New Budget - Massive overspend - any help grateful;y received

Doz

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,450.00
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
Rent from Greenfield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950.00
Ron Loan Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Greenfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455.00
Gas Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.08
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.22
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.67
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.92
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rons Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
interest visa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.50
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,480.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,205.39

[Deleted User]

Hi Daz,

Well done for posting. People should be able to give you great advice on here.

Would you mind however re-posting your SOA in another format: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

This also shows how many people in the household and debt APR's, minimum payments etc and it's easier to advise appropriately with this info.

If at the end of the SOA on the link provided you can press the "Make Sense" button for formatting instead of "MSE" or "Motley fool" it's much easier format to read here.

Thanks,

D9

theoretica

HI, Can you clarify what is happening with 'Ron's loan' that seems to have both income of 80 and outgoings of 100 - is this a payday loan?

You have an overspend of over £700, the good news is there is a lot which can be cut out- you might not enjoy doing so, but you will still be housed, warm and fed!

A few things jump out immediately - Hobbies £280 for a start. That hobby needs to pay its own way! Beauty £100, summer holidays, Christmas and Birthdays total £120. Where is regular saving going? Meals out and coffees/snacks could be cut back. All that totals about £600 and cuts there could go a long way to getting rid of your overspend.

bravobeastie

Also, try to shop around on comparison websites for the pet insurance. Gas also seems pretty high too?

bravobeastie

Doz wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,450.00
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
Rent from Greenfield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950.00
Ron Loan Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.00 This is too high
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50 Could this be reduced?
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58.00 Comparison sights
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107.00 could this be paid over 12 months?
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Greenfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455.00
Gas Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.08
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.22
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.67 This seems high
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.92
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rons Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
interest visa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 could this be reduced for a while?
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.00 comparison site
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33 could you stop this for a while?
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 and this
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 and this
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280.00 what is your hobby? can you save here?
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 this could be stopped for a while
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00 as could this
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 this seems a lot each month
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 and this
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 is this necessary? could this be cut back on?
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 could this be reduced?
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 and this
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 and this
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.50
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 could you take your own into work for a while?

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,480.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,205.39

There does seem to be an awful lot you can cut back on to make up the shortfall

CH27

You can save straight away by cancelling all beauty treatments & your summer holiday.

You cannot put money into savings when you can't meet your bills.

Hobbies are a luxury you can't afford.

kerri_gt

I also notice that you pay pet insurance, yet have nothing listed for pet food - is this included elsewhere?

I agree that things like hobbies, beauty treatments (£100 in addition to haircuts is a lot), the summer/winter holiday (do you really need two holidays a year?) and eating out could be cut down on at least until you resolve the debt issues.

Your internet costs also seem high, have you shopped around for different providers, and could you reduce your mobile phone contract?

You could reduce the food expense - this doesn't mean eating beans on toast, have a look at the old style moneysaving board, they have some good recipies and lots of advise on there. Bulk cooking, using lentils, cooking with cheaper cuts of meat (which can be really tasty when you know what to do with them) are all ways to cut down your food bill. We spend about £150 - £175 a month for two adults and a cat, and although I do try to keep to a limit, I do also know that should I need to, I could cut down on what I spend if necessary (the £1.50 frozen pizza I just bought is a prime example - I could actually have made my own)

Also, have you though about keeping a spending diary to see exactly where your money goes? It might seem a chore to begin with, but I was really surprised at how all the spends added up over the month - esp those £1/£2 ones I used to do at lunchtime that I hardly noticed.

pennypusher

Hi as you say you do have a massive overspend. I think it would be a good idea to look at your essential bills ie mortgage, electricity, water bills, council tax etc and go on the comparison sites to see if you can get the same thing any cheaper. When you have done that you can deduct it from your income and see what is left.

You can then look at the non essential but nice to have things like holidays, internet, garden maintenance, cinema, books, hobbies etc. Perhaps it would be a good idea to list them in order of priority to see which are most important to you. You can cut some things out of your budget and reduce others.

Look at every item of expenditure and see what you can get cheaper. Go onto the old style board to see how to get your groceries down.

With your credit cards can you get any interest free cards. You need to concentrate on paying off the one with the ihighest nterest charge first. Good luck.

moneysavermum_2

This op lives in cookoo land all that money on beauty treatments, hobbies, holidays. time to be realistic and come down to earth.

sp1987

If the £100 per month treatments work really well, have you considered modelling?

If they haven't worked well enough for that, cut them out as they are excessive on your budget.

I know I'd need more than £100 a month if I was to embark on beauty treatments, so I won't be starting with that, lol.

mum2one

Doz wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,450.00
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
Rent from Greenfield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950.00
Ron Loan Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00 (£2480)
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 - that needs to be reduced, - ring your supplier and they will usually downgrade you a package, (presuming your on contract), may be worth looking at sim only or pay and go, - Maximum £20 (save £10)
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.00 - I'm guessing that your only half way through a year, as the general sum over 12 months is £13 (at mo ) (save 11 - c/f 21 savings)
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 - I'm guessing the phone and internet are all in one you should be able to get this reduced shop around (just allow £5 saving = £26)
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50 - Is it not possible that u could do the garden if not possible reduce the visits, instead of 12 during the year (estimate allow 9 months worth - balance over 12 (now be £9.50 save £3 = £29)
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00 Not bad, but may be worth checking simple things like turn lights off, don't leave items on standby,
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58.00 - sorry to ask do you have arrears as that seems a high amount - average £40 thats being generous - saves £10 - total now £39)
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 - if there is only one of you in the house have you considered a water meter - est £15 pm - save £10 - £49)
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107.00 - if its just you are you getting single person discount, - don't forget that if you are paying over 10 months - then Feb, Mar - no council tax payments - as a one off thats £214 saved over 2 months
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67 - shop around at renewal, look at casshback sites
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695.00 are you on the best deal?
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00 - that can be reduced, try old style plannning, bulk cooking, down grade brands, - say for now save £25 - but with careful planning reduce a lot more (saved £74)
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Greenfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455.00 - guessing thats the 2nd property,
Gas Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 - can you reduce journy, car share
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.08
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.22 - that looks a good price at renewal shop around
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.67
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.92
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 how many cards is that for the balances, apr etc??
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382.00 - how long left on the loan have you got??
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rons Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 - is this an error, as you have rons loan coming in as £80 on income
If your paying this out, how much longer have you got left to pay
interest visa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 - is that just the one cars
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 - nice thought, but for now could you say save £10 less for now (save £10 - £84)
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.00 - I appriciate that you can shop around for pet insurance, but in a way it depends what you want from the package - for instance some poicies will only pay out once for an incident, or for a time period, for instance our last dog, (these prices were back in 2004 - he fractured a bine in his spine and fragmented into his spinal card - final bill was 3k, we were told it could have gone again any time, touch wood it didn't - why I would say check the small print).
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280.00 - What ever these hobbies are, your not in a position to carry on at this rate, i'm not saying go cold turkey, but I would suggest for now dropping it to £120 pm (now £120 - saved £160 - new total savings £244)
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00 - a luxury, - yes still eat out but cut the budget by a 1/4, save £10 - new savings £254)
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 - need to cut this down, maybe ask if the salon has a junior who needs a model, have you got a college - there students are training fully supervised, - need to take £7 off a month - now £261
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 - sorry but this is a luxury, that you can ill afford, if you want beauty treatments, suggest going down the college route, - eg my local college - facial for £4, eyelash tinting £4, massage £12 - even allowing £25 - your get a good selection of treatments at a college - cut down your personal expenditure with what you buy. (save £25 now £286)
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 - this needs to be reduced, maybe organise a girlie night bottle wine, bring x amount of clothes / accessories set the standard,good conditon etc - have a swopping night - new clothes budget £15 (£296)
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 - unless its booked just till you get in a stronger position this needs to be reduced or even off budget - allowing £30 a month save £20 - £316
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 - this has got to be way reduced, theres a lot of organising christmas sites - buy in sales, reduce what you spend, cut the numbers back - maximum to allow £25 per month (save £25 - £341)
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.50
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 - simple these are a no -no unless u can cover the payment for them, eg sell something on ebay goes onto treats fund £0.00 spend - £10 save - £351)

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,480.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,205.39

I've put some suggestions on, I've saved you £351 from painless cuts, but it will look like you will need to make some more cuts to meet the figures.

First suggest keep a spending diary, just a note book and write everything down that you have spent, - you might find that theres money going out, that you haven't fully accounted for eg, you say £10 a month coffee, sandwiches etc - sure its more than £10 pm.

Good luck x