My SOA

jm28cardiff

Havent done one of these properly yet, so I thought I would give it a go. I dont think I am at the meltdown stage yet, but I havent got the best willpower when it comes to spending, so hopefully writing it all down gives me some kind of reinforcement!

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,321.90


Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage - £399.55
Council Tax - £53
Gas - £19
Electric - £19
TV License - £11.37
NTL - £27.99? (2mb broadband, phone, cheapest TV package)
Phone - £10 (300 txts and 300 mins)
Bus Pass - £41.50
Life & CIC - £10.83
Contents - £14.21
SAYE - £50
Matching Shares - £20
Egg Loan - £110.64
DVD rental - £13.97
Contact lenses - £15
Credit Card - £22

Based on what I spent last year, I spend on average the following pm

Food - £159!
booze - £130!
Books - £46!
DVD - £55!
Magazines - £18!

Total: £1,296.29

Balance £25.61

I get an annual bonus in July, it was £3000 before tax last year, so this repairs some of the damage each year, but its not guaranteed.

Debts

Egg loan (just started) – £5,500 APR 7.9%, 5yrs, very flexible

Sainsburys Credit Card - £1,500, 14.9%

Parents - £3,000, interest free (will be paid in 2009 when my SAYE matures

-Just taken a 2 year fixed rate mortgage for 5.3% with no arrangement fee
-Gas and electric are with British gas, pay by DD each month, I do have surpluses, don't think I could save much on that
-Still sorting out my contact lenses with the optitians, tweaking the prescription, so not in a position to buy them elsewhere yet
-clearly I spent too much on food last year! Just bought stuff to make my own lunches this week (ham cheese and pickle tortillas, and a banana) costing £4.40 instead of the £10-£15 a week I normally spend!
-too much on booze, but xmas time distorts the average
-dvds and books, trying to cut down. Have started selling DVD box sets on Amazon, theres only so many times you can watch a TV series
-just applied for credit card (o% on transfers for 15 months) dont know what limit they will give me yet

Thats it for now!

roswell

well these could go for a start,
booze - £130!
Books - £46!
DVD - £55!
Magazines - £18!

havent dont the sums but somewhere i think theres more money.

DVD rental - £13.97 (why rent when your spending £55 a month on them?) Im sure there is a way to get free dvd rental as well.

roswell

Mortgage £399.55 £4,794.60
Council Tax £53 £636.00
Gas £19 £228.00
Electric £19 £228.00
TV License £11.37 £136.44
NTL - £27.99? (2mb broadband, phone, cheapest TV package) £27.99 £335.88
Phone - £10 (300 txts and 300 mins) £10 £120.00
Bus Pass - £41.50 £498.00
Life & CIC - £10.83 £129.96
Contents - £14.21 £170.52
SAYE - £50 £600.00
Matching Shares - £20 £240.00
Egg Loan - £110.64 £1,327.68
DVD rental - £13.97 £167.64
Contact lenses - £15 £180.00
Credit Card - £22 £264.00

Outgoings £838.06 £10,056.72


First colum is monthly second colum is yearly

roswell

so somewhere theres about £400 a month not accounted for any idea where that goes?

CLAPTON

well you have really solved your own problem..well done

but is there anything spent on going out (is this included in booze?), takaways, clothes, holidays, presents, xmas, weekends away, haircuts , travel (other than bus pass), things for the house...

jm28cardiff

Well yes theres other general spending, last year, apart from january, I overspent each and every month. It just kind of goes, taxis, cinema, but those are not fixed costs, its just general ad hoc spending.

With regard to renting DVDs, this helped me spend less on buying them! Got to work on that a bit more though! I got a DVD player in 2000, and some ofthe DVDs I bought at that time I have ony watched once, so it is pointless buying some (not all, just some).

mh1923

I use ebay for DVD 'rentals'. Movies that are not new releases are generally around £5. TV series are obviously more. After you've watched it, relist it on ebay. You'll generally get back as much as you paid for it. If it turns out to be something you love that you want to keep, then you haven't paid full price for it.

As for the missing £400, you will need to track your spending. I glued a small envelope to the inside cover of a diary, put receipts in the envelope, and anything I don't have a receipt for, write down on the day. Then when I get home, I log it all in my budgeting program. It takes a little discipline at first, but it becomes automatic pretty quickly.

lynzpower

Mortgage - £399.55
Council Tax - £53
Gas - £19
Electric - £19
TV License - £11.37
NTL - £27.99? (2mb broadband, phone, cheapest TV package) ( the cheapest TV package is digital, which means you are paying monthly for a free service. Dump the TV bit, and get a digibox)
Phone - £10 (300 txts and 300 mins)
Bus Pass - £41.50
Life & CIC - £10.83 ( again checked this is the cheapest)
Contents - £14.21 ( this is fairly for contents - have you shopped around? dont forget quidco cash back)
SAYE - £50 ( needed right now)
Matching Shares - £20
Egg Loan - £110.64
DVD rental - £13.97 ( do free trials via quidco & get paid for watching free films)
Contact lenses - £15 ( have you tried to find these cheaper- I think asdas are oft quoted around the 9 pcm )
Credit Card - £22

nothing in here for food, gifts, anything like that.

If you have old magazines, that are in OK nick, they also sell well on ebay, sometimes fetching more than the cover price.

The sainsburys card is high APR, Id ask them to reduce it, blag someone else is giving you 0% can they match it, they might say yes, otherwise take your custom elsewhere.

nelly_2

Phone - £10 (300 txts and 300 mins) <

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Whos that with? thats megga cheap

jm28cardiff

The phone is Virgin-there was an offer for NTL customers to get it for £10 a month, just the simcard