Always skint and want to get married!!

blueskiesarehere

Hi, newbie hear but long time lurker!! Myself and my partner want to get married next year and have our first ever holiday together but can't seem to get saving. We are both a bit rubbish with money so just looking for motivation really. Love this site, thanks folks :beer:Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 563
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1213
Benefits................................ 280
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2056

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 103
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 18
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 67.5
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1343.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 800

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Very...........................350.......30........0
Stepdad loan...................800.......100.......0
Scottish Power arrears.........400........100
Water co arrears................150......50
Total unsecured debts..........1150......130.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,056
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,343.5
Available for debt repayments........... 712.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 130
Amount left after debt repayments....... 582.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 800
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,150
Net Assets.............................. -350

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi blueskies & welcome ..... well, if you need motivation, the thought of a lovely wedding & holiday should provide it!:D

It actually looks OK - really the problem may be with the things that are missing from the SOA:

blueskiesarehere wrote: »

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0

You need to incl figures for these things (work out what you spent last year, add a small amount & divide by 12 to get a monthly amount) and need to put this money aside somewhere so it's there when needed.

Don't do what I used to - not budget for these and when they became due, stuck them on a credit card (which just got bigger & bigger).

I'd also suggest a spending diary and writing down everything - the odd £10 or £20 here & there quickly adds up.

Once the utilities arrears are cleared (which is fairly quickly) - you could put this money away to save for the wedding/holiday.

TBH I'd have a "blitze" of a couple of months of living very quietly and try to pay off the debts - it is possible and may seem awful - but it's a very short time & keep the thought of the wedding/holiday at the front of your mind ..... it'll be worth it!:)

blueskiesarehere

Thanks, on paper we look like we should manage fine but we just seem to end up skint all the time cause I don't budget properly and we waste money!! (I don't know where it goes so yes a spending diary is a fab idea)
Have edited the SOA to fill in the blanks.
I'm so determined to get some savings behind us and stop those worrying times where we end up with nothing in the bank!!
I am planning on a budget of £1800 for the wedding next August (very small do just close family) and about £1500 for a family holiday/honeymoon in early September-is this doable???
Thanks

miketaff1408

I would second the advice of ashes. it is imperative that you do a spending diary for EVERYTHING you spend money on in a pay cycle.

As it stands, your SOA shows that you have a surplus of £582.50 every month. This theoretically on paper means you will be debt free in two months....

but I suspect that as you have arrears on utilities and have had to take a family loan, the reality is much different and therefore there is an error with your SOA.

For example, grocery is £200 per month - you are probably basing that on 4x weekly shops of £50. Do you ever do a small top up shop, a pint of milk here, a loaf of bread there. These sort of £5-10 spends always seem to fall off the SOA. I've lost count of the number of times I have written finances down halfway through a pay cycle and have calculated I will have £500 surplus to put in savings by the next payday. But....come next payday it has all gone!

You may find as well as grocery it is the entertainment budget that you have underestimated - £50 does not go very far. So any takeaway, cinema trip, trashy magazine, restauraunt visit must come out of the ents budget.

I would use debit cards for all purchases - even for a loaf of bread. I find that if you take £10 cash out from an ATM to make a £1 purchase, then the change always seems to disappear and a week later you will have no idea what you spent it on!

Good luck, and I am sure with a few months discipline you will be able to clear off your debts and get into the saving habit for your big day.

blueskiesarehere

Thanks MikeTaff you are so right! A bottle of wine here, takeaway there, these are the things I tend not to think about and I do quite a bit of top up shopping. The gas and electric arrears are our last bill from Scottish power just before we moved last month, new house has a prepayment meter and had to switch suppliers.
I've just spoken to OH and we are determined to get these savings going, it's daft that we are always skint and haven't had a holiday for 4 years when we should be reasonably comfortable.
Spending diary starts tomorrow and have set up an ISA with my bank online.
I'm looking forward to knuckling down and watching that savings pot grow!!

theoretica

As well as a spending diary you might want to look back over the last few months of bank and card statements- see where your money really went and think about whether it still seems worth it to you now.

27col

I concur with previous posters. You will never get anywhere with your spending unless you do keep a spending diary, and keep it accurately. A simple spreadsheet is all that is required, but it must be meticulously kept up to date. It will reveal stuff that you never realised you were spending.

blueskiesarehere

I'm checking back on bank statements and it is things like popping to the co op for milk and spending £30 and having a bottle of wine most evenings (really want to cut that out-not good for waistline either) and going out for Sunday lunch when we get paid and think we have got money-forgetting about the rest of the month!
We do tend to spend it as soon as we have it thinking "it'll be fine"
The loan from my stepdad was for our car because the one we bought died after 4 weeks and we were really stuck.
Anyway it all starts today and we are both on board with this and determined!!!!

Hovel_lady

blueskiesarehere wrote: »

Thanks, on paper we look like we should manage fine but we just seem to end up skint all the time cause I don't budget properly and we waste money!! (I don't know where it goes so yes a spending diary is a fab idea)
Have edited the SOA to fill in the blanks.
I'm so determined to get some savings behind us and stop those worrying times where we end up with nothing in the bank!!
I am planning on a budget of £1800 for the wedding next August (very small do just close family) and about £1500 for a family holiday/honeymoon in early September-is this doable???
Thanks

For help with a £1800 wedding head over to the Wedding & Anniversaries board

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=142

£1500 seems perfectly doable for a holiday unless you're planning a round the world cruise.

As suggested defiantely keep a spending diary.

You don't owe "very much" at the moment so get it sorted and paid off and start saving for the wedding/holiday

That way you won't be back on here in 2 years saying "I have £10K of debt, how did that happen?"
(not that anyone on here has ever done that )

Good luck!

smileytiger

I would say a wedding for £1800 is very doable - admittedly ours was in 2007 but came to less than £1200. We had a fabulous day, had the wedding in the castle on Holy Island, then had a BBQ afterwards at our holiday cabin (think i spent £70 ish in asda on the 'reception' as all guests brought their own plonk!)
It really impressed a lot of our friends that we had managed to get such a wonderful day from so little money and had avoided all the formalities of a 'traditional' wedding so everyone had a great time.

Good luck - hope you have a lovely day .x

theoretica

blueskiesarehere wrote: »

things like popping to the co op for milk and spending £30 and having a bottle of wine most evenings

£30 extra at the coop every week will add up to £1500 over the year- there's your holiday.

A £5 bottle of wine every night over the year would cost the same as your wedding, £1800.

I see it as an art of balancing regular spending against larger longer term aims.