It may not be a lot for some, but for me...!!

msmicawber

Hi Gilbert,

In addition to the things other posters have mentioned, I notice that you only have tax, insurance and diesel for your car listed. What about MOT and repairs? I take your point about not wanting to use public transport through rough areas when you go snowboarding etc. (you haven't mentioned whether that has any outgoings like entry fees or whatever, unless that's what the gym fees are?), but could you not get a lift from a friend and give them some petrol money, or get a cab or, if it's only now and again, hire a car? That way you could get rid of your car for the time being, and pay off some debt with whatever the sale proceeds are.

You ask whether eating out 2-3 times per month is excessive - well, it is to me and, since you're spending more than you're earning, I think it is to you too. Especially on top of such a high housekeeping bill - you spend more than I do on feeding myself and 2 large children. Do you take a packed lunch to work? If not, then that's an excellent economy. There's loads of advice for reducing your housekeeping bill on the Old Style board that I'd recommend you take a look at.

Your debts aren't too high at the moment, so could you pull in your horns for a little while and get them cleared. After that, if you budget properly, you can go back to eating out, etc.

Good luck.

Storm

Couple of things I noticed... Firstly your charging your tenant £270 a month rent for the flat you own - which to be honest seems like a very small amount! What size flat is it and whereabouts in the country are you? I'm on the south coast & 1 bed flats start at around £450pcm. I realise that if a tenant is already in there you can't suddenly whack the rent up enormously, but even increasing it to £300 a month (still a bargain price!) will give you an extra £360 a year, which is more than a third of your big snowboarding holiday each year!

The other thing I noticed was the course fees (presumably for your snowboarding instructor course) - how long will you have to continue paying these?

If you use the car sparingly, are any of your flatmates in a similar position or only tend to use theirs during the day? Could you share a car & split the running costs?