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Advice appreciated on my financial situation.

Shocky
Shocky Posts: 28 Forumite
edited 16 May 2011 at 1:31PM in Debt-free wannabe
Hello everyone,

Ive decided I really need to address my financial situation before it gets out of hand. You will see Ive posted my statement of affairs below. At the moment this looks rather promising. However, at the moment I still find myself struggling with my finances.
I graduated from University in 2008 and Ive still yet to repay my overdraft. At the moment it is at is £2000 limit of which £500 is interest free. It has never got this high before, but I had to pay for a service, mot and car tax for my car. I also have a Capital One Credit Card with a £2700 limit. It currently has an outstanding balance of £1500 which I repay in monthly repayments. I contacted my bank (natwest) on Friday and they told me that I should open a Natwest Graduate Credit card account and transfer my outstanding overdraft and some of the capital one outstanding balance to this card at 0% on balance transfers for 16 months with 2.9% fee. I have applied for this card and waiting for paperwork. They informed me that because of my income/outgoings I wasnt eligible for a loan.
Because I am at the limit of my overdraft for this month I have no money to cover the direct debits for my mobile phone and car finance coming out on the 20th and 31st. Would it be a good idea to consider a pay day loan? At no cost do I want to withdraw cash from my Credit card. This is the first time I have reached the limit of my over draft and It is evident its due to the cost of my car, but due to work I need this car.
Im also looking at ways to up my income, including applying for jobs. I may be selling myself short with what Im earning at the moment!

My statement of affairs as follows:




Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,100.00
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) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.99
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,100.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,043.66




Leigh
«13

Comments

  • CH27
    CH27 Posts: 5,531 Forumite
    Do not take a payday loan! They are very bad news!

    Your car insurance & tax are very high.

    You are spending £100 per month on eating out etc. Could you cut that down?

    Can you reduce your mobile tarrif or swap to pay as you go?
    Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.
  • shellyruby
    shellyruby Posts: 186 Forumite
    Hi Leigh.
    sorry i dont have any advice to give you because i cant understand my own soa and where to save but someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon..good luck :)
  • Shocky
    Shocky Posts: 28 Forumite
    CH27 wrote: »
    Do not take a payday loan! They are very bad news!

    Your car insurance & tax are very high.

    You are spending £100 per month on eating out etc. Could you cut that down?

    Can you reduce your mobile tarrif or swap to pay as you go?

    Hello CH,

    I now regret purchasing my car when I did because it costs me a lot of money. However, I have 18 months of finance to pay now which is worth more than the value of the car.
    There must of been an error with the SOA sheet as I only spend about £50 per month on eating out etc..
    I could reduce my mobile phone tarriff or swap to PAYG as my contract is due to expire in one month.
    Would a paydayl loan not be suitable considering I could pay it back in two weeks and it will cover my two DD's coming out this month?
  • Shocky
    Shocky Posts: 28 Forumite
    shellyruby wrote: »
    Hi Leigh.
    sorry i dont have any advice to give you because i cant understand my own soa and where to save but someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon..good luck :)

    Hello shelly,

    I wished Id found the SOA sooner. Is be in a better situation now if I had! Thanks for the message:)
  • rdchick
    rdchick Posts: 1,815 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Shocky wrote: »
    My statement of affairs as follows:




    Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
    Monthly Income Details
    Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,100.00
    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) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 when does your contract end? has it been over 12 months? can you lower the tarrif/ go on PAYG?
    TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360.00
    Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00 for just you? seems a bit steep? can you get more BOGOF offers ect / buy in bulk?
    Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Motoring & Public Transport
    Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
    Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 none at all?
    Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.67 every month? or just this month?
    Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.00 again a bit high - shop around?
    Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Debt Repayments
    Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
    Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157.00
    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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Entertainment
    Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.99
    Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 can't you get your friends to come to you?
    Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 same with this
    Clothes, Health & Beauty
    Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Odds & Sods
    Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 perhpas take your own
    Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 make your own?

    Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,100.00

    Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,043.66

    You could have some savings here - it's not all doom and gloom but forget about a payday loan - if you can't afford everything this month next month will be even worse!
    Life is too short not to love what you do.
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 36,141 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Shocky wrote: »
    Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.99
    Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
    Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00



    Leigh


    Thart little lot add up to £75 which you can avoid spending altogether this month.

    And what exactly is in food and household shopping? Because if things are difficult this month you need to go over to the money saving old style forum and do a store cupboard challenge, which means you spend as little as possible on meals.

    You can eat well on £60 oper month and people have lived on a lot less in the very short term. Time to try the challenge?
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
  • Shocky
    Shocky Posts: 28 Forumite
    rdchick wrote: »
    You could have some savings here - it's not all doom and gloom but forget about a payday loan - if you can't afford everything this month next month will be even worse!

    Hi Rdchick,

    I updated my SOA as it produced the wrong figures. My mobile phone contract does end next month and I should be able to get a good deal, as I have been with Orange for about 7 years now.
    The reason I couldnt afford everything this month was I spent just over £300 on my car which took my to the limit of my overdraft.
    With the direct debits coming out my current account with no money in it, what would be my alternatives? My mobile contract comes out 20th and car finance 31st. I get paid on the 31st. I know I could probably cancel the orange direct debit and pay with my credit card, but i cannot cancel the car finance direct debit.
  • elsiepac
    elsiepac Posts: 2,686 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Hi Shocky

    Just poking my head in but noticed you're spending £30 a month on meals etc at work and coffees and that. Can you cut this down? Make your own food for work etc out of your grocery shop? Very good thread on here with some good ideas for lunches - called something like Bring your own lunches to work May (or similar, sorry!)...

    Also noticed no allowances for water, electric, gas, council tax, tv license etc - I assume this is because you are living in something like a shared house and all this is included in your monthly rent of £360?

    Sorry for quick post, on lunch break!
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Old Style, Crafting and Techie Stuff boards.If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
    GC: May 22 £tbc/£250 Vegan 27-8-13
  • shellyruby
    shellyruby Posts: 186 Forumite
    Shocky wrote: »
    Hello shelly,

    I wished Id found the SOA sooner. Is be in a better situation now if I had! Thanks for the message:)
    your welcome Leigh..hopefully you ll get some good advice here x
  • Shocky
    Shocky Posts: 28 Forumite
    RAS wrote: »
    Thart little lot add up to £75 which you can avoid spending altogether this month.

    And what exactly is in food and household shopping? Because if things are difficult this month you need to go over to the money saving old style forum and do a store cupboard challenge, which means you spend as little as possible on meals.

    You can eat well on £60 oper month and people have lived on a lot less in the very short term. Time to try the challenge?

    Hello RAS,

    I'll have a go at the cupboard challenge. Ive tried to cut down my food/household shopping bill this month and Ive spent less.
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