At my wits end!

londoner1998

zcrat41 wrote: »

Hey,
Something I do to control the old supermarket shop is to go round with the calculator on my phone. My budget is £40 per week to cover everything for 2 of us. (I know people can go lower but I struggle) I take out cash and add things up as I go round. I have a meal plan and can normally get all the ingredients for it from my £40. If I can't I end up making substitutions or leaving the nice plums behind, or the diet coke that slipped its way into the trolley along with the wine.
Good luck!

yeah, we've done that too... and it is amazing how quickly it all adds up- it works! As simple as some mobile phones are , there is always a calculator in them...

kattyburger

kattyburger wrote: »

Hi


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b]
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 920
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 300
Total monthly income.................... 2420
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 114 OH HP for motorbike
Rent.................................... 525
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 42
Gas..................................... 42
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 280 Thanks I will try your suggestions
Clothing................................ 40 In reality we do not spend this
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 car and bike petrol
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance........................... 36
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40 I did not know what to put for this so based it on £50 MOT, £200 for service and £200 for tyres and other ad hoc repairs - car is 7 yrs old
Car parking............................. 10 city centre car parks at weekends - possibly not used
Other travel............................ 60 bus and tram fare for me to get to work - town parking is more expensive
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20 including vaccs and contingency cheapest ins £5 per cat per month from comparison websites
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 120
Holiday................................. 80
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Partner mobile.......................... 40
Bank account charges.................... 25
Bike Road Tax........................... 5
Bike Maintenance........................ 15
Bike Insurance.......................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1936

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1800

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6054.....(114)......22.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 6054......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco Bonus Card...............2184.07...40........17.5 £2125 limit
MBNA Card......................1972.38...47.37.....27.26 £2000 limit
Egg Card.......................1996.19...33.72.....19.9 £2000 limit
GE Capital/DFS.................1000......197.3.....0
Halifax Overdraft..............250.......0.........0
RBS Overdraft..................591.......10........19.2
Loan to family member..........462.23....80........14.9
Egg Loan.......................846.......122.......7.66
RBS Card.......................380.95....8.........22.5 £500 limit
Barclaycard....................528.98....9.22......14.9 £600 limit
Total unsecured debts..........10211.8...547.61....- I/we can't get any more credit cards as they say we already have too much debt/too may cards - i have tried!

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,420
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,936
Available for debt repayments........... 484
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 547.61
Amount short for making debt repayments. -63.61
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,800
Total HP & Secured debt................. -6,054
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,211.8
Net Assets.............................. -14,465.8
Created using the SOA calculator

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/font]

The situation regarding the bike and car is by admission stupid. Basically the bike is my OH's and the car is mine. The bike is currently in storage due to bad weather which means that I am getting the bus and tram to work whereas normally I would park and ride on the tram reducing costs to £35 per month. My OH has gthe car and uses roughly £20 per week plus a £20 for good measure i.e weekends etc. I suppose we would still use £20 a week petrol over bike and car though; the saving would be £25 on bus fare - sorry for the essay.