My scary reality check/wake up call :( Any advice on how to cut back pls?!

dreamyamy

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,510.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.56
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.62
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.57
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.92
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.86
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.68
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.65
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.72
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.42
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.94
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.75
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.19
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.71
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Gigs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.75
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.42
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Vitamins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.95
Health & Beauty Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108.51
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.33
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.17
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.67
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Laptop and mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.08
McCulley consultation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
MOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33
Edinburgh Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121.40
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.50
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.67
Cash withdrawals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.67

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,510.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,152.02

savingwannabe

Hello there is quite a lot here you can cut back on. I have made suggestions. I hope they help.

Can you take sandwiches to work?
Cut back on health and beauty products? - dont buy premium brands - i used to buy Aveda, Kerastase, Decleor and am buying less expensive brands and am seeing little difference.
Buy a less expensive gym membership and do you need all those vitamins? You should not if you eat properly.
Find a cheaper hairdresser. You will save a lot of money.
Your food shopping costs are very low and if poss try to cut back on the alcohol and meals out. Can you visit friends and cook a meal rather than visiting restaurants. Maybe alcohol spending is high this month due to the World Cup.
Good luck.

RobertoMoir

Is this what you spend every month or what you spent last month? Because £108 a month on health and beauty products (about £1300 a year) and £121 a month (about £1450 a year) on a hotel makes little sense to me without any context.

In either case, according to your SOA you've got a shortfall of about £650 a month and you save £500 a month. As much as I think saving is a good idea, this seems like an obvious immediate gain which should make it easier to find the rest of your shortfall. Again, if it's a monthly payment then can your summer holiday saving be cut back a little?

natsing

dreamyamy wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,510.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.56 Is this a contract? Can you drop a tariff and when due shop around, you can get a very good tariff for around £15 a month now
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.62 this is excellent
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.57
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.92
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.86
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.68
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.65 What is this for, do you need the car if you take public transport?
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.72
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.00 with a shortfall each month you cannot afford this
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00 or this
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.42
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.94 shop around for this, there's a £14 a year policy Martin found
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.75
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.19
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.00 look at cutting these down
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.71
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 these can easily be cut down to almost nil, try one meal out a month and two nights out and challenge yourself to do it for less than £10
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00 As above
Gigs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50 How many gig are you getting to go to for this cost?
Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.75 will have to go while you have a shortfall
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00 this is massive, try finding somewhere cheaper, colleges etc, or just go less often
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.42
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58.00 Can you find a cheaper gym? or quit and go running, which is free
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00 Look to cut down, this is my budget for 8 months!
Vitamins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.95 Do you really need these, a general multivit can be bought for a pound in the supermarkets if needed
Health & Beauty Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108.51 :eek: What are you buying? Use up what you have and cut this right down
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.33
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.17
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.67 Is this booked? Maybe look at a cheap late deal if you've not booked yet rather than an expensive holiday
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Laptop and mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.08 How long til this is paid off, is it interest free credit or are they charging and whats the APR?
McCulley consultation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50 whats this for?
MOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33
Edinburgh Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121.40 This can't be every month, how long to pay this off, thats £121.40 more in your pocket once paid at least
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.50 read online for free
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.67 try to avoid cofee shops when shopping
Cash withdrawals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.67 ouch, what are you spending this on, try a spending diary to see where its going

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,510.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,152.02

Hi and welcom to the boards, I've made some comments, I belive a bit of careful planning and you can be within in your budget easily, how have you been funding any overspend? There are no debts listed, but I think you might have some, maybe an overdraft, try and pay these off asap with your savings and keep a spending diary to keep you on top of your spends and you'll be fine.
Good luck

theoretica

There is a lot on your spending statement which is for fun and comfort rather than necessity. You need to order everything below according you your priority and then cut out £600 worth- so some months you will save and other months stay in hotels... you can't do it all all the time. Obviously cutting down on the expensive things like beauty products and new clothes will have a bigger effect than dropping the magazines or charity.

Where savings could be made:

dreamyamy wrote: »

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . .44.56
Car . . . . . . . . . . . 123.75 (if public transport is for work)
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . 67.65 (if car for work)
Mini Cash ISAs . . . . . . . 300.00
Regular Saving . . . . . . . 200.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips . . . . . 8.75
Books/Music/Films/Compute. . . . 24.19
Big Days Out . . . . . . . . . 44.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . .60.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Gigs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.75
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . 9.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . .. 58.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Vitamins . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 9.95
Health & Beauty Products. . .. . . . . . 108.51
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . 18.33
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.17
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . 141.67
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Laptop and mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.08
McCulley consultation . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Edinburgh Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . 121.40
Newspapers & Magazines.. . . . . . . . . . . 3.50
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . 21.67
Cash withdrawals . . . . . . . . . . . 125.67

PasturesNew

dreamyamy wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . 1,510.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.56
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.62
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.57
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.92
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.86
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.68
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.65
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.72
Savings & Investments

Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00

Family
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.42
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.94

Entertainment
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.75
Books/Music/Films/Computers. . . . . . . . . . . . 24.19
Big Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.00

IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . 2.71
Drinking Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Eating Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Gigs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.75
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Haircuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.42
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Vitamins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.95
Health & Beauty Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . 108.51
Big One Offs
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.33
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.17
Summer Holiday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.67
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Laptop and mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.08 - eh??
McCulley consultation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
MOT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33
Edinburgh Hotel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121.40 - eh??

Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.50
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.67
Cash withdrawals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.67

Total monthly income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,510.00

Total monthly expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,152.02

You've added in £60 for a laptop and £121 for a hotel ---- EVERY month??

Ditch the gym. £58 saved
Cut back on mobile phone costs. Loads saved.
Summer holiday of £144 sounds excessive, that's a whopping £1700/year, or is it wrong?
£108 on beauty products??? EVERY month? I spent £3 this year.
£52/month on hairdressing? That can be cut back, find somewhere cheaper or leave it an extra week or two each time.
You spend a lot on various entertainments (£24 books etc; £44 for a big day out). Picnic at the river £5.

PasturesNew

Basically, you're leading a £40k lifestyle.

theoretica

I have just added up all your optional/luxury spending and it cane to about 1700 - where you only have 1100 to spend. Personally I would suggest you keep the £500 savings (so you never need to take out a laptop loan again or equivalent) and then divide up the remaining 600 every month where you will most appreciate it.

savingholmes

Welcome to the boards - it sounds like you have some easy savings to make - just need the self-discipline to make them - and we have all been there...

Is there an underlying reason for you spending so much on clothes, beauty and luxuries ?

tallyhoh

Am I missing something? you are paying out more than your income but appear to have no debts, where is the extra money coming from?

evenstar2009

just a suggestion but if you get clothes on eBay you can get sometimes brand new stuff very cheaply even the used items have only been worn once or twice and there are lots of clothes on there from Hong Kong etc that are v cheap but you just have to wait for the shipping (takes 2-4 weeks from there sometimes). Even better, have a clear out put some of your stuff on eBay and then use your Paypal account to pay for the stuff you want - like one big swap shop!
For the same cost of buying something new in a shop for like £20 you can get maybe 3 or 4 on eBay and you don't have to trudge round the shops either!

i saved a fortune this way and i've got some real bargains too!

Also have you tried buying beauty products at somewhere like Sally's? You can get large bottles of moisturiser/make-up remover etc for £6 but they last for ages and they are the same stuff that 'professionals' are supposed to use.

I stopped going to a hairdressers about 2 years ago because it cost about £60 every time i went and after watching them a few times i thought "i can do this at home" and i've saved loads doing it that way or get a friend to come round and do it.