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janeojaneo
janeojaneo Posts: 5 Forumite
in Debt-free wannabe
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,504.00
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) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.72
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.33
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.95
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.35
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.74
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.50
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,504.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,958.59

Comments

  • somethingcorporate
    somethingcorporate Posts: 9,449 Forumite
    £500 pm fun spends and £380 pm holiday savings?

    Cut these in half and you have a surplus not a deficit.

    Also, what is the level / apr of your existing debts?
    Thinking critically since 1996....
  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    Hi

    Looks like you are overspending by £500 a month, so you'll need to make some big changes to break evern. Is this just for you, do you live alone?
    janeojaneo wrote: »
    Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
    Monthly Income Details
    Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,504.00
    Monthly Expense Details
    In Your Home
    Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.72
    TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 do you not have this?
    Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.33
    Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.95
    Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48.00 very high, is this a paid cleaner rather than cleaning products? can you cancel them and do this yourself, you can't afford a cleaner at the moment
    Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.00
    Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.35
    Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
    Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 do you not have contents insurance?
    Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875.00 is this competitive where you live? its is a mortgage or rent?
    Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 are you sure this is all you spend on food for the month? great if it is
    Motoring & Public Transport
    Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.00
    Debt Repayments
    Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00 how much do you owe? is this just minimum payments? what APRs? have you stopped all spending on them now?
    Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.00 what is the APR and balance?
    Savings & Investments
    Family
    Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.74
    Entertainment
    Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.50
    Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
    Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.00 what are you actually spending this on? you must be aquiring something for your money. You need to stop this or drop right down to say £50 a month, shopping shouldn't be a hobby unless you are buying specific items.
    Clothes, Health & Beauty
    Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
    Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
    Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 you don't need to spend this much every month, try halving for now
    Education & Courses
    Big One Offs
    Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 you need to budget for this
    Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380.00 at the moment you cannot afford this. If you stop shopping for fun you possibly could. But £4560 is very expensive for a holiday, try finding something cheaper.
    Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 budget for this
    Odds & Sods
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56.00

    Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,504.00

    Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,958.59


    You can certainly make enough changes to be able to balance, and if your repayment are only minimum repayments you should be able to increase these as well to get out of debt quicker.
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • janeojaneo
    janeojaneo Posts: 5 Forumite
    This is just for me but I live in a share house so bills are shared into 3 parts.

    Is there an easy way to cut back on fun spends and holidays? Any tricks out there? That is definitely my achilles heel!

    Debts:
    Credit card - £1,000 (costs me about £12 a month)
    Overdraft - £700 (costs me about £3 a month)
    Interest free loan - £3,000 (I pay 167 a month to that but it's interest free so I don't worry about that)
    I have a mortgage in Australia of $120,000 AUD. I am currently paying off principal and interest, but thought I should cut down to interest only while the exchange rate is so bad. That way, the renters would cover all of the mortgage costs and so I would save myself £400 a month!
  • janeojaneo
    janeojaneo Posts: 5 Forumite
    ps thank you so much for the advice!! I really appreciate it and I am ready to turn the corner (from my wayward spending ways!!)
  • janeojaneo
    janeojaneo Posts: 5 Forumite
    Thanks Tixy! See my comments below...

    Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
    Monthly Income Details
    Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,504.00
    Monthly Expense Details
    In Your Home
    Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.72
    TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 do you not have this? I pay for water and my flatmates pay for tv licence.
    Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.33
    Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.95
    Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48.00 very high, is this a paid cleaner rather than cleaning products? can you cancel them and do this yourself, you can't afford a cleaner at the moment. This is a cleaner, but our house gets really, really dusty and it is really tough to clean. Perhaps we could cut back to once a fortnight? At the moment she comes once a week and i pay every second week.
    Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.00
    Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.35
    Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
    Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 do you not have contents insurance? No, should I?
    Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875.00 is this competitive where you live? its is a mortgage or rent? This is 475 rent (competitive), and 400 is my australian mortgage.
    Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 are you sure this is all you spend on food for the month? great if it is (yes, because I eat out quite a lot - always on taste london!)
    Motoring & Public Transport
    Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.00
    Debt Repayments
    Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00 how much do you owe? is this just minimum payments? what APRs? have you stopped all spending on them now? (i owe 1000, have stopped spending - cut up the card- and i am trying to pay in big chunks til it's gone)
    Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.00 what is the APR and balance? (see previous thread)
    Savings & Investments
    Family
    Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.74
    Entertainment
    Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.50
    Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
    Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.00 what are you actually spending this on? you must be aquiring something for your money. You need to stop this or drop right down to say £50 a month, shopping shouldn't be a hobby unless you are buying specific items. (yes, sadly this is, i guess, a hobby)
    Clothes, Health & Beauty
    Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
    Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
    Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 you don't need to spend this much every month, try halving for now (ok, i think i can do that)
    Education & Courses
    Big One Offs
    Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 you need to budget for this (how do I do this, put a certain sum away each month in a different account?)
    Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380.00 at the moment you cannot afford this. If you stop shopping for fun you possibly could. But £4560 is very expensive for a holiday, try finding something cheaper. (this is actually a monthly thing, because I go on city breaks probably once a month. I guess i could cut this down).
    Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 budget for this (I agree, see above for birthdays)
    Odds & Sods
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56.00

    Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,504.00

    Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,958.59
  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    edited 22 July 2011 at 3:12PM
    What do you think your triggers are for spending? is it browsing the shops at the weekends with friends? is it online shopping? or going round furniture shps? if you know what your weaknesses are then it can be easier to tackle them.
    Do you tend to pop things on cards and think its not real cash? would leaving the cards at home and taking just a set amount of cash help?

    Some people find a spending diary works, where they write down everything from a coffee to a lottery ticket to an expensive pair of jeans. For some just knowing they will have to write it down can demotivate them, for others its when you get to the month end and add up what you have 'wasted' that it works as a shock tactic!

    Maybe this will have some ideas that will help you Stop Spending: Tips & tools to help you fight yourself (this link has 20 top tips to cutting spending.)
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • janeojaneo
    janeojaneo Posts: 5 Forumite
    Hi Tixy
    I guess my triggers for spending are reading magazines, shopping with friends and working and living near a LOT of shops.
    I have tried your idea about keeping a card at home and taking cash out once a week, which has helped curb things somewhat (but I still have the occasional blowout). How much would you recommend me taking out each week for 'pleasure money'? I need an amount that doesn't feel crazily restrictive, but still lets me start saving more.
    I think I will start a spending diary. Do you think a month is enough time?
    And I will go and read that webpage now.
    Thanks so much for all the tips - I think there is hope!!
  • theoretica
    theoretica Posts: 12,691 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I find it is much easier to change habits by replacing them with something positive, rather than just trying to stop the negative. Instead of 'eat less cake' I go for 'buy more of my favourite fruits' and the cake lasts much longer. In your case how about searching out a list of things to do other than shopping - either a new hobby, or get your friends to go 'window shopping' round museums where the stuff on show isn't for sale. For weekend breaks you could go camping, or to B&Bs in places accessible by advance saver train.

    A useful mantra about shopping of the just buying stuff variety is if you still want it a week later it will almost certainly still be there. There is no rush to part with your money.
    But a banker, engaged at enormous expense,
    Had the whole of their cash in his care.
    Lewis Carroll
  • Sharon87
    Sharon87 Posts: 4,011 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I would raid your wardrobe find stuff you bought on a whim that haven't been worn often (or at all, as some people have), then sell them on ebay or to friends, or even return them if they're within their return period!

    If clothes are you downfall lay them all out together, you will see how many clothes you actually have. I realised I was overspending on clothes when my wardrobe had no more space in!

    Also eating out even on Taste Card is still an expensive way to live. You can still end up paying a tenner for a meal (don't forget drinks and tips!), you can make a meal just as nice, maybe nicer for a few quid at home. I personally love to buy restaurant own brand sauces/products for home, so it gives me that restaurant taste for a fraction of the price (like Nandos marinades and table sauces) or Pizza Express pizzas.

    For trips out every month, I get wanting to get away, but find cheaper things like I got a good deal on train tickets, I'm going for a day trip to Brighton tomorrow, 90p each way! The bus fare to the train station costs more than that lol. There are way to enjoy yourself on the cheap. Try to cut holidays to less than £50 a month and maybe miss going a month or 2.

    Good luck!
  • theoretica
    theoretica Posts: 12,691 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    janeojaneo wrote: »
    How much would you recommend me taking out each week for 'pleasure money'? I need an amount that doesn't feel crazily restrictive, but still lets me start saving more.

    Start from the other end - take your wage, deduct everything you need to pay (rent bills loan etc) then look at what is left. You will have a sum of money there, in your case I think £600 and you need to decide how to divide it between clothes, 'shopping for fun', cinema, books, coffees, holidays and savings/paying off debt.

    Is the credit card £400 more monthly spending, or is it paying off a large balance?
    But a banker, engaged at enormous expense,
    Had the whole of their cash in his care.
    Lewis Carroll
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