Advice Please :(

Molanole

Okay, here goes....

chralph wrote:

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,000

Total - £1,000

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £600
Mobile Phone - £40 - 60 This is high. Are you tied to a contract? If not, maybe you need to think about pay as you go and stick to a budget per week??
Food - £175 Is this just for you? My OH and I do that for the two of us and there are some on here who manage £100 for two people. It takes a bit of hard work and planning but if you pop over to the OS board there's loads of useful info on how to cut back in this area
Bus - £56
Cigarettes - £50 Now these HAVE to go - sorry, you know it;s the best way
Gym - £42 Is this a community gym or an expensive private one? Are you making full use of it? If you want to keep it, what about a night down the gym on a Friday rather than a night on the town
Going out - £100 at least You'll need to get a proper handle on this and how much you're spending. You're £73 over budget at the moment so realistically, if you make none of the changes above you only have £27 per month to spend on going out. Something has to give

Total: £1,073

What about the money you owe to your friends? You might have to forgo the fags and booze to be able to pay them back but it's important to do this. You don't want to abuse their trust especially if they start thinking "well, he never pays me back and always says he's skint but he's in the pub every weekend". You'll feel healthier and better about yourself for it, I promise!!

Sorry if this sounds harsh, I don't mean it to be but get going on that spending diary and work out where than ton goes!

Mola x

Annie_Fanny

chralph wrote:

Hey

Thanks for all your advise people its a real boost for me. Her is my SOA

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,000


Total - £1,000

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £600
Mobile Phone - £40 - 60 (£40 and 60? Am confused?)
Food - £175 (A lot for one person. Can you cook?)
Bus - £56 (Could you cycle to work? Would get you fit as well! I did this and saved myself a fortune!)
Cigarettes - £50 (Cough!)
Gym - £42 (Do you genuinely use the gym? If you don't give it the flick. If you do why on earth are you smoking. Quit the cancer sticks now! You can get FREE help from your GP.)
Going out - £100 at least (I see a pattern emerging...!)

Total: £1,073

God i can see how much i'm spending!! I have tried reclaiming by bank charges but foolishling didnt send it recorded delivery and haven't had a reply for ages. I should try sending it again. This has helped me out but I don't know where i can cut down that wouldnt affect me...

Help much appreciated guys!!

Chris

What are your debts? APR of your overdraft?

I think you know what you need to do but you are in denial. How old are you Chris?

Annie

loobyloo1980

gas? electric? water rates? can you get a bus pass to lower the cost? Fags and nights out have to go temporarily, and the gym is also high. I think you could also more than half your food bill if that is just for you. Good luck and welcome to the DFW boards xx

MrsTinks

Does the £600 include all other utilities? If not then OUCH if it does then grumble it's not tooooo bad but still not cheap... we're talking 60% of your income... that's a lot...

loobyloo1980

There is also TV licence, do you have sky? Insurance?

My guess is that your SoA is not complete, but just the main areas of expenditure. Like Tine says, if your rent is £600 inc. utilities then ok, but if not, you need to be thinking about what you spend on those too.

msmicawber

Hi Chris,

Don't feel embarrassed - at least you've faced up to it and are seeking help rather than just applying for credit.

In addition to the advice above, can I recommend that you reconcile your bank statement now. That means checking what money has gone out or will go out between your payday on the last bank statement and your next pay day. Just add up all your monthly direct debits, cheques and cash/debit receipts. That will give you a true account balance. If you get into the habit of doing that each month it takes away that 'whoopee I've got £1,000' feeling that encourages overspending, I find, and helps you to budget. Try also starting a spending diary where you write down every bus fare, Crunchie bar etc etc that you buy each day so that you can see clearly where your money is going (it quite often stops you before you buy, which reduces squandering).

Your rent seems very high for one person - are you living somewhere flashy or does it include other things? If the former, then consider moving somewhere cheaper - flat or house share or, dare I say it, briefly home with the folks while you sort out your money management skills. If the latter, what is included? (and, again, is it value for money?).

Your food bill also seems high for one person - do you eat out a lot, or get takeaways and pre-prepared meals? Why not have a look on the 'Old Style' board for advice on shopping and recipes. I'm sure you could cut down to closer to £100 per month, which would help. If you can't cook, why not challenge yourself to learn. You can get good cookery books in Charity shops and supermarkets, or your mum would likely be glad to give you some simple recipes to get you started. (I hope that doesn't sound patronising - if so, please forgive me - I'm old enough to be your mum, so I think it's bringing out the mother hen (well, old boiler) in me!)

Again, mobile phone - why so high? Do you have a landline? If so, try using that more and reducing your call costs with something like https://www.discountdial.com. Are you faffing about on the internet on your phone? If so, that may be racking up your bills. Try a pay as you go phone instead or, if already PAYG, maybe add phone calls and texts to your spending diary so that you're more aware of how and when you're racking up the bill.

Please post your SOA in greater detail - perhaps after running a spending diary for a week or so - and I'm sure there'll be more advice that we can give.

Best of luck.