Help!

must_change

I am really bad with money. At the end of each month I had nothing - I can't take out money from the cashpoint. This month it happened a week after I got paid. I am too scared to look at my bank account to see where I went wrong. I am seriously petrified. My SOA is below. I just don't know what to do - help! :

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1400

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 575
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 24
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1460


Assets
Cash.................................... 5
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
hsbc...........................1500......0.........0
NATWEST........................1000......180.......0
Total unsecured debts..........2500......180.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,400
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,460
Available for debt repayments........... -60
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 180
Amount short for making debt repayments. -240

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,500
Net Assets.............................. -2,495

Bored

There is loads of room for improvement on this SOA and your debts are small, so don't panic!

£200 a month on presents can be cut by a huge amount. Are you spending this every month or is it that you spend thousands at Christmas and this is the 1/12 figure?

£200 entertainment budget; this needs to be cut down quite a bit, at least until the debts are paid off. What exactly does it entail?

£200 a month on groceries is again high for one person and should be able to be reduced if you meal plan, and cook from scratch.

How realistic is this SOA? Did you estimate or did you use your bank statements? If you are running out of money early in the month and have no idea where it is going then it sounds like it would be a good idea to keep a spending diary.

Sue-UU

Hi must_change and welcome to MSE. You've made a great start by recognising you need help and that you need to curb your spending, but I agree with bored, things aren't quite as bad as you believe them to be.

£200 per month on entertainment is extortionate! What do you do for that much? If you need entertainment, then leave doing so until the end of the month as a reward for doing so well.

The £200 for presents is surely extremely high, if you're giving gifts to the value of £2.400 - or is it £200 over the course of a year? If it's per month..cut down!!! Tell family and friends you're having temporary problems and agree, for the time being, to spend at most half of what you normally spend on each other. It'll probably help them out too.

Having said that, as with most of us, yes, you could make cuts and you could slash that £200 grocery bill by about half to start with. If some of that is spent on lunches that are bought out - make your own! The cost of a loaf of bread, plus some butter and a filling plus yur own drink will halve the cost at least.

Have a look at the "Cooking Old Style" board here, there are so many recipes that are really nourishing, but extremely cheap too.

£30 a month on your mobile is a lot. Ring them and ask about lowering your contract as you can't afford it. Many people have done the same.

Do all you can to cut down your outgoings must_change then you can relax more as you repay your debts. Right now though do try hard not to worry yourself sick about it, it won't help and worry doesn't solve a thing!

You can halve your expenditure and pay regular amounts back. Now, go to bed and relax, one day the debts will be repaid and it'll all be in the past! Always remember tha you're never alone here on MSE!

Hugs, Sue x

Cherryjack

Just wanted to say Hi and welcome :-) your at the right place.

Firstly the landline should be alot less than that and maybe just use your mobile (if you have unlimited calls package) to make the calls.
As mentioned you can definetly cut the shopping down, i have a budget of £200 for 2 adults and 1 child and after the big shop ive done i recon £120.00 will be plenty.
The gifts for £200.00 needs to be slashed and the entertainment needs to be cut down.

Also consider ebay to sell unwanted items, yl be surprised on how much u can make.

Good Luck

mum2one

must_change wrote: »

I am really bad with money. At the end of each month I had nothing - I can't take out money from the cashpoint. This month it happened a week after I got paid. I am too scared to look at my bank account to see where I went wrong. I am seriously petrified. My SOA is below. I just don't know what to do - help! :

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1400

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 575
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 120 - do you get single person discount
Electricity............................. 40 - do you have bad habits leaving on standy, or leaveing phones, laptops on charge
Gas..................................... 40 - if central heating, could you reduce by 5 mns each way, and alt tempeerature so cuts in a lower temp
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 24 - have you shopped around for a better deal
Mobile phone............................ 30 - can you reduce package
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 - thats high for a single person
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200 :eek: thats a massive amount going, needs to be reduced asap - cut the list, set budgets
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200 - way to high,
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1460


Assets
Cash.................................... 5
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
hsbc...........................1500......0.........0
NATWEST........................1000......180.......0
Total unsecured debts..........2500......180.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,400
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,460
Available for debt repayments........... -60
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 180
Amount short for making debt repayments. -240

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,500
Net Assets.............................. -2,495

Popped a few suggestions, you've had some really good advice already, I would suggest getting a notebook and using it as a spending diary, and see where every penny goes,

You've got nothing for clothes, haircuts? xx

LandyAndy

If you cut presents to £50 and Entertainment to £100 that would save all the money you need, according to your SoA.

But, how accurate is your SoA? Nothing on water, nothing on internet, nothing on clothes, nothing on haircuts, nothing on holidays.

£20 a month on travel? That's half a dozen bus fares. Do you walk everywhere?

Hard as you will probably find it you need to keep a spending diary of every penny you spend for, say, a month.

CH27

Start a spending diary detailing every penny you spend & you will soon see what you are frittering cash away on.

As LandyAndy says you have a few things missing from your SOA & the diary should help you identify them.

Good luck.