Arrrggggggggaaaahhhh!!! Where is my money going?

Time_to_face_the_music

frustrated12 wrote: »

My car is important as I use it for work also, they pay for mileage if I go anywhere other than my usual place of work and the price they pay is 31p per mile so it works in my favour for meetings etc.

Your mileage rate should be 45p per mile. Check HMRC

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/rates-thresholds.htm#8

and ask work why they are only paying 31p per mile.

Go to a shop like The Works and spend a fiver on a couple of cook books and give it a go

Tiglath

Once you start your spending diary, you'll be amazed to see what all the little bits and pieces add up to. I was frittering probably £300-400/month on coffees, buying lunch at work, grabbing takeaways because I couldn't be bothered to cook. I started carrying a little jotter and pencil with me and logging every bottle of milk, every bar of chocolate, every can of Coke etc. I 'observed' myself for a month without judgement and the results were astounding. Now I've set a weekly budget for DH and myself, take out cash and keep it in a separate purse, and make it last. I still log every penny I spend on my spreadsheet and I know where to get the best value shopping.

FinKite

Your work doesn't have to pay 45p a mile.
But - how often do you do business miles to another place of work, not your base?
Because you might be able to put in a claim to HMRC to get a lump sum back to hit that debt!
For travel to a place other than your base, you can claim tax relief on the difference between the 31p and HMRC rate. Currently 45p but was 40p until 2011/12.
So if you're paying 20% tax, for every mile you'd get 20% of the difference between 31 and 45 - about 3p! You can go back about 4 tax years. It can really add up.
Google form P87 - it's a really simple form.

foxgloves

When you are able to change your mobile contract, you need to look for something much cheaper. I've got a monthly contract for about £12 a month & I got a decent android smartphone thrown in free with that. I get loads of minutes, unlimited texts & as much free data as I need, as I do most internet stuff on the laptop anyway. Doing a spending diary will really help you. Also, when you have worked out a realistic (but challenging) budget, take your spending money out in cash. That concentrates the mind very nicely when you can physically see it dwindling in your purse! When we first started debt-busting, we worked out that we were spendin between us around £2000 a year on buying lunches because we were too lazy to make packed lunch for work. We absolutely couldn't believe it! That would have paid off the smallest credit card debt at the time with some left over! Coffee shops are another thing. We still go to them, sometimes weekly, but not every single time we go out. I also often just get a filter coffee now, if I know it's decent coffee, as the big frothy jobbers with all the sprinkles do really add up the pennies. plan your meals if you don't already as not knowing what you're going to cook & popping into the supermarket umpteen times for little bits of this & that )especially when you're hungry) really adds up. Ready meals can be really false economy as they feed you once. A pack of say, mince, can make a cottage pie, bolognese & a couple of decent burgers with the additioon of only a few basic ingredients, so you get more meals for your money. Even when I worked full time I always cooked from scratch as it was one of the things that most helped with the debt-busting. But I think the most helpful thing at the moment is for you to do a spending diary & analyse where your money is going. Every little spend adds up & writing it down as you spend it can be very illuminating as I know from experience!

frustrated12

Thank you all for your replies

Starting a spending diary today, hopefully I just need to buy petrol and I will make sure I don't buy and chocolate from to petrol station.

Have looked at the money that I have left until payday and I don't have enough looks like another payday loan this month.

Do you think it would be a food idea to change all of my direct debits to the 1st of the month and then I will know exactly however money I have left??

Thanks again for everyone's help, I really appreciate it.

Rob_192

Quite evidently, part of the problem is that you've become caught up in the payday loan merry-go-round. If you start each month with a debt for last month, you are always going to be short. You are going to need one extremely frugal month to break this cycle.

frustrated12

FinKite wrote: »

Your work doesn't have to pay 45p a mile.
But - how often do you do business miles to another place of work, not your base?
Because you might be able to put in a claim to HMRC to get a lump sum back to hit that debt!
For travel to a place other than your base, you can claim tax relief on the difference between the 31p and HMRC rate. Currently 45p but was 40p until 2011/12.
So if you're paying 20% tax, for every mile you'd get 20% of the difference between 31 and 45 - about 3p! You can go back about 4 tax years. It can really add up.
Google form P87 - it's a really simple form.

Thanks for the advice FinKite! I have just had a quick look on my expenses account and I have travelled just over 3000 miles on business, so should be able to get about £100 back? I just need to fill in the form and send it to HMRC?? Is it really that simple?

Also I processed my expenses for work last week, for the last 3 months I have spent over £400 on work related items, have processed all receipts I could find so the money will definatley go towards my debt, just a case of waiting for it to be processed, usually takes about 4 weeks Well that's where some of my money disappears too....

frustrated12

Rob_192 wrote: »

Quite evidently, part of the problem is that you've become caught up in the payday loan merry-go-round. If you start each month with a debt for last month, you are always going to be short. You are going to need one extremely frugal month to break this cycle.

Thanks for your advice Rob. I had a payday loan for £500 last month, I paid it as soon as I got paid at the end of last month that is why I am struggling so much at the mo. I think I will need another payday loan but a much smaller one for around £100, I can pay that off when I get paid at the end of this month and then I shouldn't need anymore loans, just need to be super frugal and keep a spending diary.

RAS

Hi

Please go over to the Money Saving oldstyle forum as they will be able to put together a budget menu that feeds you this month are removes the need for or reduces the amount of any payday loan.

whiteguineapig

you could try getting your shopping at aldi and iceland for frozen maybe (feeling a bit worried reading this that you may live on pizza and frozen curries which would be so bad for your health! fruit is very cheap and very good quality at aldi, try to eat plenty of fruit if you'r not eating fresh vegatables ))