It's time...!

miffythesmartbunny

hello lovely people! i've been lurking on this forum for a couple of years now and I've finally been inspired to take control of my own finances. Well, that and the fact that my spending is totally irresponsible. For at least the last year I've been letting my financial woes control me; feeling anxiety every time I think about my spending. So, it is time to do something about it

I should say from the outset that I know that I am not in a bad position compared to other people, in the sense that I CAN afford to pay my bills, but unfortunately, I don't budget and this gets me into trouble. I pay my bills and then go on spending sprees (Primarni clothes and makeup especially!) and tend to ignore my bank balance until I get a letter telling me I've gone over my overdraft. Which has been happening a lot recently. (I should say that this did not happen prior to me applying for the loan and credit card that I mention later)

I've had a go at putting my SOA together and would be soooo grateful if you would scrutinise and berate me accordingly!


Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1513.56 (incremental payrise in Sept)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1424.21 (incremental payrise in Sept)
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2937.77

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 650
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 34
Gas..................................... 42 (Heating, cooker etc.) Have recently cancelled DD & have been overpaying a lot. account is currently in credit...i think. Also, I live in n. ireland so can't shop around for a cheaper provider-there only is one!)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 60 (OH's contract=£20/Mine=£40 Iphone :heart2: will reduce my tariff to £35 next month. I'm locked in my contract for another 9 months)
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (I know this is HUGE for 2 people but I enjoy cooking and making things from scratch. We don't always spend £100 p.w so whatever is left over in our joint acc. will chip away at the £300 overdraft we have on our joint account)
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 39.55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 26.8 (Teachers union membership for myself and my OH)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Club Membership......................... 5
Mum's Loan.............................. 30 (the loan is in my name and comes out of my acc. but I gave my car to my parents and I pay £30 for them and they give me the other £90 in cash)
Charity................................. 8
Lottery Direct Debit.................... 18
Total monthly expenses.................. 1448.85


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Joint Tesco CC.................1878.6....38........17.9 (Currently paying the min. amount-applied for another 0% BT card but rejected)
Laser Surgery Finance..........2677.44...55.78.....0
My Credit Union Loan...........300.......20........? (Not sure what interest is on this, need to check)
OH's Graduate Loan.............3440......156.......7.2
OH's Overdraft.................1000......0.........0
My A&L Overdraft...............350.......0.........0
My Halifax Overdraft...........750.......0.........0.5 (50p per day so being charged roughly £30 p/m atm)
Total unsecured debts..........10396.04..269.78....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,937.77
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,448.85
Available for debt repayments........... 1,488.92
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 269.78
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,219.14

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,396.04
Net Assets.............................. -6,896.04

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

OK, not sure if that is helpful or not. Maybe I'd be better doing my own individual SOA rather than a joint one?

A few things to note...
My partner and I were contemplating doing a bit of travelling this summer and applied for a loan with Tescos (joint). I followed Martin's advice and checked both our credit reports before doing this and everything was hunkydory-no missed p/ms, on the electoral register bla bla bla and i checked my credit rating also which was 999. So we couldn't understand why we were rejected.

Following the rejection we decided it wasn't meant to be and resolved to get our finances in order. So 2-3 months later, my partner applied for a credit card (Virgin) to balance transfer our current debt on the Tesco's CC and again we were rejected. Naturally, this concerns me as i can see no reason why we are being rejected but we just put it down to the credit crunch.

Anyways, just thought I'd fill u in on that as it explains why we can't get a 0% credit card.

thank you in advance for advice

Miffy

Tixy

Hi

miffythesmartbunny wrote: »

hello lovely people! i've been lurking on this forum for a couple of years now and I've finally been inspired to take control of my own finances. Well, that and the fact that my spending is totally irresponsible. For at least the last year I've been letting my financial woes control me; feeling anxiety every time I think about my spending. So, it is time to do something about it

I should say from the outset that I know that I am not in a bad position compared to other people, in the sense that I CAN afford to pay my bills, but unfortunately, I don't budget and this gets me into trouble. I pay my bills and then go on spending sprees (Primarni clothes and makeup especially!) and tend to ignore my bank balance until I get a letter telling me I've gone over my overdraft. Which has been happening a lot recently. (I should say that this did not happen prior to me applying for the loan and credit card that I mention later)

I've had a go at putting my SOA together and would be soooo grateful if you would scrutinise and berate me accordingly!


Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1513.56 (incremental payrise in Sept)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1424.21 (incremental payrise in Sept)
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2937.77

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 650
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0 do you need something here?
Electricity............................. 34
Gas..................................... 42 (Heating, cooker etc.) Have recently cancelled DD & have been overpaying a lot. account is currently in credit...i think. Also, I live in n. ireland so can't shop around for a cheaper provider-there only is one!)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 is this is with ctax?
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 60 (OH's contract=£20/Mine=£40 Iphone :heart2: will reduce my tariff to £35 next month. I'm locked in my contract for another 9 months) reduce when you can
TV Licence.............................. 0 don't you need this?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (I know this is HUGE for 2 people but I enjoy cooking and making things from scratch. We don't always spend £100 p.w so whatever is left over in our joint acc. will chip away at the £300 overdraft we have on our joint account) this is way too high, if you like cooking from scratch this should save you money, much cheaper than readymeal rubbish. Really do try to work out what you are actually spending (and then see if you could reduce - £250 would be more than enough - £150 should be doable in theory).
Clothing................................ 0 need to budget a little for this, so you don't spend bills money
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0 need to budget 1/12 of the annual cost
Car Insurance........................... 39.55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 need to budget 1/12 of estimated annual cost of MOT, servicing, tyres etc.
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 do you not have this? consider it - cover can be got for just a few pounds a month
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 26.8 (Teachers union membership for myself and my OH)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 if you buy some budget for them over the year.
Haircuts................................ 0 budget for these
Entertainment........................... 0 and a little for this
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Club Membership......................... 5
Mum's Loan.............................. 30 (the loan is in my name and comes out of my acc. but I gave my car to my parents and I pay £30 for them and they give me the other £90 in cash)
Charity................................. 8
Lottery Direct Debit.................... 18 consider reducing (or stopping)
Total monthly expenses.................. 1448.85


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Joint Tesco CC.................1878.6....38........17.9 (Currently paying the min. amount-applied for another 0% BT card but rejected)
Laser Surgery Finance..........2677.44...55.78.....0
My Credit Union Loan...........300.......20........? (Not sure what interest is on this, need to check)
OH's Graduate Loan.............3440......156.......7.2
OH's Overdraft.................1000......0.........0
My A&L Overdraft...............350.......0.........0
My Halifax Overdraft...........750.......0.........0.5 (50p per day so being charged roughly £30 p/m atm)
Total unsecured debts..........10396.04..269.78....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,937.77
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,448.85
Available for debt repayments........... 1,488.92
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 269.78
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,219.14 whilst this seems like a huge figure you need to do a realistic budget with all costs included

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,396.04
Net Assets.............................. -6,896.04

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

OK, not sure if that is helpful or not. Maybe I'd be better doing my own individual SOA rather than a joint one?

A few things to note...
My partner and I were contemplating doing a bit of travelling this summer and applied for a loan with Tescos (joint). I followed Martin's advice and checked both our credit reports before doing this and everything was hunkydory-no missed p/ms, on the electoral register bla bla bla and i checked my credit rating also which was 999. So we couldn't understand why we were rejected.

Following the rejection we decided it wasn't meant to be and resolved to get our finances in order. So 2-3 months later, my partner applied for a credit card (Virgin) to balance transfer our current debt on the Tesco's CC and again we were rejected. Naturally, this concerns me as i can see no reason why we are being rejected but we just put it down to the credit crunch.

Anyways, just thought I'd fill u in on that as it explains why we can't get a 0% credit card.

thank you in advance for advice

Miffy

A joint SoA sounds sensible if you pay for everything together and have joint accounts. I expect you cannot get credit due to the amount of debt you already have, lenders look at your debt to income ratio and total credit to income ratio and I expect they think you would struggle with any more debt. (especially as you have the mum loan in your name as well). Also constantly being in (or going over) your overdraft won't help your chances of new credit either).

I think from what you said at the start is you need to keep a better control on your finances and what you are spending. I would recommend you redo the SoA and make sure you include everything you can think of - if realistically you spend £360 on clothes over the year then put £30 in the soa (if you spend £720 then put £60 in etc). If you spend on make up and toiletries then include that somewhere as well.

Then I think you both need to keep spending diaries for a couple of months so you can tally up what you think you spend to where your money is actually going, make sure you record everything even a newspaper or can of pop either in a notebook, spreadsheet or spendingdiary.com - you'll also be able to work out exactly what you spend on groceries.

Once you have done all that I imagine you'll still have a small surplus we should be able to start targeting at your debts. Starting with the tesco card. Have you stopped all spending on the cards?
Would it help you to open new accounts with no overdraft for your wages and set up a standing order for whatever you can afford to start actually paying off the debts.

clang_uk

Well done for posting!!

It seems strange that you have a good credit rating on paper but not being allowed 0% CC?! Hopefully someone will be able to help with this!!

Looking at your SOA you seem to be in a good position to pay off these debts. Your main money seems to be tied up in your food- whilst M&S do do the best food known to man it is an expensive hobby! I would look at reducing this to £200 or £300 at least.

I would look at using this money to pay off :
My Credit Union Loan
OH's Overdraft
My A&L Overdraft
My Halifax Overdraft

These are small (in comparison) and should be dealt with first, if only to give you some sort of relief.

Investigate with others here about getting a 0%CC to move the remaining debt over.

You look like your taking the right steps.

1stdayofmylife

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1513.56 (incremental payrise in Sept)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1424.21 (incremental payrise in Sept)
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2937.77

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 650
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 34
Gas..................................... 42 (Heating, cooker etc.) Have recently cancelled DD & have been overpaying a lot. account is currently in credit...i think. Also, I live in n. ireland so can't shop around for a cheaper provider-there only is one!)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 60 (OH's contract=£20/Mine=£40 Iphone :heart2: will reduce my tariff to £35 next month. I'm locked in my contract for another 9 months)
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (I know this is HUGE for 2 people but I enjoy cooking and making things from scratch. We don't always spend £100 p.w so whatever is left over in our joint acc. will chip away at the £300 overdraft we have on our joint account) This is huge and you can easily cut down and still cook and make things from scratch, infact this should make it easier to cut down.
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 39.55 This is high have you checked if you can get it cheaper?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 You need something here
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 26.8 (Teachers union membership for myself and my OH)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 See below
Haircuts................................ 0 See below
Entertainment........................... 0 See below
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 These need something in Do you really spend nothing and by not budgeting for it can make your budget seem better than it is.
Club Membership......................... 5
Mum's Loan.............................. 30 (the loan is in my name and comes out of my acc. but I gave my car to my parents and I pay £30 for them and they give me the other £90 in cash)
Charity................................. 8
Lottery Direct Debit.................... 18
Total monthly expenses.................. 1448.85


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Joint Tesco CC.................1878.6....38........17.9 (Currently paying the min. amount-applied for another 0% BT card but rejected)
Laser Surgery Finance..........2677.44...55.78.....0
My Credit Union Loan...........300.......20........? (Not sure what interest is on this, need to check)
OH's Graduate Loan.............3440......156.......7.2
OH's Overdraft.................1000......0.........0
My A&L Overdraft...............350.......0.........0
My Halifax Overdraft...........750.......0.........0.5 (50p per day so being charged roughly £30 p/m atm)
Total unsecured debts..........10396.04..269.78....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,937.77
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,448.85
Available for debt repayments........... 1,488.92
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 269.78
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,219.14 Do you have this left over every month? If you do then you can very quickly start paying off your debt. If not you both need to start a spending diary and see where this extra money is going.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,396.04
Net Assets.............................. -6,896.04

Quite new at this myself but it does seem like your in a very good situation to pay off your debt very quickly and can then start saving towards your travelling holiday, it is a very worthwhile way to spend your summer.

1st day

miffythesmartbunny

thank you for the speedy response guys, i appreciate your advice.

tixy-i don't pay council tax i think that's covered by our landlord or the management company. No water charges in N.I. yet either :j

i suppose i am quite bold because i don't have a tv license and haven't had one for a year and a half now. keep meaning to get it sorted tho! we don't have contents insurance either, so that's another thing we'll defo have to address.

i'll have to spend a few hours on the grocery/shopping threads to get some tips for cutting down food shop. Even when we shopped online we were still spending around £65-70 p.w. We buy a lot of fresh veg and meat and buy some own brand stuff too. No excuse tho, if others can do it, so can we.

ok, so i definitely need to start budgeting for car tax, M.O.T., birthdays, clothes, entertainment etc.
how much would you recommend/what is reasonable to budget for birthdays? excluding Crimbo, i buy for about 8 people a year and spend between 30-60. is this reasonable?

i was trying to be money savvy and thought I'd switch bank accs to the A&L to get the interest free o/d and £100 reward but unfortunately it has ended up costing me more than this. I swapped accounts to the A&L and swapped my DDs over but forgot about a £7 payment to Experian that was like a debit card subscription that came out of my halifax acc and thus i inherited a charge. i put money in to cover charge for the end of the month but it wasn't enough, so i got another. I've had 3 in a row now. i usually don't make a habit of this!

anyhoo, the A&L pulled a fast one, because despite me specifically asking before opening the acc. whether there were any pre-conditions for me obtaining the same overdraft i had with the halifax and being told no...they told me 3 weeks ago that indeed there are conditions. NOtably, that your acc must be in credit for at least 15 days (mine isn't because i have my DDs set to go out within a day or two of me being paid!) grrr

so after all the hoo-ha, the charges, the damage to my credit rating in getting 3 charges...i know have to go back to the halifax with my tail between my legs and pay £30 p/m for using my overdraft

i'm afraid that if i don't either start paying off the £750 overdraft with the halifax or redirect my salary into it, they're going to demand that i cough up the whole lot

so i suppose i now need to go away and seriously look at my SOA with my partner and set budgets for everything and then come back for advice on tackling the debts?

thank you for reading my rants clang_uk and tixy xx

clang_uk

Anytime!!!

Good luck with it - keep us posted on how it goes with OH!

Tixy

Its all about balancing how quick you want to pay off your debts compared to how much you like certain luxuries. Whilst we can advise on what we think is typical etc if you want to spend extra on food for example and can afford to then why not.

Hopefully you can start making some changes and be able to go travelling soon, that goal might be enough to motivate you to make some smal changes.

Good luck with it all (and especially those spending diaries!). Remember whenever you are switching any thing or looking for new insurance etc always read the guides on here to look for the best deal and try to earn cashback etc.

If you cannot go on the big hol this summer could you do some tutoring or something to start saving towards the holiday next summer? (although maybe you've had enough of kids by then and need that 5-6week break!!)

miffythesmartbunny

thanks for the encouragement guys.

realistically, the travelling has to go on hold until 2012... next year is my brother and my best friend's wedding and i'm bridesmaid for both AND they're both away from home so definitely no hols next year

altho, i'm trying to book a budget ski trip for a week in dec/january so i suppose i should include my proposed savings for that in the budget. lol

ok, the OH is in...budget time

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi there, an welcome, you could be debt free in no time with abit of budgetting and over pays early next year could be the dfd, I can totally agree re alliance we moved for the 0% overdraft and we did not know you had to be in credit! Shocking! Good luck anyway x

Pollycat

miffythesmartbunny wrote: »

i suppose i am quite bold because i don't have a tv license and haven't had one for a year and a half now. keep meaning to get it sorted tho! we don't have contents insurance either, so that's another thing we'll defo have to address.

i'll have to spend a few hours on the grocery/shopping threads to get some tips for cutting down food shop. Even when we shopped online we were still spending around £65-70 p.w. We buy a lot of fresh veg and meat and buy some own brand stuff too. No excuse tho, if others can do it, so can we.

ok, so i definitely need to start budgeting for car tax, M.O.T., birthdays, clothes, entertainment etc.
how much would you recommend/what is reasonable to budget for birthdays? excluding Crimbo, i buy for about 8 people a year and spend between 30-60. is this reasonable?

Hi there
Do you mean you have a TV but haven't got round to sorting out a licence yet?
If so, I'm afraid that isn't bold - it's very silly.
Do get it sorted right now.

£400 on groceries?
Wow!
I too love cooking and cook mostly from scratch.
My 'grocery' monthly spend (for 2 people and one cat, including cleaning/laundry stuff and wine/beers) has averaged less than £170 per month over the last 49 months.
That also includes all the small cash shopping, such as bread & fresh veg as I meticulously record all spends.

I think you need to 'menu plan' to make the most of what you buy.
For example, instead of buying a single pepper and 4oz of mushrooms, buy a value pack of peppers and 750gm pack of mushrooms.
Use some in a tuna risotto, some in a pasta dish, some with chicken in a tomato based sauce etc etc.
Much cheaper than buying a specific item for when you want to use it.

Do some batch cooking if you have a decent size freezer.
It does take some time but you'll benefit in the end.

Do you have room (and spare money) to take advantage of BOGOF offers?
I very rarely pay full price for tinned stuff, wash powder, loo rolls etc.
I buy them when on offer and store in my garage.
Definitely check out the Old-Style board.

Presents - do you spend £30 - £60 PER PERSON or overall?
If that's a maximum of £7.50 per person, it's not bad.
If you spend more, why not ask the people you buy for if they'd be willing to agree on a smaller budget for presents?

Good luck.

miffythesmartbunny

hi pollycat, thanks for your advice.

i do meal plan currently but i do like your idea of planning around the ingredients i'm going to use. you're 100% right...today i made some leek and potato soup-i only needed one stick of celery but instead i bought the only pack that tescos had which had 3 in it and ended up throwing 2 out. furthermore, i know i probably should have just made more and froze it!

i do buy BOGOFs but unfortunately i'm enticed by BOGOFs that i wouldn't normally buy.

the present fund is between £30-60 pp so i know i need to cut that down too. i have my cousin's wedding next month and it's pretty standard here to give £100 as a gift! bad times - didn't budget for this. although, i'm trying to think of something i could buy instead that would look expensive(ish) but cost half the price!