woah... are those MY finances??

stewby

hello.

i joined the mortgage free section as i wanted to be mortgage free however... upon actually looking at my incomings and outgoings, and from people giving me advice, i have realised that i should be in here.


i am moving to a new job on 1st october and because it is local to me, i realised that i will have some extra pennies as i won't have to pay for as much petrol. (three miles a day as opposed to forty).


basically, i haven't controlled my finances since finishing uni in 2006. i spent every penny i had and quite often more.
* in 2005, i bought my wee house. my parents helped me pay for what i couldn't manage (food mainly). i also worked part-time and had a bursary to cover the important stuff.

i got a credit card to do some home improvements (new kitchen and bathroom). then i didn't get rid of the card once i had paid it off. (very stupid i know).

so i went on the mortgage thread to try and get rid of my mortgage and they suggested i get rid of my debts first then tackle my mortgage. which is very very sensible advice. they also suggested i keep my finances seperate from my partners at the moment. (advice i am going to take as well).

well, here i am. staring at a bit of paper with my incomings and outgoings thinking how the hell did that happen.
:eek:

my situation will be in post 2.

stewby

i have based my monthly income on what i was paid before. at the end of october i should have a better idea of my pay.

incoming
* my wage: £1800 a month (approximately. this varies depending on if i work nightshifts or weekends).

outgoings
* mortgage: £341.10
* loan: £240.86
* credit card: (i pay off about £200 each month. the problem is that i am constantly using the card so it never really reduces).
* utilities: £68.00 (just started direct debits).
* council tax: £163.00 (just increased this month).
* "luxuries": £85.34 (tv licence, mobile phone, sky, broadband).
* insurances: £54.92 (home, life and critical illness).
* next: £30 (minimum payment).

other stuff
* living allowance: £400.

basically, i have very little control over my spending so to limit the risk of me falling into arrears, my dad took over my main bank account. (i was forgetting about my council tax and emptying my bank account by the 18th of each month).
i am in charge of £400 which i get into a seperate account each month. this covers my petrol, food and anything else i want. however, i normally empty this by the 15th of each month.


the plan shall be in post 3.

stewby

well... step one is to be sensible. i read about people on here who can feed a family of four on £40 a week and i can't feed two of us on £100. it's just crazy. my tescimos is not more expensive to shop in than someone else's so i must be doing something wrong.

the living allowance
* next: i want to pay off my next bill as soon as possible as i never realised it charged so much.
so £100 of my living allowance is going to my dad as soon as it hits my bank (the 1st of the month). if i don't see it then (hopefully) i won't miss it.


* cheap shopping: at tescimos, the other day... i noticed some yellow labels. there were heaps of them. so (perhaps stupidly) we bought a heap of them. we now have a freezer full of meat and fish to use up. i then made up a "freezer foods" booklet detailing what we have in there are when we froze it so that we don't waste anything. (i like organising and planning stuff).


i read on here about dropping down a level in the supermarket so i plan to do that too. i always go for marshall's pasta but now i am going to go for the tescos one. it's still pasta, the box just isn't as pretty.


*food planning: i don't know why but the common sense to do a shopping list or a meal plan has escaped me for the past 12 years. which has led to multiple trips to the shops and never coming out with just that one thing i needed... so we are going to have shopping lists and meal plans. we have a weekly budget of £75 and i know that petrol costs are going to be really low now that i only drive three miles a day. so can no longer use that as an excuse.


* credit card: it is going to my dad. he will decide if i need it or not. i am hoping i will get it back at xmas to get some stuff from amazon.


if anybody has any other suggestions, then please let me know. my dad is going to remain in charge of my big account so i am looking for changes i can make to my £400 living allowance. also any advice in general would be welcome.

thanks for reading. i will be back with an update at some point.

Raggydoll85

Hi

welcome!

I'm a newbie too! hope we both make it to be debt free soon.. x

theoretica

A lot of people here have two bank accounts - the bills one, and the living one. Very similar to what you have done with your dad, but it is their own self control not going near the bills one. Similarly, if you take your credit card and freeze it into the middle of a block of ice that acts as a cooler (sorry) on impulsive spending.

To stop your food budget vanishing you could buy some supermarket vouchers so you have a reserve you can't spend on clothes, or whatever.

chevalier

hi welcome to the boards my comments are below

stewby wrote: »

i have based my monthly income on what i was paid before. at the end of october i should have a better idea of my pay.

incoming
* my wage: £1800 a month (approximately. this varies depending on if i work nightshifts or weekends). anything above your basic pay should be going as an additional payment to the next card.That way it will come down quicker

outgoings
* mortgage: £341.10 is this your share, or interest only?
* loan: £240.86 ouch what is the balance and how long does it have left to run?
* credit card: (i pay off about £200 each month. the problem is that i am constantly using the card so it never really reduces).what is the actual balance, interest rate and minimum payment? If your credit score is good you maybe able to transfer to a 0℅ card so save the interest. However if you do this you :-) MUST close th old card and NOT spend on the new one
* utilities: £68.00 (just started direct debits).so this is water, gas and electric? Is it a half share as you have a partner? If not is this fair? When did yoy last check you were on the cheapest tariff?
* council tax: £163.00 (just increased this month). you can ask to pay this over 12 months to help you budget better. Again if your partner is living with you they are responsible for half of this.
* "luxuries": £85.34 (tv licence, mobile phone, sky, broadband).do you NEED all of this, can you get it cheaper, or cheaper as a bundle?
* insurances: £54.92 (home, life and critical illness).these seems a bit high again check on a comparison website to see if you can get these cheaper. then if you can, switch users via a cashback site like quidco or topcashback.
* next: £30 (minimum payment).
I can see why you run out of money. You also need to budget for birthday, xmnas, car insurance, mot, car tax, haircuts, prescriptions. Whether that is dfone from your wekly budget or not it till needs to be done

other stuff
* living allowance: £400. How long has it been fixed at this amount? It should gho up by at least the cost of inflation each year.

basically, i have very little control over my spending so to limit the risk of me falling into arrears, my dad took over my main bank account. (i was forgetting about my council tax and emptying my bank account by the 18th of each month).
i am in charge of £400 which i get into a seperate account each month. this covers my petrol, food and anything else i want. however, i normally empty this by the 15th of each month.


the plan shall be in post 3.

You sound very young bless you, but even so, I think your dad has made a mistake here. Unless you have a health reason for being incapable of managing your money, YOU aren't learning anything.

So use the400 to make a start on developing some financial discipline.. So well done on finding the yellow sticker section of the supermarket, this is my FIRST place to go in
the supermarket and I work out what the meal plan for the next week will be. This saves us a fortune.. I feed a family of four on 350 a month and that includes packed lunches for hubby and two kids. plus toiletries and cleaning stuff. So there a challenge fgor you right there:).

ref running out of money. You could change the diredct debit so that you get 100 a week instead of 400 a month. That way you couldn't run out of money (so you shouldn't ned to use your credit card. And again what is your partner paying towards food? Just because it has been suggested that you dont get financially linked ti them, doesn't mean they get a free ride either.

You mention giving your credit card to your dad to stop you spending on it.Erm ok, I woyld be embarrased to have to admit i had that little control, but as a short term measure it might work. BUT them you mention getting it back at xmas to buy things off amazon. This indicates you have still got a bit of work to do here. Instead of putting stuff on the cdredit card
1) make a list of who you buy for. Can anyone bed culled from the list, or talked to about doing cards only/ token presents.
2) what can you sell to fund the revised list? Make it a challenge to make xmas money neutral. Old phones do well fir examples, clothes to ebay, old broken gold to sell,extra overtime?
3) there are several survey sites that give amazon vouchers how about signing up?
4) What can you make as xmas presents?

And on that noteI will stop there. Once you can control the 400 then you can start taking over a bill every 6 months say, so that by the time your loan is paid off you are in control. I an sure your dad will appreciate it
good luck chev

Raggydoll85

I agree that having your credit card back for christams is a bad plan. Most people over spend for christmas and get gifts that could be avoided by a chat with friends saying only cards this year... Not having your credit card will stop you over spending. Plan what you need to get for christmas now and buy early. I already have 3 christmas presents hehehe

Ive done the no present thing with a few of my friends and do this for birthdays going with a policy that if we see something we know they will like we buy it if we dont see something we dont get them anything but a card to save spending money for the sake of it.

stewby

i am normally really bad at xmas.... but i am trying to be better. part of my credit card debt was due to having my first xmas with a credit card. *oh how i wish there was a facepalm smilie*

i am 29 but quite immature for my age when it comes to money.


my partners is unemployed at the moment so he can't really contribute anything. he isn't happy about this and is getting quite frustrated with having no work.


outgoings
* mortgage: £341.10 - total amount. it is currently 57,057 at 0.45% with 15 years and 6 months to go.

* loan: £240.86. not sure on the balance but it was for £12,000 and over 5 years. took it out in november.

* credit card: (i pay off about £200 each month. the problem is that i am constantly using the card so it never really reduces). the card is under my dad's name. but it is all my debt. there is currently £3000 on the card and my dad says it is at 14%. i don't know if there are punishments for changing credit cards?? is there normally charges for it??

* utilities: £68.00 (just started direct debits). i don't pay for my water (sorry to those who do) so it is just gas and electric. we are with the scottish hydro which my dad says is the best one. (i have taken his word on this).

* council tax: £163.00 (just increased this month). i quite liked the idea that other people had where they take the other two months payments and put them towards their debts. i think this is manageable.

* "luxuries": £85.34 (tv licence, mobile phone, sky, broadband). thanks to being a long-term orange customer, i get cheap broadband (about £10 a month), tv licence is a must unfortunately. i am stuck in a contract with sky for the next year. i need my mobile phone as i don't have a landline phone. (i suppose i could get a landline phone but i would be paranoid that i missed something whilst i was out).

* insurances: £54.92 (home, life and critical illness). my dad thinks that directline is overcharging me. (they quoted me x but charging me y monthly). my life and critical illness is about £22 in total and are linked to my mortgage.
* next: £30 (minimum payment).

birthdays and xmas is a bit of a "surprise" which sounds really bad as another poster on a different thread said, you know when it is. last year, i put it all on the credit card. hairdresser is a bit of a cheat as my uncle does it for me for free. mot, car insurance and car tax is all done via the credit card and then my dad pays it back using my main account. again, i am sorry to others but i don't have to pay for my prescriptions.

i most definitely have built up a reliance on having the credit card there. i like the idea of putting it in a block of ice. would definitely help with the impulse buys.


thanks for the warm welcome and the good advice.

sulphate

We're trying to budget our food spends at the moment too. http://agirlcalledjack.com/ has many budget friendly recipes and most of them taste pretty good.

Plan what you're going to buy for christmas presents and stick with it. OH and I only buy presents for each other and our parents (not so close families) and I do a secret santa with a group of friends haha.

I think £400 for living is a lot but but it depends on your life I guess (I have no social life haha).

patman99

Welcome to the DFD section. I know the feeling about controlling finances. If you have an Aldi of Farmfoods near try shopping there instead. They are much cheaper than even Tescmos yellow label stuff.

Also, how about scavenging from the countryside (if you live near a wide open space)?. My o/h has picked enough blackberries to make a couple of pies and crumbles. Cheaper than buying them.

If you have a garden, create a veg patch.

You should be able to feed the 2 of you for well under £50 a week.
Turn the heating down and put on an extra layer. Saves on the electricity/gas.
Batch cook & freeze. It's cheaper to heat up a ready-cooked meal in a microwave than to cook from fresh each time.

If you like fresh-cooked meals rather than pre-cooked, then invest in a halogen cooker. They are superb and really cheap to use.

scottishspendaholic

Hey stewby!

Decided to return the favour & checkout your diary!

I've got to be honest, it all sounds a bit messy & I think the first thing you should do, is reclaim control as that is part of the growing up & learning a more mature attitude to money. This would mean taking back control of all your income, moving d/d dates to early on in the month & sorting out your 'spending' money in whatever way works for you. You also need to budget for gifts/haircuts/emergencies etc as this will stop your card debt increasing. I think you need to decide whether you need a 'spending' credit card that you put food & petrol on & clear every month or if you stop using this, cut it up & add it to your list of debts.

What was the £12k loan for less than a year ago? Can you sell anything you bought with this to help clear your debts?

Have you done the snowball calculator? This motivated me amazingly!

Is your partner named on the mortgage? Have you looked into getting Support for Mortgage Interest help if he is? What an amazing low mortgage, not many years to go either - you are very fortunate with this.

Good luck!