I am finding it difficult to budget.....

bhoy1976

I have been on a DMP for over a year now which has cut the amount of debt I pay out each month.

Fab!

Since that began, I've been living like a hermit on my own. I'm a single guy on a less than flattering income for my age. I can't really afford to go out, can't afford to go on holiday and when something comes along like a dental bill, a wedding or celebration, I'm stuffed. Even budgeting for clothing is difficult.

Its fair to say that I am struggling to have any sort of life at all. In fact, I do wonder if it is better to start paying more than I was before and living like a monk to shorten the time I am in debt.

I guess what I really need is advice because the people who worked out the DMP with me were very cagey.

So if anyone has any advice on budgeting so I can at least have some sort of life, I would be most grateful.

gonzo127

well the things are , who are you doing a DMP with? if you are paying someone for it you need to contact one of the debt charities asap as they will sort it for your for free, which means more of your money would be going towards you debt therefore cutting down your time needed on the DMP.

the other thing to do is post up your SOA here so we can go through it with you as a good budget should not have you struggling for known needs such as clothes if you dont have a SOA use the following link http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html to make one and post up here

jwil

Hi Bhoy, welcome to the site!

Who did your DMP, I have no experience of them but I thought they were meant to give you enough to live on? If it was a company you pay, get rid of them and go to one of the charities listed on this site.

Perhaps you could post up your SOA so peeps on here could give you some advice? http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi bhoy welcome to the boards, why not post your statement of affairs maybe we can help, again who is the debt management plan with, do you know how much you have paid off so far ??

bhoy1976

Hi guys,

My DMP is with CCCS. Initially it slashed my payments by a third.

But my DMP doesn't account for clothing, holidays, birthdays, Christmas, weddings, unexpected dental bills.

I really just need to save some money for these things - if that's allowed.

I know its my debt, my responsibility, my problem. But my life is pretty crap.

bhoy1976

Okay, here it is. Please note that on this statement I have not budgeted for clothing, birthdays, christmas, holidays, cinema, theatre, going out in general or even SAVING any money.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1200

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 15
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 190
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 53
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Laundrette.............................. 40
Simply Health Insurance................. 10
Bosch appliance insurance............... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 986


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CCCS...........................14000.....210.......0
Total unsecured debts..........14000.....210.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,200
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 986
Available for debt repayments........... 214
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 210
Amount left after debt repayments....... 4

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,000
Net Assets.............................. -14,000

clang_uk

Wow that is tight! There is not much I can pick holes in your SOA - except maybe landline if you use your mobile more than the house phone, you may be paying just for the internet?

Could you contact CCCS and ask them to restructure it again, to free up some more cash so that you can enjoy yourself?

To me it looks like you life/work in a large town city (London, Manchester?) if I am right, could you not get an evening job in a bar? Might not be great if you're not in to that scene but at least it gets you out the house, meeting people and earning money at the same time.

Let me know what you think, I dare say others will be more helpful!

dancingfairy

To be fair your budget does look too tight - you really do need something in there for clothes, dental work ,emergencies etc
With regards to the entertainment your food bill looks a little high - perhaps some of that could go towards entertainment as I'm not sure whether CCCS let you have entertainment as a seperate category.
I wonder whether CCCS are under pressure from Creditors to not let people do DMP's if the debt won't be paid off in a certain amount of time and so made your budget rather tight so you came in within the timeframe? Just a thought.
df

gonzo127

i can see why thats tight however do you have any specific dietery requirements as your groceries budget is massive!

people on these boards do groceries for a family of 4 on £150 a month, personally i do my family of 5 (2 adults 2 teenagers and a baby) on £300 a month which i find feeds us very well.

personally i think you could virtually halve your groceries budget with a bit of work which would free up £90 a month for the other areas of your life you need, so like £20 for presents, £10 for emergency fund, £10 for clothes, £10 for dentists etc

so best thing to do is pop over to the old style board and start getting some ideas on how to make the most of your groceries budget. basic things to look into starting

meal planning - decide what you are going to eat over the next week and only buy what you need to make those meals

batch cooking - when you make a meal look out for the better value bigger packs, and buy them instead (be careful with this as not all bigger packs are actually better value) then when you do cook cook the lot and then put the extra portion/s in freezer tubs and freeze them for home made ready meals

the drop a brand challenge - look in signature below for maths, but basically look at what you normally buy for example if you buy keloggs corn flakes, next time buy tescos own brand and see if these are acceptable, if so carry on buying these for the next month or 2 and then try the next brand lower so the value or discount brands version and see if they are acceptable anyways do this with you entire shopping bill bit at a time untill you know which items you can drop and which you just dont like - i personally just can not have value toilet roll!!! but the tins of 4 pence value curry sauce is great

bluk out your foods - when making something like a curry instead of all meat swap some out for some frozen veg which is much cheaper but still filling, or lentals etc

bhoy1976

The £190 I have quoted is the maximum CCCS would permit me in my DMP for groceries.

I like to call it my 'living budget' - its what I live off after bills.

Clothes, birthdays, Christmas, going out, dental bills and food ALL come out of that.

Its a real struggle.

They never offered any advice to be honest and I was in need of that more than anything.

It certainly hasn't helped since I had to move into my own place. Everything becomes more expensive.

bargainbetty

Do you visit the library or go for walks? Do you have a friend with a dog you can borrow for an afternoon? Lots of things to do are free or cheap (museums, galleries etc) and you can meet a person there or just go with yourself.

If you head over to the Old Style boards, you will get lots of hints about reducing your grocery and hosuehold spend (which non-branded stuff is good, lots of meal planning menus, cooking hints). Why not invite a few mates over for dinner? A pack of mince, a few veggies, herbs, tin of toms and a pack of cheap pasta and you have a meal. Get one to bring a starter and another to bring dessert - lots of people are doing more at home entertaining these days, and being able to cook is always a bonus.

If you can't cook, look at a local course - that would be a great life skill and get you meeting people.

Good luck x