Living life, loving life.......hypno's having a ball!

Minimoo24

Ok, i did the SOA to be honest, i keep a excel document showing all that i earn and all that i pay out so i know exaclty how much money i have, and compair this to the bank once or twice a week and i keep note of what i spend to the penny there. I couldnt live without it!!

Where it says partners earnings, it varys but to pay the rent he puts between 600 and 700 in the bank each month, so i just said he earns 700 - having abit of trouble with his wages atm.


I know you said post a new thred but i didnt know how or what to say :S

so here it is:

Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1<b>

Monthly Income Details</b>
Monthly income after tax................ 1131.72
Partners monthly income after tax....... 700
Benefits................................ 288.56

Total monthly income.................... 2120.28</b><b>


Monthly Expense Details</b>
Rent.................................... 650
Council tax............................. 116.2
Electricity............................. 140 (96 debt and 44 usage)
Gas..................................... 36
Water rates............................. 40.86 (inc sewage)
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55 (inc phone and internet)
Groceries etc. ......................... 70
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Car Insurance........................... 100
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 8 (oil)
Other child related expenses............ 40
MedContents insurance...................... 7
Other insurance......................... 2.99
c.card.................................. 200
council overpayment..................... 31
wedding payment......................... 200<b>
Total monthly expenses.................. 1829.42</b>
<b>
Monthly Budget Summary</b>
Total monthly income.................... 2,120.28
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,829.42
Available for debt repayments........... 290.86
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0<b>
Amount left after debt repayments....... 290.86</b>


So, there you go,

With my £290.86 left this is how it is spent:

i didnt insert anything for clothes birthday etc because i dont always buy things every month but I do budget myself £40 a week for any of these things so £40 a week x4 = £160.00

less £50 a month of my wedding dress (soon to be another £50 of the eletric after my last dress payment this month)

the other £50 floats around in the flat account.

which leaves me with around £30 each month to 'play with' out of the £290.86



I pay all my car stuff every year in June / July and I save £100 a month for all that sort of stuff, then at the end of the year i get a little treat if there is any left over money.

Im finding it hard living on £40 a week I tend to spend it on bits and bobs, at the end of the month, eg payday being tommorow i have about £2 left in my budget.

I have three bank accounts, one for house bills and benefits and one for my wages and one for savings, and all the things ive listed come out of diffrent banks eg house bills from flat ac and credit card from my account.

The good news is i have recently paid off a debt, which allows me to save £200 a month for the wedding next year (which i must stick too!)

This is not including my OH's phone bill and also not including the debt that i mentioned the other day, as we are still disputing that, his phone bill is £40 but he pays that from his account where he keeps all his money once he has paid the rent. He is good at saving!!

Oh and i dont know the intrest on my CC.

Any ideas on how i can save, when i have spoken to people before they say what you are doing is right and you must stick at it (paying the c.card off and being able to spare £200 a month towards the wedding is a great reward so far)

i know it doesnt seem alot but added up its about 4.5k of debt - could be 10k if my OH cant fight that debt!

Thank you, sorry if its not great, im new.xxx

hypno06

Ok, first things first - you have a surplus balance, at least on paper, after paying your debts. £40 per week to live on may not sound a lot, but it is actually a good amount, that can go a long way with some thought, especially as it doesn't appear to need to cover groceries and basics.

I would guess, though, that the reality is that you whizz through this £40 a week and wonder why you can't manage on it? If that is the case, then you need to start writing a spending diary, or add on another column to your spreadsheet so that you know every single penny of what you spend, then look at it at the end of every day, or every week and ask yourself, with the most brutal honesty that you can, what it is you spent your money on, and whether that was truly the best way of spending that element of your cash.

For example, if you say you are buying "bits and bobs" - how much of that is avoidable - how much of it could you save by organising things differently. How much of it are you spending on bits and bobs just to cheer yourself up because you are down about the debt, etc etc etc?

The good news is, that it is payday tomorrow, and you still have £2 left. That is infinitely better than it being payday YESTERDAY and only having £2 left for the rest of the month......with which to cover all your bits and bobs......!

So, take another look at your spreadsheet - amend it to make it more honest, if it needs to be, eg tweak the amount you are truly spending on groceries if needs etc. Congratulate yourself on having a surplus after "essentials" have been paid, and now concentrate on making that surplus work its hardest for you.

In all honesty, my "surplus" is not much difference to yours, and because I am savvy with my spending, using vouchers where I can, buying fewer, but better quality, clothes in end of season sales, reducing the amount I spend on presents etc (it is truly the thought that counts, not the amount you spend) I can make it work really well for me and my children and we are (as you can see from this diary) having a pretty good time of it!

Hope that helps as a starting point!

Minimoo24

ok i know i should withdraw the £40 each week, which i was doing but tend to 'forget' so the first thing im going to do is stick to my budget and withdraw it in case to help me stick to this. I spend it on lunch for the week at work so i will spend £10 / £15 buying bits to keep me going and keep it all at work) then i spend the rest on bits maybe this is where i could keep track to what im actually buying.... I get to thursday and if i have about £10 left, as a reward i think right, i am going to treat myself, or go bootsale and spend £10 on stuff to sell on ebay....! but i could defo work better on that side of my money!

Hmm yes your right if i had just £2 left i would cry, i thought £190 was bad but when you consider its not compaired to some, and for what i actually spend it on, i feel better.

I always stick to a budget, i shop online so i know when its coming to £70 and all the other amounts are exact. I guess ive got to work harder on what my week budget is, and also to stick at it...ive just worked out my credit card will be paid of in 14 months £2512.97 @ 14.9% £200 a month = 14 months and it will be paid off!

I do spend money because im down because i only have £40 a week and other debts :-( My main worry is my OH paying the rent as he is having trouble with his wages atm. Im a worrier, i cant help it. i wish i could!

My main worries are the british gas debt and the debt letter my oh had the other day.... i dont know what to do about it, they dont have any proof and nor do we.....?

xxxx

hypno06

I am afraid I am not much use as far as the BG debt and OH possible debt are concerned - simply because I never had those sorts of problems myself - but perhaps someone else can direct you to the right place.

As regards the £40, this is where your best efforts are to be focused - eg:

How can you reduce the amount you spend on lunches - £15 a week is a lot, although (as you will have seen this week) I know how easily it is spent.

If you spend £10 on stuff at a bootsale to resell on ebay, are you getting round to selling it and if so, are you making a profit? What happens to that profit.....could you use the profit to clear the debt quicker?

If you are not getting round to listing it, or are not making a profit on resale - you really should reconsider even going to the car boots in the first place as the intentions are not working out as you want!

If you have £10 left on a thursday, how about rewarding yourself by paying £10 off a debt, and updating your spreadsheet to show the amount you owe going down! It is actually a far bigger motivator than you might think, and the satisfaction in seeing an additional payment being made and being one step closer to being debt free is amazing! Paying that extra £10 a week off your credit card would see it being cleared quite a bit quicker than your current 14 month target!

If you are motivated to clear the debt, you won't be so down, and you won't need to "comfort spend".....it is a self-fulfilling thing.....!

Karmacat

Hello Mandy!

I popped in to put my two penn'orth in, hope you don't mind

Firstly, Hypno's right (well, it goes without saying, really ), keep a spending diary, so you know what you're spending *on* - that gives you the choice about whether you spend that money or not. Even the thought of having to write down a spend can sometimes make you think, uh oh, I don't really want to buy that!

Secondly, the groceries seem a tiny amount for the three of you, do they mostly come out of your own spends?

The mobile and the satellite tv payments are quite high, sadly ... can you find better packages?

And Hypno's point about making the most of your money is also really, really important - buying in the right way is crucial. I have my own little example of that - I often need to go to London, and I buy cheap tickets online, which are often only £6 in total. But the other day, I had to go to an event (ballet tickets for £11 - see what we mean about making the most! those tickets are about £60 usually) when I didn't know when I was coming home - and the rail fare was £20!!! It was still worthwhile, I needed the flexibility, and the performance ticket was really cheap anyway, but thats the difference that *working* at your expenses can make.

Good for you for coming on. Hope some of these things can really make a difference for you.

Minimoo24

Thank you

£70 is for a month, this is for two adults and an 18 month old, i tend to use my budget to pick up anything we might need eg milk nappies etc, but that £70 does use for dinner and other bits we needs such as toilet roll (need that lol) then anything else, as i say i tend to buy with my budget.

as for the tv, internet and phone yes i know £55 is alot, i did try to cut it down the other day but i feel resentment in cutting it down, we have the xl virgin media package i know in my head it has to go but in my heart i dont do anything else than watch tv due to lack of funds or bad weather.

As for ebay, im doing quite well at the moment, i got some shoes for £1 and just sold them for £7.50 + postage! I use that money to buy things that we need for the wedding at the moment, but i have opened a new bank account, which i save my money that i make from ebay.

Hmm going to write down what i spend my £40 a week on, i will report my findings on this thread - monday next week

Thank you.
xxxx

hypno06

The key is to be brutally honest with yourself - which can be quite hard to do, especially when "emotional" spending is occurring - rather like forgetting I have eaten a big slab of chocolate on a bad day when I am trying to count weightwatchers points :rotfl:

Keep every receipt - write everything down AS YOU SPEND IT.

Also, if you have a notebook, write down WHY you are spending it - eg felt lousy, Felt tired, too lazy/disorganised to make packed lunch, forgot to buy milk so went back to the shop and bought milk and a whole load of crap I didn't need.....that sort of thing!

As well as that, write down how you felt when you DID spend the money - did it make you feel better? If so, for how long? Was it genuine joy, or was it like a sugar rush that quickly made you feel guilty and worse than you did when you started?

It is these types of trigger, and reactions that need to be recognised in order to truly get to grips with things, just as much as the calculator and spreadsheet type of organising which you clearly seem to have got to grips with!

hypno06

Oh, and if you make a profit after postage and fees on those shoes, use THAT as your car boot/ebay float. Only spend money at car boots that comes out of that float, not out of your weekly "spends" budget.......

That way, you are only spending money at car boots that is truly "surplus", and you will get to see a real profit pot building up.....another motivator!

youareallhelpingme

You really should write a book Hypno, even after all these years of reading your daries it still amazes me that you remind me of something, just a little way of making a change or a decision.

Mandy, why not start your own diary on here or join in some of the challenges as lots of ideas get "thrown about" on them.

hypno06

It is just a case of a continual need to adjust according to daily changes in "life".....thinking slightly outside our normal boundaries, and not being afraid to try new things, make mistakes, and try other things in their place.

So, hopefully, after the 33 degree heat of yesterday, we will get a bit more freshness - I didn't notice any rain overnight, so perhaps that will turn up today. Just watching the forecast on the BBC - who knows what we will get!

Have a good day, whatever you are doing and however hot (or not) it is where you are :cool: