Its Official - I'm addicted - so here's my SOA

Froglette

Hi All,

I first visited the site about a year ago but didn't visit the chat room, just read lots of Martin's advice and started trying to deal with my debts. As you will see from my signature, what has happened up until now is that although I would pay debt off in one place I would seem to accrue (sp?) it in another. So I started lurking here about two weeks ago and thought it was about time I posted my SOA, so that I can benefit from the support of this forum. I am hopeful that with ideas and encouragement from here along with some plans I have put together from reading Martin's articles I will be able to reach my debt free goal.

So, let me first say that all the below figures are joint debts, expenditure, & income for myself and OH. We have always dealt with our finances together and very openly. I guess whether this is a good or bad thing is something for another discussion.

Right, so here goes:

Income:
Me - £1660
OH - £1710

Expenditure:
Mortgage - £581.49
Household maintenance - £45
Council Tax - £108
Water - £36.36
Gas and Electric - £43.50
Landline - £12.45
Broadband - £20.00
Mobiles - £60.00
Supermarket - £400
Contents Insurance - £9.86
Petrol - £125
Tax & Insurance - £40
Christmas pot - £35
Gym - £45
Haircuts - £23

Debt repayments:
Loan - £245.55
CCs - £450 (more than min payment)

Any advice? I seem to be replacing my spending addiction with a lurking addiction, is this healthy?;)

Catseyez

Froglette wrote:

I seem to be replacing my spending addiction with a lurking addiction, is this healthy?;)

Very! Welcome to the DFW board!

Froglette

Thanks, BTW is the DFW Nerd Club by invite only? I have a sneaky suspision I might qualify!

Catseyez

Froglette wrote:

Thanks, BTW is the DFW Nerd Club by invite only? I have a sneaky suspision I might qualify!

I think anyone can join! You need to send southerscouser a pm (private message) and he'll give you a number!

tyllwyd

I'm a bit confused by your SOA - I added up your budget and came up with £1583 (approx) basic expenditure plus £695 debt repayment, giving £2278.

Your total income is £3370, leaving £1092 unaccounted for. Have I added it up wrong? I can see that you haven't allowed for car maintenance, tv licence, clothes, entertainment, so there are probably things that it is getting spent on, but if you are putting together your budget it is a good idea to try to account for everything then you can see where you are overspending.

david_hellier

Hi and welcome. Not too bad, according to my calcs you have £367.57 per week to spend on food, hair, clothes, going out. I suggest you each write £183 in a little book each on a Monday and keep track of what you spend. Ignore your bank balance. Try not to spend all but carry it forward to the next week. Stop using credit cards and take out no more loans.

Good luck, the figures are as follows:

income weekly monthly
self 1660.00
partner 1710.00







total 0.00 3370.00 divided by 4.33
£777.70

£777.70 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 581.49
council tax 108.00
elec 21.75
gas 21.75
water 36.36
secured loans
TV licence
fines
landline 12.45
bb 20.00
mobiles 60.00
contents 9.86
petrol 125.00
tax 40.00
gym 45.00
loan 245.55
CCs 450.00













total 0.00 1777.21 divided by 4.33
£410.13

£410.13 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = £367.57 per week

Froglette

I'm a bit confused by your SOA - I added up your budget and came up with £1583 (approx) basic expenditure plus £695 debt repayment, giving £2278.

Your total income is £3370, leaving £1092 unaccounted for. Have I added it up wrong? I can see that you haven't allowed for car maintenance, tv licence, clothes, entertainment, so there are probably things that it is getting spent on, but if you are putting together your budget it is a good idea to try to account for everything then you can see where you are overspending.

I think thats where we are going wrong, we know we should be okay on our income, but it all seems to disappear. So at a guess I would say we spend the following on those other extras:

Car maintenance spread over year - £40pm
TV licence - £11pm
Clothes - £100pm
Eating out/takeaway - £100pm
Drinks - £35pm
Lunch at work, when we don't make our own - £40pm
Parking - £5pm
DVD retal - £7.97pm
Holidays spread over year - £140pm

But that is only about another £500 - where can it all be going? Can anyone spot anything I might of missed.

I know some of this spending is unnecessary, so I intend to cut back and hopefully repay cards quicker.

Other reason for problem is that I have only been on this salary for 4 months, previously £1250. OH has had salary since April 06, previous to that I was supporting both of us. I think that is why spending has gone out of control, as we thought we had enough to be able to spend on whatever we wanted.

Froglette

david_hellier wrote:

Hi and welcome. Not too bad, according to my calcs you have £367.57 per week to spend on food, hair, clothes, going out. I suggest you each write £183 in a little book each on a Monday and keep track of what you spend. Ignore your bank balance. Try not to spend all but carry it forward to the next week. Stop using credit cards and take out no more loans.

That sounds like a great idea, I'm sure I can do it, getting the other half to knuckle down to it might be slightly more difficult, but I'm sure he will understand that it is all in a good cause!

skintasusual

why don't you keep a spending diary....

do it over the course of a month, write down EVERYTHING, and then you can find out where you're money's going!!!

i'm starting on payday too, cos i havent got much disposable income at all now, i need to see where i can cut down!

HairyHandofDartmoor

You spend a lot on food, £60 on mobiles seems a lot, eating out and takeaways are costing you a lot (especially considering your food bill is already high), and the gym membership could go, are a few thoughts that occur to me.

lil'H

Hi and welcome!

Going through your SOA there are some easy saves, it's just up to you how quickly you want to shift your debts adn which ones you can save on! In my opinion:

Supermarket - £400 a month! wow, that is huge and could easily be cut by half, look at the old style board for ideas. I do myself and my son on £190 a month, and we eat very well.
Eat out/takeaways, plus lunch at work, plus drinks, £175 a month again this is huge and easy to cut back on. In total you spend £575 on food/drink a month, and sorry to be frank but it all ends up in the sewers!!!!! How about making food from scratch and getting in ready meals once a week instead of takeaway, pizza etc is a few pound from supermarket, compared to £10+ take away.
Clothes - £100 again this could be cut, I do a one in one out system. If I buy a new item of clothing I have to sell/ throw away one, now when I'm shopping I can't think of anything I'd throw away, so sudden;y realise I don't really need it.
Christmas - great to budget, well done, but could this be cut back, you are spending £420 a year on christmas?
Gym - best value for money, could you change gym and get a better deal, or even take up running for free instead?
DVD - lots of places do a free month trial, so you could save that one once at least.
Holidays - If it is just you and OH £1680 seems a lot to spend each year, maybe cut back slightly, or even just become better at shopping round for the best deal ont eh same holiday?
Broadband - could be much cheaper, I pay £10 a month 8MB
Haircut - could you stretch one more week between appointments, or try having student cuts?

If I was you which I'm not, so it's your choice entirely I'd change the following:
Supermarket £400 down to £200
Takeaway/eat out - £100 to £30
Christmas - £35 to £25
Clothes - £100 to £25
Lunch at work £40 to £0 can easily be done out of supermarket budget.
DVD - £7.97 to £0
Holidays - £140 to £80

Total saving £462.97 per month which equals £5555 a year! which is approximately 20% of your total debt excluding mortgage. And thats just for starters! Add the other 500 which you currently can't account for and you'll be debt free in half the time!

Lil'H

PS Don't worry about the lurking additiotion, it'll be replaced soon enough by a posting addicition!!