techie board found out I can get it for free if I get the beta version. So that is installed and all seems to be running smoothly.

Did a little more work in the garden; I still haven't sown any seeds but I have a couple of spaces ready now. I think I will take a chance and sow into the ground as the house is unlikely to sell before summer so I will get to reap some sort of harvest. My garlic and fruit shrubs are growing well and the old crab apple and pear trees that have been there since I was a child are in blossom. It's a real joy to be out in the garden these days. I have a little wind chime I got last year in the €2 shop (what we have now instead of pound shops ) and it's lovely to listen to, very soothing. I also uncovered an old quince bush - I remember it being there when I was a child but thought it was long gone. I trimmed back a bit of horrible old privet and there was the quince with beautiful salmon pink blossoms. I remember small fruit on it as a child but not sure if they are edible quince.

Another good thing today was the arrival of a €10 voucher for Mr T - a reward from my online surveys. I've also amassed a fair bit in Paypal which has covered some donations for an online meditation course I'm doing. I've been getting quite a few surveys lately so it is all adding up - happy days!

Hope you all have a lovely evening and hugs to anyone who'd like one.

slowlyfading

19th NSD of April for me today - one more to go to reach my target :j

Had a busy evening - really productive and got lots done that needed doing so am feeling lots better than I was earlier - I'm letting things get on top of me slightly which isn't good and makes me panic easily, which then leads to nothing being done! I just have to take it one step at a time.

Only 5 weeks left of placement B and then done :eek: