SOA - anyhelp appreciated!!

Dharma_Bunny

Some of my best memories with DH are of wandering around the local museum and having picnics in the park.
We had a great time on a cheapo coach trip to the seaside in February about ten years ago. Pub to ourselves and a fabulous jukebox. :beer:

I wouldn't enjoy a holiday I couldn't afford, personally.

And if your full contribution to the household is only half the rent, then that's pretty expensive rent, any chance you could move somewhere cheaper?

Mowgli87

Dharma_Bunny wrote: »

Some of my best memories with DH are of wandering around the local museum and having picnics in the park.
We had a great time on a cheapo coach trip to the seaside in February about ten years ago. Pub to ourselves and a fabulous jukebox. :beer:

I wouldn't enjoy a holiday I couldn't afford, personally.

And if your full contribution to the household is only half the rent, then that's pretty expensive rent, any chance you could move somewhere cheaper?

Our rent is £750 a month, which believe it or not is cheap for where we live!

January20

Million_Percent wrote: »

On the car, an L reg is 17/18 years old - what kind of mileage does it have? Has it been well serviced?

In my experience cars have a nasty habit of costing you money at the most inconvenient time. Generally, the older the car the more attention it will need.

I appreciate your desire for independance but you need to seriously consider the feasibility of owning a car right now. According to your SOA, you can't really afford it. You mentioned visiting your family (a 400 mile round trip). Assuming you can get 45mpg out of your car (unlikely), the journey will require 40 litres of petrol @ £1.35/l that is £54.

You have budgeted £20/month for car maintenance. That is £240 a year. That will just about cover an MOT test, service and a couple of new tyres.

Your current SOA shows a surplus of £3 per month. Realisitically, I'd say you need an extra £100 per month to cover fuel, road tax and other misc expenses.

Could you not be a named driver on your OH's car and use that occasionally for a bit of independance?

I agree that cars can cost money, but the Op said that the train fare was £200 so it would be cheaper. My experience has always been that it's a myth that public transport such as trains is cheaper, unless you are a student or an OAP.

The OP also said that the relationship had been under a bit of strain because of penny pinching from the beginning. I bet the relationship is also feeling the strain of the OP not being fully independent, not having the ability of doing activities on their own.

The car comes from a friend, not a dealer. It's possible it's been looked after really well. The OP is not planning on using it every day to commute to work etc so that should lower the petrol consumption, and wear and tear on things such as tyres etc.

OP could you up your income by getting a second job like a bar job or a waitressing job in a restaurant? Or have you good items that you no longer need that you could sell on Ebay to get money to put towards the debt?

scottishblondie

January20 wrote: »

I agree that cars can cost money, but the Op said that the train fare was £200 so it would be cheaper. My experience has always been that it's a myth that public transport such as trains is cheaper, unless you are a student or an OAP.

The OP also said that the relationship had been under a bit of strain because of penny pinching from the beginning. I bet the relationship is also feeling the strain of the OP not being fully independent, not having the ability of doing activities on their own.

The car comes from a friend, not a dealer. It's possible it's been looked after really well. The OP is not planning on using it every day to commute to work etc so that should lower the petrol consumption, and wear and tear on things such as tyres etc.

OP could you up your income by getting a second job like a bar job or a waitressing job in a restaurant? Or have you good items that you no longer need that you could sell on Ebay to get money to put towards the debt?

It only takes one thing to go wrong on a car for it to be very expensive - last year I had to spend over £1k on my car for it to pass it's MOT (8 years old, been in the family since new and very well looked after). Plus once you have the car it's all to tempting to use it much more than you need to and the petrol costs build up quickly.

You have not budgeted for road tax, which on an old car could be as much as £235 a year. Petrol costs of say £65. That's another £85 a month (minimum), so the money freed up from driving lessons will be more or less swallowed up here. You should also be prepared for the insurance premium to increase once you have actually passed your test as then you will be driving alone - have you asked Admiral about this?

I hear what you are saying about the holidays - it can be depressing never to get away with your boyfriend, but if it puts a strain on already strained finances, and that in turn causes strain on the relationship, then really it's probably best to keep them low cost. As I'm a student and my BF is working, I can't afford the same things as him so we've kept it low cost - we only spent about £500 each last year and went away 3 times.

OP I would make the following suggestions to free up more money towards the debts:
- Halve the present budget.
- Halve the holiday budget.
- Cut Sky entirely, Freeview or Freesat are fine.
- See if you can downgrade a phone contract.
- Look into increasing your income, even doing things like online surveys and selling old stuff on eBay can help.

bravobeastie

Million_Percent wrote: »

Just noticed, you've valued your car at only £150. Is that right? That suggests it is very old and in bad condition and will likely need considerable work doing to it to keep it running.

To me it looks like you can't really afford a car right now unless you are prepared to make some significant sacrifices elsewhere.

I bought an M reg Daewoo Nexia with 12 months MOT, 4 months tax and 30k (genuine) on the clock. So far, after 2 years, maintenance wise it has cost me.....nothing! Apart from the usual service and 1 new tyre (£20 inc balancing etc)

Yes some cars will at some point be expensive to fix, however an older car such as op's is easy to work on and therefore lower labour costs and parts are easily accessible (we also have a 106 so know parts can be bought from ebay, scrappies etc)

If the car is only costing £150, I wouldn't begrudge it needing a few hundred at some point. Cheap doesn't always mean bad quality and neglect

bravobeastie

scottishblondie wrote: »

You have not budgeted for road tax, which on an old car could be as much as £235 a year.

I am actually looking at my tax renewal for the Nexia (1.5)

6 months for £71.50
12 months for £130

1.6 and above is £215 for the year.

Million_Percent

January20 wrote: »

I agree that cars can cost money, but the Op said that the train fare was £200 so it would be cheaper. My experience has always been that it's a myth that public transport such as trains is cheaper, unless you are a student or an OAP.

Agreed, public transport is rarely cheaper. My point was merely that having a car doesn't necessarily make the trip affordable. Yes it is considerably cheaper than the train but the SOA still doesn't add up without major cutbacks elsewhere. Cheaper doesn't equal affordable.

I maintain that the OP realistically needs an additonal £100 per month to run the car (allowing for some moderate mileage). Granted, this may be offset by the money currently being spent on driving lessons but with no contingency in the SOA, it only takes one thing to go wrong with the car and the OP will be putting repairs on a credit card. Labour rates in a garage are typically £25-35 per hour, plus parts and 20% VAT. A small job can soon add up to £100s.

Million_Percent

bravobeastie wrote: »

If the car is only costing £150, I wouldn't begrudge it needing a few hundred at some point. Cheap doesn't always mean bad quality and neglect

Agreed, but if you haven't actually got that few hundred in your back pocket, then what do you do? Credit Card?

I've nothing against owning an older car, but you have to be realistic about the amount of work it might need and budget for it. You've obviously done well with the Nexia but I'd guess that is the exception rather than the rule.

Mowgli87

Hey! I really appreciate all of your comments and advice, especially about the Car. They have been really helpful and Ive taken in all on board.
Ill definatly be cutting the holiday and xmas saving by half which frees up £65. Ive spoken to EDF and we have paid our overdue and managed to get it down to £70 per month. Im going to use some of my savings to pay off one of my mobile contracts (£50) so that will free up £12 a month and Ive dropped a tarrif on the remaining contract which save another £5 a month. With my 'entertainment budget' which I take out on pay day... In two weeks since pay day Ive only actually spent £30, so I reckon I could realisticly cut this to £80 after my driving lessons (once passed, this will save me £120 a month) Im half way through my 'pay month', and Ive only spent £45 on groceries!! so considering OH and I split this I can prob get this realisticly get this to £60 a month each (saving me personally £40 a month)

So all in all... thanks to your help I may have freed up about £260 a month!! (after Ive passed my driving lessons!!) and this can go towards my debts and car maintainence.

As far as upping my income... I run the operations and admin side of a recruitment agency, and I already work a 55 hour week, ruling out a second job. Hard going considering my salary, but i LOVE my job, i wouldnt consider leaving and at the moment I DO get pay rises every 6 months (so far anyway, and another review in October). I also get the odd £100-£200 bonus every other month, and £1k bonus every quarter if the company hits target so I do get a little extra... However, until my 'second LBM' two weeks ago, this has been frittered away... I intend to use these on my debts now and atleast save a bit.

Thanks again for all your help, I know I keep saying that, but it really has been valuable!!

(sorry for all the typos, in a rush and dont have time to proof read!!)