Does this look ok to you?

ghostmadlittlemiss

Hi,

Long term poster here, I've been DF once due to savings maturing but they'll all gone now and stupidly, I didn't budget and have ended up in the same mess again. I'm determined to change so I've done a SOA. However, could you please read the next paragraph before you comment on it (I'll try not to drag on) as it explains some of the figures and lack thereof?

I'll be living with my OH from 2nd Sept (budget starts from there). I'm a student, he's unemployed with mental health issues and likely to stay that way for the time this budget is for. If you think he "should just get a job and stop scrounging", kindly go here or here instead, I suspect you'll be happier there than on my thread. Apologies to those of you who don't take that attitude, I'm just trying to give the trolls fair warning to stay well clear. Anyway, the budget below is just for me. Gas, electric, land line, internet, groceries, contents insurance and washing machine insurance are halved (Gas, electric and contents are guesses as we've not moved in yet), everything else is just me paying as it's my mobile phone and my car. No, I can't reduce my mobile, it's only a few months old (pre-LBM) and no, I'm not selling the car. Internet is so high as OH is insisting on unlimited internet and can't be budged. Believe me, I've tried. The car's a 1967 Morris Minor so no road tax but high repairs and breakdown. No council tax as I'm a student and my OH gets council tax benefit. Water is in with the rent so that's not on there either. No TV licence as we both use iPlayer and other catch up programs and the only TV we have is for a games console and it's analogue. Where I live went digital last summer. If TV Licensing can find a way to watch live TV on that TV with no topbox in the flat, they can fine us whatever they like. I've budgeted for four mystery shops a month (usually McDonalds) so when I get paid for them, the money can go straight towards the cc without me having to work out what was reimbursement and what was the shopper fee. I could give up my charity donations and Lotto but as I don't have a shortfall, I'd rather not.

If you did actually trek through that paragraph, good on you. I'm sorry if I sounded confrontational, I just wanted to get it all down in as a little a space as possible. Tbh, I'm not so much looking for places to shave off money, this budget is only until I graduate next summer, but I'm looking at whether or not that budget looks reasonable and if I've included everything so I don't get caught out and have to use the card again. So, what do you all think? (SOA in next post).
Kayleigh

ghostmadlittlemiss

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 760.3
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 760.3

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 310
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 6.3
Mobile phone............................ 32
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 7.25
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Washing machine insurance............... 3.5
Lotto................................... 8
Mystery shop............................ 16
Charity................................. 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 735.55


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax CC.....................931.42....10........0 til April 2012
Total unsecured debts..........931.42....10........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 760.3
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 735.55
Available for debt repayments........... 24.75
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 10
Amount left after debt repayments....... 14.75

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -931.42
Net Assets.............................. 568.58

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

browneyedbazzi

Your budget looks reasonable to me (given all the bits that you pre-empted by explaining in your first post).

One note about the tv licence - if you watch any live broadcast online (ie live feed options on iplayer or the bbc website) you still have to have a licence. You can only get away without having one if you only watch programmes at a time when they are not being broadcast. If the tv licence people ever come calling be very careful about what you say you watch online!

I know of work places that have been caught out because their staff watched online live feeds of news etc.


I find the whole system a bit ridiculous and I'm not a fan of it - don't want to see you getting caught out!

SammyD_2

Personally, I would ditch the charity of 20 and add to the emergency fund. I dont know how important that is to you, but it seems odd to me that you are donating twice to charity what you are to secure your own position. But that is just me.

vixx

Hi Ghostmad,

Scrap the £20 charity payment, you aren't in a position to do this. I understand the importance of helping where you can, but at the moment it's just putting you in a worse position.

Also, scrap the £8 a month on Lotto, your chances of winning are miniscule.

£28 a month really adds up, I'd use it to overpay your debt, it really will make a difference in getting it down.

Best of luck,
Vicky

MiaowMiaow

Hi :-)

I suffer with depression and have been off work before so completely understand about your OH.
Is £35 realistic for clothing and entertainment?? Do you have a spending diary - look over last few months and see what you spent on these.#

I agree about the charity (unless it is very important to you) and the lotto.

Also I would not count mystery shopping income in your SOA as it is not guaranteed - just my opinion.

Other than that you have explained the obvious questions yourself so all good.
Best of luck and keep us posted xx

staffie1

£600 / yr insurance for a car worth only £1500 seems crazy to me.

beanielou

Can you cut in half your charity payments in half meantime?
Your first goal is to get CC under £900.Ok?

lvm

Instead of charity payments, do you have any charity shops nearby that would love someone to do a wee 4 hour shift on a Saturday morning?

Not sure where you are living or planning to move to but is £620 a month reasonable for what I assume is 1 bedroom? I live in Edinburgh and could probably find a decent 1 bed for around £500.

Gas/elec - again, just for me personally. I pay £46 per month for 2 bed flat (with lodger) and that's me in a lot of credit. Just changing supplier and DD being brought down to £33 a month. So maybe your energy will be half what you're estimating.

Contents will probably be cheaper too - I got my friends done and it would have been £15.89 for building & contents for a 4 bed semi.

As for the mystery shopping - I'm guessing you only do shops for that one company (which I'll not mention because you've mentioned the client!)...have you registered on any more? I get emails for assignment which would get that £16 for just 1 assisgnment. Think different companies do different "calibre" of shops. I had an email yesterday asking me to do one with an estimated fee of £40-£50.

Good luck for the move!

laura2481

Hi! I would halve what you are giving to charity and put the extra £10 into your savings (or knock it on the head all together put it all in your emergency fund and donate some of your time instead to the charity of your choice, or do some fundraising for them etc) As for the lotto, well we all like to dream.. how about halving it to £4 per month just doing the saturday draw... or even swap to thundball as I think the odds of a win a slightly better on thunderball? Other than that there's really not much wiggle room on your budget. Maybe keep a spending diary for as month and make sure your sticking to your budget! Good luck

Mort

The budget looks reasonable but the trick is to stick to it, you said that you got debt free once before but did not budget so this may be a problem for you. Not a criticism - I have done the same twice in the past.

You have not said what you have done with the card, I would recommend that you put the card out of reach so that you are not tempted to use it.

The lottery and charity payments are expenditure items to look at, the more you pay of the debt the quicker it will come down.