Advice on what to do next?

hazyjo

Bit confused as to where the rest's going. I'm on pretty much the same salary and bring home over £2,200 a month.

Say your bills come in at £400pm, that should still leave you with at least a grand spare every month after paying those and the mortgage!

Do you have loans/debt? Is it that a car loan is eating a big chunk or something?

Could you take on a bit a tutoring after school? (My ex - also a teacher - did.)

Jx

Norfolkbor

hazyjo - thats what I take home each month. I have no debt, other than 200 pm to my mum. I try to save 200 pm but always dip into it so I dont use my overdraft. It costs about 1k pm to run the house. my credit card always comes to about 500pm (this pays for my food, petrol and 'misc'. That leaves me £300 per month for everything else. A night out 4 times a month will cost me about 200 quid so you can see where I'm short.

I always thought that with my wages I'd be 'minted' but I'm not. Though I feel guilty as others get by on much less than me. In fact I use to get by on much less!

LauraWxx

I would post a SOA, people might be able to point out areas you could reduce your costs on that you might not of thought about?

pricetag

I've learned from the advice of the commenters.

Fire_Fox

Norfolkbor wrote: »

hazyjo - thats what I take home each month. I have no debt, other than 200 pm to my mum. I try to save 200 pm but always dip into it so I dont use my overdraft. It costs about 1k pm to run the house. my credit card always comes to about 500pm (this pays for my food, petrol and 'misc'. That leaves me £300 per month for everything else. A night out 4 times a month will cost me about 200 quid so you can see where I'm short.

I always thought that with my wages I'd be 'minted' but I'm not. Though I feel guilty as others get by on much less than me. In fact I use to get by on much less!

Divide your outgoings by category, use your credit card and current account statements don't just guess: if you can't account for every last tenner keep a spending diary for a month. If you want more nights out economise on the boring stuff!! Part of the trick is not to think of ANYTHING as fixed or non negotiable, some people stop watching live television so cancel their TV license, others have had their council tax rebanded for example. http://www.stoozing.com/msoc/soacalc.php

Many people overspend on convenience food and snacks, it can be done very cheaply without spending hours cooking from scratch. A slow cooker is under a tenner and I can throw an all in one meal together in under five minutes - switch on leave all day whilst you are at work ... come home to a lovely smell! :cool: Make enough for four or six portions then take leftovers to work for lunch if you have a microwave or freeze for another evening.

Save on petrol http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheaper-fuel
You can save boatloads on home energy if you realise that the pricey stuff is heating, hot water and tumble dryers. Heated underblanket on your bed, heated overblanket on your sofa (both cost pennies to run), turn water off when showering, dry laundry outdoors wherever possible, only heat rooms you spend time in and so on.

Treevo

Do you mark exams over the holidays for extra money? I know you said you didn't want a lodger or another job but if you took in a lodger for a year and signed up to grade exams, you could build up some emergency savings which you seem to need.

Maybe sign up for some evening classes in DIY etc so you can keep busy and build up some skills to help you refit the kitchen and bathroom when you need to.

Easier to do it now while interest rates are low and you've not got kids sucking up all your money.

Norfolkbor

Thanks everyone for their help - I've completed my own SOA breaking everything down. Not much room for maneuver though it seems. I dont have Sky or anything like that. As I mentioned before there is not really anything more I can cut without meaning that I'm stuck in every night of the week. I guess everyone can be more thrifty, me included, but I still want to enjoy my life rather than sitting counting the pennies everyday. I am going to try this month to cut down on my food spending and concentrate on that.

I had a look at those DIY courses. A local 4 day course costs £350 - money which I dont have at the moment.

But thanks anyway everyone

Treevo

Norfolkbor wrote: »

Thanks everyone for their help - I've completed my own SOA breaking everything down. Not much room for maneuver though it seems. I dont have Sky or anything like that. As I mentioned before there is not really anything more I can cut without meaning that I'm stuck in every night of the week. I guess everyone can be more thrifty, me included, but I still want to enjoy my life rather than sitting counting the pennies everyday. I am going to try this month to cut down on my food spending and concentrate on that.

I had a look at those DIY courses. A local 4 day course costs £350 - money which I dont have at the moment.

But thanks anyway everyone

Perhaps it would be an idea to post your SOA on the debt board so others can give you suggestions of where and how you can cut back?

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find a much cheaper evening course at a local college/adult education centre.

Fire_Fox

Norfolkbor wrote: »

Thanks everyone for their help - I've completed my own SOA breaking everything down. Not much room for maneuver though it seems. I dont have Sky or anything like that. As I mentioned before there is not really anything more I can cut without meaning that I'm stuck in every night of the week. I guess everyone can be more thrifty, me included, but I still want to enjoy my life rather than sitting counting the pennies everyday. I am going to try this month to cut down on my food spending and concentrate on that.

Perfect! :T There are challenges all over MSE, some really tough, some really fun. Somewhere there is Weezl74's feed a family of four healthily on £100 a month, now that is hardcore!

Just pick one thing at a time if you wish. When I did my SOA I started attacking the biggest outgoings and also the ones where I didn't feel I got value for money, or nothing tangible or no pleasure. I kept the vino tho. :beer:

summerholiday

Absolutely. But if you are out and cutting back one trick is to always order a cola in a 250ml wine glass. No one will know the difference, its cheaper and you stay sober. I do the same with cider.