Needing Advice

nowpanicking

Hi there

This is the first time I've posted here. I have used this site for a while now and picked up some really good tips - I have spreadsheets for everything!! Annual budget; monthly spending budget; menu planner with costed shopping list; NSD etc... even with all this I can't seem to get my debt under control.

I have a large overdraft (£3,700) with BOS which I cleared at the start of the year by transferring to a new virgin credit card after reading advice so I could avoid massive charges. Thing is, this month I'm just about at the limit of the o/draft again... kept it open "just in case of emergencies" BIG mistake!! I just keep dipping into it every month.

Anyway, if anyone can give me advice on how to get rid of this overdraft and generally manage my money better I'm all ears! I've got an annual budget I work with as I get paid 4 weekly and it's all meant to balance out at the end of the year (which it does in the budget) so it might look a bit odd on my SOA.

SOA

Income (is 4 weekly)
my pay................................................ £2,083.99
family allowance ................................... £ 81.20
tax credit ............................................ £ 40.75
Total 4 weekly income £2,205.94

Expenditure (bills monthly / general spend 4 weekly)
BT.....................................................£ 12.00
TV Licence..........................................£ 12.12
Mortgage.............................................£ 516.99
Top up for child trust fund......................£ 10.00
AOL (broadband and land line) .................£ 14.99
AOL (calls to mobiles etc)........................£ 10.00
sky repair plan........................................£ 6.18
BOS Loan (APR 16.0%; 6 years remaining)..... £218.43
Scottish Power (electric) ..........................£ 80.00
Sky........................................................£ 19.50
Sky films...............................................£ 10.00
Car repayment (3 year deal - get a new car in 3 years or
can trade in.... is up September 2011) ..........£175.60
Virgin Credit Card (APR 0% bal £3,834.63) ......£40.00
Council Tax .............................................£101.00
House Insurance .......................................£ 27.68
Life Insurance ...........................................£30.93
Interest on Overdraft .................................£40.00
Vodafone ..................................................£15.00
Charity (aiming to cancel this) .......................£ 8.00
DFS (interest free over 4 years - 3 yrs remaining... £50.27
Car Insurance ...............................................£14.45
TOTAL BILLS (MONTHLY) £1,413.14

General Spend
Petrol..........................................................£180
Food...........................................................£140
Me spending.................................................£160
OH spending.................................................£160
Coal............................................................£30
TOTAL GENERAL SPEND (4 WEEKLY) £670

Annual Spends
Christmas/Birthdays......................................£1,010
Car Tax.......................................................£132
Professional Subs...........................................£189
Car Service...................................................£120
£1,451

Summary for Year
Income £28,677
Bills (£16,958)
General (£8,710)
Annual (£1,451)
left £1,558

As I said any advice would be appreciated... please don't be too harsh

NorthernLas

Welcome!

Averaged out, I think from your SOA you should have £100 left every 4 weeks. But if you have gone into your overdraft by £3600, the you have actually spent £700 extra per 4w than your SOA shows. (And it may be a little more depending on whether you have paid most of the annual items.)

Can you keep a spending diary to see what is really happening?
I think it would be useful if you could re-post in the SOA format that is standard http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html. It might help you see if there is anything big that you have missed.

Tixy

Hi and welcome, and well done for posting.

nowpanicking wrote: »

Hi there

This is the first time I've posted here. I have used this site for a while now and picked up some really good tips - I have spreadsheets for everything!! Annual budget; monthly spending budget; menu planner with costed shopping list; NSD etc... even with all this I can't seem to get my debt under control. all good steps

I have a large overdraft (£3,700) with BOS which I cleared at the start of the year by transferring to a new virgin credit card after reading advice so I could avoid massive charges. Thing is, this month I'm just about at the limit of the o/draft again... kept it open "just in case of emergencies" BIG mistake!! I just keep dipping into it every month. ouch

Anyway, if anyone can give me advice on how to get rid of this overdraft and generally manage my money better I'm all ears! I've got an annual budget I work with as I get paid 4 weekly and it's all meant to balance out at the end of the year (which it does in the budget) so it might look a bit odd on my SOA.

SOA

Income (is 4 weekly)
my pay................................................ £2,083.99
family allowance ................................... £ 81.20
tax credit ............................................ £ 40.75
Total 4 weekly income £2,205.94

Expenditure (bills monthly / general spend 4 weekly)
BT.....................................................£ 12.00
TV Licence..........................................£ 12.12
Mortgage.............................................£ 516.99
Top up for child trust fund......................£ 10.00
AOL (broadband and land line) .................£ 14.99
AOL (calls to mobiles etc)........................£ 10.00
sky repair plan........................................£ 6.18
BOS Loan (APR 16.0%; 6 years remaining)..... £218.43
Scottish Power (electric) ..........................£ 80.00 this looks pretty high. are you with the cheapest supplier for your usage? can you reduce your usage at all? do you have any arrears? look in a paperless online tariff would be cheaper (usually are)
Sky........................................................£ 19.50
Sky films...............................................£ 10.00 do you really need sky? could you drop to basic package? or try combining with landline & internet may get you a better deal
Car repayment (3 year deal - get a new car in 3 years or
can trade in.... is up September 2011) ..........£175.60
Virgin Credit Card (APR 0% bal £3,834.63) ......£40.00 is this just the minimum? how soon does 0% finish?)
Council Tax .............................................£101.00 have you done the 5min check to see you are in the right band?
House Insurance .......................................£ 27.68 have you shopped around to see if you can get cheaper?
Life Insurance ...........................................£30.93 when did you last shop around?
Interest on Overdraft .................................£40.00 apr & balance?
Vodafone ..................................................£15.00
Charity (aiming to cancel this) .......................£ 8.00
DFS (interest free over 4 years - 3 yrs remaining... £50.27
Car Insurance ...............................................£14.45
TOTAL BILLS (MONTHLY) £1,413.14

General Spend
Petrol..........................................................£180 all essential? do you fill up at the cheapest places?
Food...........................................................£140 how many for? looks good/quite low assuming there is 3 of you?
Me spending.................................................£160 what is this on? can you cut back?
OH spending.................................................£160 again try to reduce
Coal............................................................£30 is this averaged over the year? assume you are not buying as much in summer as winter (well if we ever get summer!)
TOTAL GENERAL SPEND (4 WEEKLY) £670

Annual Spends
Christmas/Birthdays......................................£1,010 can you reduce this
Car Tax.......................................................£132
Professional Subs...........................................£189 can you/do you claim tax relief?
Car Service...................................................£120
£1,451

Summary for Year
Income £28,677
Bills (£16,958)
General (£8,710)
Annual (£1,451)
left £1,558

As I said any advice would be appreciated... please don't be too harsh

Hi

I think if you don't have as much spare as you think then its time to start a spending diary. I've put a few comments above as to where you could look for a few savings to make things easier. Does OH work or have an income?

nowpanicking

Thanks NorthernLas & Tixy re the hint about using a spending diary... I think this is definitely what I need to start doing. I know I've definitely not missed anything as I keep everything on a spreadsheet. Basically I'm spending the extra on rubbish I think (spending diary will prove this though!)

OH doesn't work as he looks after our wee boy who starts school next year so OH will hopefully start working again then - which will be a massive help! We're actually thinking about moving house which I don't know is a good idea at the moment until we get spending under control.

nowpanicking

Tixy - here's some answers to your questions... some good advice about shopping around so thanks for that...


SOA

Income (is 4 weekly)
my pay................................................ £2,083.99
family allowance ................................... £ 81.20
tax credit ............................................ £ 40.75
Total 4 weekly income £2,205.94

Expenditure (bills monthly / general spend 4 weekly)
BT.....................................................£ 12.00
TV Licence..........................................£ 12.12
Mortgage.............................................£ 516.99
Top up for child trust fund......................£ 10.00
AOL (broadband and land line) .................£ 14.99
AOL (calls to mobiles etc)........................£ 10.00
sky repair plan........................................£ 6.18
BOS Loan (APR 16.0%; 6 years remaining)..... £218.43
Scottish Power (electric) ..........................£ 80.00 had problem with one of the meters so waiting on statement to see if we're paying the right amount
Sky........................................................£ 19.50 this is the basic package although the films are from sky boxoffice - we could stop this
Sky films...............................................£ 10.00
Car repayment (3 year deal - get a new car in 3 years or
can trade in.... is up September 2011) ..........£175.60
Virgin Credit Card (APR 0% bal £3,834.63) ......£40.00 yep - minimum payment, ends in around February I think
Council Tax .............................................£101.00
House Insurance .......................................£ 27.68 good tip to shop around - will try this
Life Insurance ...........................................£30.93 as above
Interest on Overdraft .................................£40.00 BOS so daily rate
Vodafone ..................................................£15.00
Charity (aiming to cancel this) .......................£ 8.00
DFS (interest free over 4 years - 3 yrs remaining... £50.27
Car Insurance ...............................................£14.45
TOTAL BILLS (MONTHLY) £1,413.14

General Spend
Petrol..........................................................£180 we're down to one car so OH drives me to work (12 miles) then picks me up every day - he needs the car as we live in an old farm cottage
Food...........................................................£140 for 2 adults and 1 4 year old
Me spending.................................................£160 I've tried cutting this down but find it really hard - it's for days out with family; the odd drink; the odd lunch with office etc
OH spending.................................................£160 £40 for smoking; the rest days out; drink
Coal............................................................£30 this is the average for the year
TOTAL GENERAL SPEND (4 WEEKLY) £670

Annual Spends
Christmas/Birthdays......................................£1,010 27 people to buy for at Christmas plus birthdays - it's not much per person but it does add up!!! Last year was the first year I actually included it in the budget - got quite a shock!!!
Car Tax.......................................................£132
Professional Subs...........................................£189 I know about the tax deductions but never get round to it
Car Service...................................................£120
£1,451

Summary for Year
Income £28,677
Bills (£16,958)
General (£8,710)
Annual (£1,451)
left £1,558

As I said any advice would be appreciated... please don't be too harsh [/QUOTE]

nowpanicking

Well, I've taken up the advice and started a spending diary - it seems to be helping as I'm really thinking about what I'm spending now which is good. I still spent a lot this weekend tho... was child free for a change so went out with OH for a few drinks (this is a rare occurance for us).

I'm really determined to stay within budget this month so hopefully posting here will help with that - I've cut £60 from my 4 weekly spending budget to pay back to the overdraft, taking into account what I spent over the weekend I've got £10 per week to spend for the next 3 weeks. Hopefully I can do this - food shopping; petrol etc is all accounted for separately.

Anyway, I think posting here will keep me on track so fingers crossed!

Wee_Jo

nowpanicking wrote: »

Well, I've taken up the advice and started a spending diary - it seems to be helping as I'm really thinking about what I'm spending now which is good.

Well done nowpanicking (you will be able to change that soon to "used to be panicking" A spending diary is a brill idea, I have found it to be so helpful - it acts as a deterrent to spending too - because if you know you have to write it down you think twice about whether it's really necessary! Or, if you do have to buy it, you shop around more for a better deal!

Keep us up to date on how you're getting on.

Jo

Fiddlestick

Claim the tax deductions for your professional subscriptions - every little helps.

Also, stop smoking. I don't want to be judgemental and say that it's a dirty and disgusting habit, but it's costing you £40 a month that you could be using for other things!

nowpanicking

I agree about the smoking being a disgusting habit! It's not me that smokes tho - it's my OH...

Meant to say in my last post - I had intended on stopping the DD to Red Cross but they phoned at the weekend with a big story about how much my money was helping and I ended up increasing the contribution to £9 per month... I'm too soft!!!

nowpanicking

Wee update re charity contribution... I was really annoyed with myself so I've written them a letter saying I'm cancelling the direct debit so only one more payment to go then that will be that!!

Workie_Ticket

If you don't want to cancel Sky give them a ring, tell them you're thinking of cancelling and you could end up with it for half price. It's only a saving of £10.00/month but it helps.