Just had my LBM......im gutted

trampyblonde

Hi guys,

Im new on here and i've just had my LBM!

Last night my boyfriend and I sorted out our finances - this was harder than we thought.

Here is a basic summary:

My wages - £1200pm
His wages - £960pm

Every month we now have the following coming out of our accounts:

*Mortgage - £770
*Car finance - £160
*Car insurance - £110
*Mobile bills - £70
*House Insurance - £37
*Gas & Elec - £70
*Council Tax - £135
*Sofa - £60
*Loan (this was borrowed from my boyfriends dad - we've not started paying yet) this is £4000

Thats a total of £1412.....im sure there are a few other little bits which i may have missed.

Im pretty gutted to be honest. Im 21 and we bought our house back in November. We've been doing it up gradually and are planning on moving in in a few weeks. We'll then have to pay for food, water, tv, phone and broadband. We'll be skint!

Im really not sure what to do.....or where to start. I need to make extra money but i'm working all of the time as it is and I cant fit in another job! I feel really down at the moment but im determined to get on top of things and not be miserable.

Any help/encouragement would be great! Thanks! :j

Crown

Hi and Welcome

I know its a ditressing time when you finally have the LBM but you are on the right track. Do you have any outstanding debts as you havent included them on your list like Credit cards, Loans Ect? If so please post the amounts and the interest/APR.

On your SOA can you also breakdown how much you spend on Food, Beauty treatements, Hairdressing, Papers, Magazines, Eating out, Entertainment ect.
Once its all down in writing you will have a better idea where you can save money and what the best options are to you.

You have taken the first step and if you post up the details you will geta lots of support and advice. Well done on the 1st step :T

southwester_2

Welcome to the boards, you have made the first step to being debt free, somebody will be along in a mo to go through this with you

shell_girl

Welcome to the board!
Ok- first of all congratulations on buying your home. It's probably a bit too early if you bought the house in November to start shopping around on your mortgage, so we'll look at the others first.

Car Insurance- shop around- try moneysupermarket.com for the best possible deal.

Mobile Bills- If you are with Orange you can get free broadband if you spend more than £30 per month with them. One of you could look at paying a £30 per month contract to get this while the other drops down to the lowest possible payment plan.

Council Tax- are you definitely in the right band? If not this could be reduced.

How many bedrooms does your new house have? Could you get a lodger in to cover the shortfall?

I'll post more as iseas come to me, but in the meantime good luck x

smudgemanc26

Hi and Welcome

You seemed to have missed a few things out on your SOA like Food, petrol, car tax/mot, lunches to work, water etc.

Theres a sticky thread by southernscouser on this board which is a template for your SOA as someone has said previously try to include everything in this and we will all try to help you where possible.

Lucy1982_2

Hello and Welcome :wave:

As a previous poster has say do your SoA and we'll have a look and see if you can cut anything down.

Remember to have add all of your interest rates. Have a look at this website as it is really good at helping you to decide what to pay off first http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx just add the debts and the amount you want to spend each month paying it off and it will calculate evertything for you.

But you are in the right place to sort this out. Have a read of some of the diary's as there are some handy hints and tip in them.

But good luck and keep us all posted. It's very addictive... You have been warned.

trampyblonde

Hi,

Thanks for the replies!

OK well all we have is £200 to pay off on my CC and £300 to pay off on OH. Im not sure what the interest/APR is on these but im hoping to get these paid off within the next month just so we can get rid of the cards!

I dont particularly spend much on beauty treatments/magazines and all of those things. Im due to get my hair cut in August and thats £70 but thats it.

OH spends maybe £10pw on food at work if hes working on site somewhere but we can get rid of that once we're living together and making proper lunches etc.

I dont go out as much as OH and can manage on £20 for a night out if im being tight! I have great friends!! However....OH has a VERY bad habit of spenidng between £70-£100 on a night out. He goes out every couple of weeks too. He knows its bad and he has stopped going out and realises that we cant afford it. Its a little tricky tho as he plays rugby and the social side of that on a Saturday is very hard to get out of!

Thanks for your help!

trampyblonde

Sorry for being dim, but whats the SoA? :embarasse

Lucy1982_2

It is. My OH plays Rugby to. But we generally sneak off before they go clubbing... which if nothing else has upped his 'stud' stakes!!! They don't see it as being cheap and not wanting to spend.

Try a spending diary, write down everything you spend and then you can see where to make cuts. I do this and have for about 2 weeks.... I just need to make the cuts now!

Lucy1982_2

SoA is a Statement of Affairs. See the thread call First Time Posters on the main DFW forum page.

It's basically a list of incomings and outgoings. We have all done them and it gives people a chance to work out where you could save money or cut things back.

smudgemanc26

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

This is the thread for your SOA