We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide
In a big mess and need help!
Comments
-
That is a big overspend - however - how long has your situation been as it is now? Does that equate to the amount your debt has increased over say 6months?
The food shopping seems to be the big item to look at first - can you remember how much you used to spend when you were doing meal planning etc? Hopefully you could trim £100-£150 of your overspend from that?
You haven't included any earnings from your business - is that right? that you are not able to take any money out of the business at present?
Other items
Internet. . . . . . 66.50 - can you find a better deal?
School meals. . .. . 78.00 - could they take packed lunches much cheaper? or would they qualify for free school meals?
Pocket money. . . . 60.00 - how old are kids? could this be reduced?
Shopping for fun. .. 40.00 - what are you actually spending this on?
Birthdays . .. . . . 20.00
Christmas . .. . . . 50.00 - £840 a year on these - could you work on reducing these, either reducing who you buy for, or how much you spend on each?
Smokes. . . . . . . 106.17 - Could you try giving up? or cutting down? (better for your health as well as your bank balance!).
In less than a year my overdraft has gone from £100 to 1k, that's how bad it is.
Meal planning is going back a few years, back when using vouchers from anything for food in Tesco was allowed and it was £100 a month I used to spend.
I'm not taking any money out of the business yet, although I will probably have to this month to be able to pay my rent. I should be able to take a wage soon. I don't want to squander it though, I need to save to move to a cheaper house.0 -
-
I'm not allowed to be judgmental on this forum so I'll just not post anything. Good luck with it all."All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered, the point is to discover them."
0 -
Most of the SOA seems quite normal, but a few things stand out.
Internet is very high. Uswitch should find you a deal for about 1/3rd the price.
School meals also seem a bit steep. Any chance of switching to packed lunches instead?
Likewise, pocket money is high. Try £10 per child.
Do you really need to spend £25 every month (£300 per year) on childrens clothes?
Are the children of the same sex, and different ages?
If so, pass the clothes down?
Also, Christmas is a bit high.
I don't think I need to point out (but I will
) that the smoking is costing over £1.25k a year, which is more than you are spending on heating and lighting your home.
BTW. What's the APR on the Credit Card?0 -
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). 1,493.49
Maintenence .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.75
TV licence. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 66.50
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 59.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.49
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.89
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .600.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00
Drinks for home . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 50.00
Parking . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.25
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 32.89
Car maintenance . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 10.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5.00
Debt Repayments
Credit card rpayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Savings & Investments
Family
Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 20.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 10.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Entertainment
Family days ot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Cinema/Theatr trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 20.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 10.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Hobbies . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.99
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 20.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.83
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10.00
Education & Courses
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106.17
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 10.00
Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,593.49
Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,982.88
There you go OP, took out the zero lines and made sure each one fitted into a single line for you.Thinking critically since 1996....0 -
Bedsit_Bob wrote: »Most of the SOA seems quite normal, but a few things stand out.
Internet is very high. Uswitch should find you a deal for about 1/3rd the price.
School meals also seem a bit steep. Any chance of switching to packed lunches instead?
Likewise, pocket money is high. Try £10 per child.
D you really need to spend £25 every month (£300 per year) on childrens clothes?
Are the children of the same sex, and different ages?
If so, pass the clothes down?
Also, Christmas is a bit high.
I don't think I need to point out (but I will ) that the smoking alone, is putting you into a minus figure.
BTW. What's the APR on the Credit Card?
To be honest I probably don't spend that every month on children's clothes. The eldest is supposed to buy his own with his pocket money so I don't spend anything on his. The youngest, about twice a year when his clothes are getting too small i'll go and buy him new. This is usually ebay, fb selling pages, charity shop and last resort shop. I pick up bits as and when I see them in charity shops.
Big age gap or I could pass them down.
Christmas can probably be cut down a bit.
Smoking is defiantly going to have to go.0 -
Thank you somethingcorporate.
I'm sorry if I offended you conisme, I wasn't being rude about the formatting I genuinely don't know how to do it but it probably came across as a bit short. So I am sorry.0 -
What_a_Mess wrote: »my youngest hates bread so finding non bread ideas for packed lunches was driving me insane.The eldest is almost 16 and won't eat packed lunches
Pasta and rice based meals?The eldest gets £50 a month
No offence, but that's way too much.
I know some working people, who don't have that much spare for themselves.Internet covers phone and sky too, I'm tied into a contract so can't move yet.
Could you cut the TV down, to the basic entertainment package?0 -
What_a_Mess wrote: »If you tell me how I will gladly do it.
Once you've entered the details and calculated, click Format for MSE.0 -
No I agree it's too much pocket money, it's going to have to be cut down.
I'll see what I can get rid of from sky to reduce that a bit.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.1K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.3K Spending & Discounts
- 247.1K Work, Benefits & Business
- 603.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.3K Life & Family
- 261.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards