Very anxious - soon to have £0 in savings

redrabbit29

I'm a FTB living alone with a mortgage costing 40% of my monthly income.

Due to major car issues - my car being 14 years old with two rusty wings, broken exhaust and damaged breaks - I'm having to buy a new car.

It's costing me all my savings - £2000 in fact. That will leave around £700 for insurance.

I have no idea how I'm ever going to save any money as I have so many outgoings - all essential too. Not quite sure why I'm postin here but I can't sleep and it's all I can think off at the minute.

de1amo

best by doing a soa budget to work out if you can trim any of your outgoings.

Busy_bee_3

Don't panic, you'll be surprised how much you can save by making some small changes. I know it's horrible to see your savings disappear but you'll soon build them up again.
Are you signed up to a cash back site like topcashback or quidco? You can get a decent amount of cash back on your insurance. Also, where do you do your shopping? Can you go down a brand or change supermarket? Do you have a spare room you can rent out for some extra cash?

opinions4u

1) www.makesenseofcards.co.uk

2) Complete Statement of Affairs

3) Post it on the Debt-free Wannabe part of the forum and ask for help.

Starting points for me, assuming cutbacks are needed, are usually

- mobile phone
- TV package
- supermarket

Make sure you're not increasing debts by spending on credit cards etc.

droopsnoot

Another alternative - fix the car you have instead of buying another one. I don't know what car it is, but it's hard to see how repairing the brakes and exhaust would run to anywhere near half what you're spending, and you must have a local garage that can do a running repair on the wings if they need it. If you've only had it priced at one garage, try some others - my mate runs a workshop and gets a lot of people in who've had silly quotes from other garages because they don't want to do the work. Parts availability for many cars from non-main-dealer sources is very good and can save a lot of money against dealer prices.

That way, you can keep some savings, and OK it might mean you still have to change the car in 9-12 months, but you get to do it when you're prepared financially, rather than doing it in a rush and wiping out your savings.

Pachira

How essential is it that you own a car? If you don't use a car frequently, are you in position where you could walk / use public transport and just hire a car as needed instead - eg they can be hired from as little as £35 a day?

redrabbit29

Thanks everyone.

A few points in response to what you all said:

1. I already have an SOA which is changing slightly as things are still settling down after the move, however I have been very strict with the outgoings:

- I have no TV licence (don't watch TV at all now, only stuff on computer)
- As a result of the above, no sky or virgin TV package
- I have no broadband
- No house insurance (I do have buildings, but no contents as I have very little of value at present).
- I shop at Morrisons now and have made meal plans and trying to cut the cost of my monthly food outgoings

2. The car - this is essential. I work shifts and work 13 miles away and regularly do hours of unexpected overtime into the night so it is needed. It is a 14 year old car worth about £150 with rust on both front wings.

3. Lodger - maybe in the future. At present the house is in a state, half painted rooms, no carpet, no flooring in kitchen, etc... and far from being able to rent a room. Will consider next year though depending on how the house is coming along.


Thanks again everyone

de1amo

when you do a SOA you are asked what assets you have which puts the reality--i have no savings but about 400k of assets!!

droopsnoot

redrabbit29 wrote: »

2. The car - this is essential. I work shifts and work 13 miles away and regularly do hours of unexpected overtime into the night so it is needed. It is a 14 year old car worth about £150 with rust on both front wings.

Understood, public transport outside of cities is next to useless in my (limited) experience. But there's still a big difference between £2000 for a replacement car and fixing what you have. Rust on the front wings isn't a big deal, though obviously the brakes are. My car is quite nice, but it's 12 years old and has a rusty rear wheelarch, but it's fixable. Although you'd have a sense of throwing good money after bad in fixing an old low-value car, conversely it's very hard to predict that the £2000 car you buy (which, let's face it, isn't much for a car) is going to last for a specific period of time.

Sorry to bang on about this, even though I'm very much a car enthusiast, for a daily driver I find it hard to drum up much attraction in swapping cars unless there's no alternative or it's a really good deal, especially when it leaves you in a situation that makes you nervous.

atush

I have to say, I am not sure you were in a position to buy when you did if your finances are in such a state. Things like an old car should be taken into acct beforehand and repairs/replacements factored in as well as floor coverings, and insurance.

Get one bedroom ready, and get in a lodger.

If you watch live tv on computer, you need a license. Although how you'd do that w/o broadband I don't know.