And so it begins.....

Fed_up_of_being_broke

So major lightbulb moment last night...eek! Kinda glad i've had it, kinda scared i have! it happened when i got a letter doubling my electricity Direct Debit!:eek: i'm tired of a massive chunk of my debt going on my credit cards...learnt my lesson on that one (bf, work shy... living off my credit cards..)...So there's just me so I figure it will be easier to make the hard cuts!

i've washed up my margine tub and sellotaped it down..sealed pot - going to use that for xmas..and I've been on the net today and taken some tips off here to cut my house insurance when it expires next month i'm feeling slightly smug already, £5 a month cheaper and £32 cash back with Quidco and it was a smaller excess and 10k more cover :-) i'm sooooo moneysavingexpert.com

So i'll post my SOA on here in a bit looking forward to learning, saving and being debt free one day :T

money_honey

Good luck with everything! Hopefully when you post your SOA some of the lovely people here can help think of even more ways to save. It can be a bit of a struggle sometimes but there's loads of support here and plenty of other people in the same situation!

adi_clarke85

Good luck fed up :-) I had my lightbulb moment last month and it was the best thing to happen to me

Fed_up_of_being_broke

Shocked is an understatment £544 surplus?! where! i'm frittering money away... i'm totally gobsmacked... thats totally made me realise that i'm wasting money - I can't even tell you where that goes.. thats totally and utterly shocked me..need to go through my bank statements i think

Sky, the gym and my mobile that are big figures but i'm thinking of holding on to they sky and gym as they could be my social life if things get tough and the mobile I use for work so thats the cheapest tarrif I could get.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1800
Total monthly income.................... 1800

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 455.60
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 5
Management charge (leasehold property).. 200 this inc. water & buildings
Council tax............................. 85
Electricity............................. 108!!!
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 53 (Use it for work)
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55 (sky/phone/internet)
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 50
Clothing................................ 0 - i don't budget monthly - need some guidance
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 27.11
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 40 (tube)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance......................................... 0
Contents insurance................................... 9.00
Life assurance ................................................... 0
Other insurance...................................................0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... .......0.00
Haircuts................................ ...................20.00
Entertainment......................................... 35.00 (gym)
Holiday.......................................................... 0
Emergency fund............................................. 0
Total monthly expenses..................... 1255.71

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 135000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s)................................................. 2000
Other assets......................................... 500
Total Assets................................... 137500

Secured & HP Debts
Description............................Debt........Monthly......APR
Mortgage...................... ......70000....(455.6)........4.5
Total secured & HP debts..70000.....-...................-

Unsecured Debts (not sure of my APR'S)
Description.........................Debt......Monthly...APR
Abbey Loan.....................4335.2.......25.6......0
Egg Loan.........................6025.7......31.13.....0
Capital One C/Card..........589.97........5.........0

elaine12022

£50 seems very low (to me )for groceries?

Fed_up_of_being_broke

elaine12022 wrote: »

£50 seems very low (to me )for groceries?

Hi Elaine

Yeah i've just realised where £150 a month of that £544 goes - the work canteen!! they are paying me and i'm giving it back!!:eek:

£200 a month on food seems quite high?

rising_from_the_ashes

Fed_up_of_being_broke wrote: »

Welcome to MSE - you'll get loads of advice and support on here, it's a great place:D

A few comments on your SOA from me.....

Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1800
Total monthly income.................... 1800

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 455.60
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 5 ???
Management charge (leasehold property).. 200 this inc. water & buildings This is pretty steep for every month:eek: what else does it cover?
Council tax............................. 85
Electricity............................. 108!!! Have you checked their figures are correct with the "doubling" - do you have a huge debit amount?
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 53 (Use it for work) Are you able to claim this back from work?
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55 (sky/phone/internet) Still a fairly hefty amount but you can afford it according to your outgoings so see how it goes ....
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 50Pretty low ....
Clothing................................ 0 - i don't budget monthly - need some guidance Try and put something away - think back to what you've bought over the last year ....
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 27.11
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 40 (tube)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance......................................... 0
Contents insurance................................... 9.00
Life assurance ................................................... 0
Other insurance...................................................0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... .......0.00
Haircuts................................ ...................20.00
Entertainment......................................... 35.00 (gym)
Holiday.......................................................... 0
Emergency fund............................................. 0
Total monthly expenses..................... 1255.71

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 135000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s)................................................. 2000
Other assets......................................... 500
Total Assets................................... 137500

Secured & HP Debts
Description............................Debt........Monthly......APR
Mortgage...................... ......70000....(455.6)........4.5
Total secured & HP debts..70000.....-...................-

Unsecured Debts (not sure of my APR'S)
Description.........................Debt......Monthly...APR
Abbey Loan.....................4335.2.......25.6......0
Egg Loan.........................6025.7......31.13.....0
Capital One C/Card..........589.97........5.........0

As you say, you have plenty of money to survive on according to your SOA.

Try keeping a spending diary each month to see where this money is "disappearing" to (mine does it too!)

Re staff canteen - can you take packed lunches instead? If not, and it's subsidised, swap things around and have your main meal at lunchtime there and your "lunch" at dinner time (if that makes sense). However, even doing this, it's likely that it'd be cheaper to eat proper meals at night & take a packed lunch.

Good luck

Fed_up_of_being_broke

This is the best 30 mins on the net in my life!

i've looked at my statements and i am just throwing money away - i went to asda for loo roll and spent £40 yesterday when I had food at home...i'm totally shocked.

I've joint the earn £10 a day in October (i'm aiming for 5) i'm cheating a bit as the £32 cashback i earnt this morning is being included as I wont be getting it til October so thats a good start..i'm going to have a clear out for the free ebay insertion weekend too and i'll have a look at selling my CD's on Amazon or something..

to get debt free in a year i need to throw £1000 a month at my debt which to be honest isn't acheivable but I'm going to do my best.

Onwards and upwards!

Fed_up_of_being_broke

Thanks Rising from the ashes :-)

yeah the phone i claim when I do my tax returns so hopefully I will get something back (i'm self employed and employed so i pay tax monthly on one)

the management charge is steep but it covers both water bills so i guess its not too bad as i'm not on a metre plus my company do it by the size of your property and being a 2 bed they take a heafty chunk

i'm £100 in debt from the bill I got last week - apparently the increase is to cover me over the winter? i've had a look on the switch sites and a company called OVO reckon I could save £200 a year with them so i might switch when my tarrif runs out in december...

AngryDog

good luck .

Im going to do something similar soon I hope but with less income and more outgoings might be getting rid of my work shy gf too.. lol

rising_from_the_ashes

Yup, def have a look round at switching sites for your electric when you're able to move and see what comes up.

I switched to Ovo a couple of months ago and it went without a hitch and so far, so good - there were a couple of companies who came out cheaper than them but TBH, I didn't want to go with them as I'd read about issues re customer service / switching etc.