hi I'm not in debt yet?!

starframe18

I'm not in debt yet with banks(just friends and family) as I spend as much as I get a month. So if anything goes wrong i.e with the car or school trips, i dont have any saving.
just looking for ways to save or do differently. I am in contracts with my mobile and my TV/broadband/phone so i cant save on them.
this is my SOA

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1562
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1562
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 850
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 64
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 13
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
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)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1580

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,562
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,580
Available for debt repayments........... -18
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -18
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 500

starframe18

it looks strange looking at this although I know this is the situation. although i dont always put £40 a month for presents etc thats how much i would spend in a year divided into 12.

broad-sword_2

This will not answer your question, and please do not misunderstand me, but £1562 (presumably net - looking at roughly £24,000+ annual otherwise) a month for one adult and 2 children, on benefits is more than a lot of working people get. Is the £850 rent paid by you or covered by housing benefit? If the latter, is this included in the £1562? The rent stands out of course as your big overhead.

ss3n08

Wow that is an insanely tight budget. Your grocery shopping is pretty high. I feed two adults on £200 a month which is sill pretty high tbh. Can that be cut at all?

HappyMJ

At almost £200 per week for rent that means you live in a fairly high cost area. Is that the LHA rate for a 2 bedroom or a 3 bedroom? Understandable if it's a 2/3 bed property in London as the LHA rates are around £300 per week but then if you live in London there is no way you would need a car due to the quite reasonable provision of public transport.

Do you hold contents insurance? Living on such a tight budget you should get at least minimal coverage for contents.

Do you ever go on a holiday? A day trip away from home every now and again? I'd put a little down for holidays.

starframe18

The £1562 includes £700 i get in housing benefit.it is for a 2 bedroom so i pay £150 out of my benefits myself. the rent for my 3 bed is the same for a 2 bed in my village but the council takes a bigger area to work out the LHA.
I live in a village so i need the car as there is hardly any public transport

HappyMJ

starframe18 wrote: »

The £1562 includes £700 i get in housing benefit.it is for a 2 bedroom so i pay £150 out of my benefits myself. the rent for my 3 bed is the same for a 2 bed in my village but the council takes a bigger area to work out the LHA.
I live in a village so i need the car as there is hardly any public transport

The question now is...Why? There are cheaper areas within your BRMA (broad rental market area) yet you choose to live in expensive village with no public transport. You could move to a nearby town get rid of the car and find a property that is within the 30% of affordable properties that LHA will pay for for £700 a month. You would instantly save £150 per month and £143 a month by getting rid of the car and walking. You would then not be living in poverty...maybe surrounded by other people in the same situation as you but you would have so much more money every month.

mildredalien

You can express your thoughts, but they are soundly unhelpful to anyone so why bother? Whatever someone's situation if they want to make spending cuts and avoid getting into debt that's a goal worthy of some useful advice.

Starframe - the main area that you could make savings in is groceries. £300/month isn't that much, but it could be reduced by at least £50 which would put you in a small surplus each month (assuming all your other spending is correct). Try the old style boards for tips on meal/grocery budgeting. You could also check out the 'up your income' board for ideas for things you could do from home to earn a little money. As you aren't working, you could do surveys, possibly secret shopping, sell things on ebay? As long as you don't earn over a certain amount each year it shouldn't impact on benefits.

Otherwise I'm afraid it is rent that is eating a huge chunk out of your budget - over half! It's usually recommended that rent/mortgage is no more than a third of your budget. If there's anything you can do to reduce this as others have suggested, I'd seriously consider it

Good luck!

mildredalien

By the way, I notice you said you are in contract for Tv/phone/broadband but you have '0' in all of those sections in your SOA?

Have you checked you are on the best deal for gas/electric/water rates?

£30/month on gifts is also quite a lot for someone at the edge of their budget - it probably doesn't feel like it spreads very far but as you are creeping over your income already on the basics it's something you can and should reduce. Perhaps use any extra income you can get (surveys etc.) to fund most gifts, and arrange with friends/family not to do gifts or get them something token. Any good friend will understand and not want you to get into debt for a gift that will probably be forgotten about in a couple of months!

sistafromanothermista

mildredalien wrote: »

It's usually recommended that rent/mortgage is no more than a third of your budget. If there's anything you can do to reduce this as others have suggested, I'd seriously consider it

Good luck!

Chance would be fine for most people Mildredalien...:rotfl:

mildredalien

Hehe, I know It'd be interesting to see how high a proportion of their income people are paying in rent/mortgage overall....

Don't get me wrong a lot of people have little choice in how much they pay in rent/mortgage etc. depending on where they live (most people won't be prepared to move away to find somewhere cheaper to rent, and I'm not knocking that)

I guess the main point I'm making is that you have to bear it in mind - if your rent is really high and you can't or won't move to a lower rent area/house, the rest of your budget will suffer!!