MFW newbie....

[Deleted User]

well finally some progress on the MF front!!
I have set up OPs to commence from 1st november! only £10 a month till I can work out what I can afford to OP but a good step forward towards my eventual goal methinks!!

my savings/OPing will be twofold for the minute as I also want to save for a new bathroom, get some emergency funds and have a nice holiday somewhere hot to give me and mrtyo a nice break awayand also say thank you for all his support during what has been a bit of a pants year for me! any ideas for cheap (but lovely!) holidays (somewhere hot!) much appreciated..

thought itd be good to take a step back and realise what I have done so far to save money , and so I can keep the momentum going
1) cut down bills on mobile, insurance etc.. to the best possible deals
2)will compare all deals and go through cashback sites when renewing insurances (car ins , home ins) next year
3)grocery shopping now down to about £100 p/m - this is done mainly by meal planning, batch cooking, using all the stuff we already had in the house (so it may go up when our "reserves" run down) and downgrading a brand or 2! food shopping was one of our most wasteful spends as we probably took no notice of what food costs, just went on what we wanted to eat for the next couple of days and bought accordingly- nothing wrong with that but the amount of times of "we've got nothing in for dinner tonight" and the amount of stuff we threw away having bought it and left it /not eaten it was shocking! this could be one of the easiest things to "slip back" on I reckon as I do like my food and having a nice meal /nice stuff to eat as a treat is one thing I am guilty of so may buy more expensive things once the money situation is improved!
4) have budgeted for xmas for once in my life and not much more to get- instead of wacking it all on a credit card and lamenting in january about how skint I am! people have been told they are getting cheaper/homemade pressies and not to go mad with spending, and seem to have been relieved about this themselves as many are similarly finding things tight right now!
5) have decluttered the house within an inch of its life and profited from amazon sales and musicmagpie etc.. I still have a big pile of stuff waiting to go on ebay (or perhaps put in the cupboard for a car boot next summer) , have a few books and dvds still listed on amazon so will leave them there and see if I have any luck with them
6) on the subject of books- books, dvds, cds and food tended to be my payday treats (I sound like a right party girl huh? :rotfl:) and I would happily spend £20 or so in a bookshop and another £30 on music/dvds .... now I have bought a few bargains on amazon this summer (4 books for £11 the other day- all moneysaving!) but mostly sued the library /swapped with friends etc.. and will continue to do this as there are very few books I read/films I watch more than once!
7)freebies, have been great and kept me occupied and a vague sense of achievement that I can still get us stuff we need!
thats all I can think of at the mo, but any other tips/ideas I havent yet thought of are appreciated....:)

have a good weekend all

tyo x

Radish72

:j:j For the £10 OP :j:j

I would look out for some All Inclusive holidays, then you don't need much spends, if any. I loved the Dominican Republic but not sure how much it is now (we went September a few years back)

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Young one, you are doing brilliantly, I just wish I had been as sensible as you when I was a young one.....

museumworker

Congratulations tyo, you've beaten me to the first actual mortgage OP :j.

House stuff is so expensive, you are much better saving for it and paying up front rather than adding to debt/mortgage. Any chance you can get it done before the increase in VAT in Jan?

Holiday sounds like a brilliant idea, especially after the year you've had. I'd love to get away properly, where would be good and cheap I have no idea - my last few hols have been staycation camping so probably not enough of an escape/hot enough for you :rotfl:.

Sounds like you've made amazing progress this year, and made sustainable changes. Can't think of much more to add - perhaps look at increasing income slightly through surveys to get vouchers for pressies? The make £10 a day challenge on the DFW board is inspiring.

[Deleted User]

I havent made the OP yet.... just set up a direct debit to do it (does that count?? )
Radish- yeah I know a couple of friends have been to the Dominican and really enjoyed it - I will have a look into it, we spent a lot on our last hol and both said it was prob better to go all inclusive next time as then it is all done and paid for before going! how are you doing? any luck on the house sales?

SSS- thanks! I think my "sensibilty" has been more to do with circumstances (and also really wanting to buy somewhere pretty young- I can be determined when I want to and tend not to let go of an idea once Ive decided I want to do something! ) but think I have learned so much from this site and hope I can keep up the momentum

mw- again, not made the OP yet- so if you get one in before 1st nov you will win!! , thats a point didnt think of VAT increases etc... we have a friend fitting it for us so good deal on that its just the suite/tiles to buy ... must look into that (does VAT automatically go up in jan then? ) . normally I love staycations, but I would really like a break away for our next holiday , dont mind too much where as long as its hot- from what I can see greece/turkey/cyprus/spain prob best for hot but cheap ...will have to research to cheer me up through the winter! I hope the changes I/ we've made this year are sustainable, I think they will be- plan is to set up direct debits to savings/mortgage so that I dont miss the money once it is coming in again if that makes sense... but we shall see! might have to have a mini shopping spree and give myself a set amount of money to treat myself I think! I will have a look at the DFW £10 challenge as thatd be an idea

just need to keep from spending for the next few weeks ....

wynnvegas

Hi TYO,

Glad to see things are on the up. When are you back to work? How is Mr TYO now? Congratulations on the pending first OP!!

6) on the subject of books- books, dvds, cds and food tended to be my payday treats (I sound like a right party girl huh? :rotfl:) and I would happily spend £20 or so in a bookshop and another £30 on music/dvds .... now I have bought a few bargains on amazon this summer (4 books for £11 the other day- all moneysaving!) but mostly sued the library /swapped with friends etc.. and will continue to do this as there are very few books I read/films I watch more than once!

btw - what did the library do to you!?

Cheers,

Billy

[Deleted User]

Billy
oops meant to write used the library not "sued" it! :rotfl:
feeling good about getting a handle on a MF date once I start working out how much I can OP

gonna be tight for a few more weeks but all should kick into place soony need to buy petrol for work and food so will do that on CC and pay at the end of nov, then the MF plan starts!

[Deleted User]

right
couple more things sold on amazon so another tenner ish in the account..
have a box now dedicated to stuff I will ebay/car boot (prob not till next year as have sold most of my unwanted stuff this summer and slowly losing the will to live traipsing to the post office all the time!)
have got our bills down to the lowest possible I think (will post an SOA when I can figure out where to get it from- any ideas?)
Also bought 3 of the MSE books and the pay off your mortgage in 2 years book off amazon (1p each - bargain!) am keeping the money saving diet and the old style thrifty one (as I think this is the biggest area I can save in-( batch cooking etc and making do with what I have not spending more!) , the other 2 and the mortgage one , skimmed through and noted down anything I hadnt already thought of so will prob put these in the ebay box

I need to get into my head this is long term as this isnt going to be something we can pay off in 2 or probably even 5 years as it will take both our mortgages to get somewhere we want to live forever. I have never been very good at keeping long term gain in mind over what I want short term ... nice holidays being my main wish at the moment!

anyway, when I figure out how to post an SOA I will do so- I know I will feel better once I can make a few OPs and get savings back to looking healthy!

hopefully should be paid a little bit at least at the end of this month and will feel better once my first OP has come out!
off to do some baking...oh I am such a good housewife! :rotfl:

tyo

[Deleted User]

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.99
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.86
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.42
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570.61
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108.33
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.42
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.40
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.52
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.67
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.25
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.67
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.32
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.38
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.50
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,800

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,509.82




I am fairly sure I have cut down on everything possible!! the meals at work could go but usually get a couple of sanwiches out a month when people decide to go for lunch, have given a £75 p/m "fun spend" (under eating out- but will prob go on cinema, drinks, clothes ) the £135 for complementary therapies is treatment for chronic health condition which I cant get on the NHS so non-negotiable at the min and the holidays I am budgeting £1000 a year
parking@ £5 per month, prob not every month and try and park for free if poss, but if going to town not always an option
also rail/bus/taxi- dont tend to use them but may do once or twice a year (for long trips) but tend to drive..
speaking of which- car maintenence is so high as I worked on what I spent in the last 12 months on repairs :eek:- but not every year is that bad! :rotfl:when it gets to the point it is costing me more to fix than its worth it may be time to look for a new(er) old banger!
cant see anything else major I can cut down on, if anything I risk spending more once working in the close proximity of shops
also income will be more from jan 2011 by about another £400 p/m

so all being well £200 p/m goes into my savings for emergency fund, holiday is covered by monthly payments and I should be able to OP £300 p/m from the end of this year and possibly more from next - off to see how many thousands of hours left of a mortgage I have (froggy wanna do the maths in seconds? :rotfl:)

Froggy-G

Deleted_User wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.99
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.86
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.42
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570.61
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108.33
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.42
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.40
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.52
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.67
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.25
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.67
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.32
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.38
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.50
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,800

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,509.82




I am fairly sure I have cut down on everything possible!! the meals at work could go but usually get a couple of sanwiches out a month when people decide to go for lunch, have given a £75 p/m "fun spend" (under eating out- but will prob go on cinema, drinks, clothes ) the £135 for complementary therapies is treatment for chronic health condition which I cant get on the NHS so non-negotiable at the min and the holidays I am budgeting £1000 a year
parking@ £5 per month, prob not every month and try and park for free if poss, but if going to town not always an option
also rail/bus/taxi- dont tend to use them but may do once or twice a year (for long trips) but tend to drive..
speaking of which- car maintenence is so high as I worked on what I spent in the last 12 months on repairs :eek:- but not every year is that bad! :rotfl:when it gets to the point it is costing me more to fix than its worth it may be time to look for a new(er) old banger!
cant see anything else major I can cut down on, if anything I risk spending more once working in the close proximity of shops
also income will be more from jan 2011 by about another £400 p/m

so all being well £200 p/m goes into my savings for emergency fund, holiday is covered by monthly payments and I should be able to OP £300 p/m from the end of this year and possibly more from next - off to see how many thousands of hours left of a mortgage I have (froggy wanna do the maths in seconds? :rotfl:)

Hey TYO

Am I getting paranoid or am I now famous for "MFW Countdown" on this website?? Just kidding...

SOA looks good, and you have answered most of the queries i had... Its now only a question of trimming bits and pieces as you come across it, and using cashback, vouchers (work meals out? could suggest places to colleagues where you get freebies).. Monthly card for the cinema..

You are doing great!! Keep up the good work, the payrise in a couple of months will certainly help!

Froggy :rotfl: