Lbm 21/1/12

tres_2

Thanks for your response Somerset Saver! I've tried to answer your points below


Council tax is over 12 months, but I read somehwere I should get a single person's discount? I'm in a couple of non serious relationships so do I count as single? I am the only person that lives here although I often have people (friends and girls!) stay overnight.


Gas & Electric. The direct debit is £130 a month. No idea if that is high or not. I'm not at home much. I will call them and find out if I can work out who I'm with.

Water is on a meter and I get two bills per year usually about £150 each.


Telephone/broadband I use a lot when I'm home. I could probably do away with Cable but it's used when I have friends around. Mobile is a new contract taken out just before Christmas so there is probably not much chance of changing.


Clothing I can definitely cut back on as my wardrobe is huge!!


Road tax is £460 (I think?) a year on my car. Insurance is just over £600 as I'm only 27. £50 per month for maintenance is a complete guess. The car is under Audi warranty but the last service was over £500.


Presents are high as I have a large social group and we always buy each other presents so that would be hard to cut down.


£400 for entertainment might be a bit low, it is probably nearer £500. I don't really keep track so it is hard to say.

This site keeps logging me out every couple of minutes - really annoying!!!

tres_2

Superbiatch wrote: »

Are you sure your income is correct? 50k basic is £4,166 before tax/NI per month.

I quoted after tax, NI and student loan.

niksyg

tres wrote: »

Thanks for your response Somerset Saver! I've tried to answer your points below


Council tax is over 12 months, but I read somehwere I should get a single person's discount? I'm in a couple of non serious relationships so do I count as single? I am the only person that lives here although I often have people (friends and girls!) stay overnight. If you are not married and don't live with someone else in your home you are 'single', so you should get a 25% discount.


Gas & Electric. The direct debit is £130 a month. No idea if that is high or not. I'm not at home much. I will call them and find out if I can work out who I'm with. £130 is horrendously high! Especially if you have a modern apartment as it will be well insulatd and easy to keep warm. I live in a 3 bed house and I pay £50 per month for both and am in most nights.

Telephone/broadband I use a lot when I'm home. I could probably do away with Cable but it's used when I have friends around. Mobile is a new contract taken out just before Christmas so there is probably not much chance of changing. You can still use phone and broadband a lot but for a lower cost, eg my tv, phone and vroadband package with Sky is £30 per month all inclusive.


Clothing I can definitely cut back on as my wardrobe is huge!! Exactly....step AWAY from the clothes shops!


Road tax is £460 (I think?) a year on my car. Insurance is just over £600 as I'm only 27. £50 per month for maintenance is a complete guess. The car is under Audi warranty but the last service was over £500.


Presents are high as I have a large social group and we always buy each other presents so that would be hard to cut down. Homemade Jam and chutney...best presents and REALLY cheap! Not hard to cut down at all, just be more sensible about what you are buying.


£400 for entertainment might be a bit low, it is probably nearer £500. I don't really keep track so it is hard to say. You may think that this is acceptable but it isn't, not when you have debts as high as they are...You need to get a grip of yourself, work out what is important in your life and then act accrodingly. If your friends are the most important hing in your world and being with them means spending that sort of money then carry on but I would imagine that in the next few years you will come to regret that when you all get married, have families and don't do the whole going out thing and you think "what a waste". If sorting out your finances is important, then you need to stop spending so much on going out...it's the easiest place to cut down and will save you a small fortune.

I earn £30k a year, my partner is on £20k, we are a bit younger than you and bought our first house a year ago. We have 2 dogs who aen't cheap to look after, and have a big group of friends to socialise with. I cosider us to have an excellent quality of life, and we are truly happy. We don't go on big holidays because we can't afford it, but it's not a priority for us...everyone is different.
If we can manage it though, I am pretty sure you can. You may want to buy your own place but there is no way you would get a mortgage with that SOA so something needs to be done.

Welcome, and good luck

debtfreewannabe321

Hi Tres,

If you are rarely at home i'd call up and get sky to drop the package to the £23 a month one. You could cut back on clothes also ebay old ones. Rent is high esp if like you say you only sleep there and don't spend much time at home. I'd look into getting a lodger or give up the flat and share with someone else until you have sorted your money/debt out. Gas & elec seem very high- £130 for both? I pay £97 for both and am in a 3 bed with 3 kids so high usage with the washing machine, tumble drier etc. I'd call up and give them a reading. I bet you will find some money sat there that has built up. Get a refund if you have!

You need to cut down on entertainment & holiday if you want to meet your shortfall too

Well done for having your lbm and actually completing this after a night out!

dfw

angelbob

i think you know where your money goes, on fun stuff but you seem to be paying for youur friends too.
They stay over at yours, you go out drinking, clubbing etc, trying to OUTDO each other, sound like a bunch of spongers to me.
would they still be your friends if you worked in Mc Ds???????

tres_2

First success thanks to Money Saving Expert!

I found I was with NPower. I called them up and they talked me through the giving them a reading. It turns out I've been massively overpaying and am nearly £740 in credit!

They are going to put the bills down to £5 each for electricity and gas and their calculation was that it would stay at £10/month direct debit for at least a year.

So, £120 knocked off the expense list straight away!

Chuffed.

katsu

tres wrote: »

Hello. I've woken up this morning after a long night out and I think I've realised my finances are in a bit of a mess. I've been burying my head in the sand a little bit much over the past few years. I realised a week or so ago but only decided to look at it today. I'm a bit worse for wear so please excuse spelling or if something doesn't make sense.

My debt problems started at Uni. I didn't work when studying, so racked up about £18k worth of debt between 19 and 22. I was lucky to get a good degree and walk into a well paid job straight out of uni, and I am now well paid 5 years later having worked my way up. However, I work in a very competitive environment and my friends and I are always trying to outdo each other with houses, cars, phones, going out, holidays and so on. I have a very hectic life and spend a lot of time out. Work hard and play hard.

My life is enjoyable, but I think I'm living quite beyond my means. I earn just under £50k basic and rent a modern apartment, drive an 09 model Audi 3.2 TT Quattro and spend most nights out in bars, clubs, restaurants or at the gym. I go on some amazing holidays but I've got quite a lot of debt that I've built up over the last few years and some from uni. Two or three maxxed out credit cards, a loan, a car on finance. I'm barely able to keep my head above water.

I've read a couple of posts on here before and know I need to do a listing, so I've put it below. I know there are some obvious areas to save money but this is how it stands now before I have even looked at cutting down. Please dont be too harsh!

I do get a bonus at work which isn't included as I don't know in advance how much it will be. It is usually about £8-12k a year. I seem to be stuck in a cycle that I build up quite a bit of debt and then use my bonus to pay some of it off. Then the cycle starts again but each year the debt seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2684
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2684
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 324
Rent.................................... 950 even on your income this is very high as a proportion. Could you perhaps move somewhere cheaper or into a house share? Tell your friends you are saving for a mortgage deposit.
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 116 Get on the council website and find out how to claim the single person discount and you will instantly save 25%
Electricity............................. 65
Gas..................................... 65 We have a semi-detatched house and spend <£50 combined on G&E. You would probably find our house a bit chilly now - well it is winter so we are supposed to be in jumpers not T shirts. To find out who you are with, log into yoiur online banking and see who the DDs go to. Then call them up or log into your online utility accounts, check if you are on estimated bills, add some meter readings, get your annual consumption in KWH and then check a comparison site to see if you should switch. Also, turn things off standby, don't have the flat lit up like blackpool illuminations, don't have the heating on all day - or hot water - use the timer. You can definitely save up to £65 here.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 45
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35 I'd cancel for now, but with the competitive friends you might want to just ring and threaten to leave and see what deal they offer you.
Internet Services....................... 20 you can get this cheaper.
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 125 Decide to only buy one thing a month - and stick to it for this month, to get you started on cutting down.
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 40 Really £480 a year? Look at swapping your car for something less expensive as this baby is costing you a lot.
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
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...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60 See if you could become "the crafty one" and give the gift of your time in handmade jam or knitted gifts.
Haircuts................................ 20 This is really cheap in the context of your other spending. Well done.
Entertainment........................... 400
Holiday................................. 400 Perhaps for this year tell friends you are saving for a mortgage and set yourself a target of £1k for holidays - saving you over £3800 a year! :eek:
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 3149

Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 16000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 16500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 16000....(324)......8
Total secured & HP debts...... 16000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card 1..................8000......160.......0
Credit Card 2..................6000......80........0
Credit Card 3..................10000.....150.......0
Loan...........................10000.....300.......0
Total unsecured debts..........34000.....690.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,684
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,149
Available for debt repayments........... -465
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 690
Amount short for making debt repayments. -1,155
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 16,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -16,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -34,000
Net Assets.............................. -33,500
Created using the SOA calculator at (had to remove link as a newbie)

Seeing it listed like that makes it look really bad.

So... how are you really managing? You don't have all these expenses every month, so I imagine you are not putting money by for car maintenance etc.

My top tip (and I so very much mean this kindly) get some new friends. Take up a hobby - a knitting group, some voluntary work, a book club at the library, just something where you mix with less competitive people. Less competitive people will be cheaper company and you can still have fun without the cost of the bar bills etc and the clothes you buy to go out in etc etc.

I'm not saying change your life - you are successful in a competitive job so you will need to keep a smart image, behave in that way at work and enjoy the time you spend with your current friends and work colleagues. What I am saying is that you might find it easier to address your overspending and get some balance if you made parts of your life enjoyable without the competitive edge.

I hope things work out well for you and wish you all the best in your career and your life. You have done very well for such a young age, you just want to learn to curb your spending now so you aren't on here in years to come with a big debt.

rising_from_the_ashes

tres wrote: »

First success thanks to Money Saving Expert!

I found I was with NPower. I called them up and they talked me through the giving them a reading. It turns out I've been massively overpaying and am nearly £740 in credit!

They are going to put the bills down to £5 each for electricity and gas and their calculation was that it would stay at £10/month direct debit for at least a year.

So, £120 knocked off the expense list straight away!

Chuffed.

Well done ..... check your readings and submit them at regular periods - you could also have asked for some of that money back which could've gone to the debts but it may be that having the monthly payment lower for a while will help more - just remember to use the saved money for the debts!

Agree with what others have said - unfortunately there are a lot of things that aren't essential on your SOP and to pay things back, these will have to be drastically cut. Especially holidays & entertainment - the suggestion of saying to friends it's to save is a good option if you don't want to say it's to repay debts - I bet your friends are in a similar situation!

The suggestions about letting a spare room out (if you have one?) are great but check the terms of your tenancy agreement before doing anything as some don't allow you to do this. Good luck

theoretica

When you tell your council you want the single (only adult living there) person's discount on council tax ask nicely if they will back date it for as long as you have been paying too much. They backdated mine by six months for the asking. I don't know what the policy may be for longer times.

tres_2

I just tried calling the Council but they're closed today :easter_os

I'll try to call them in the week