Onwards & Upwards in 2014

Midgie

Okay - I hope I'm doing this right!

Incoming
Monthly Salary - £1650 approx goes into my account though occasionally more with overtime. £243 for Childcare costs and £100 for the Credit Union goes towards saving (balance currently £10 after Christmas)
Maintenance - £200
Child Benefit - £81.20

Total - £ 1931.20

Outgoings
Mortgage - 467
Council Tax - £108
Life Insurance - £21
House Insurance - £31
Gas & Electricity - £111 (It was £87 but shot up this month)
Factors - £28
Sky (TV, Phone & Broadband) - £60
TV License - £12
Union Fees - £12
Mobile - £31
Contact Lenses - £27.50
Gym £11
Money to Dd's Child Trust Fund - £10

Loan - £282
Credit Card - £150

Total Outgoings £1361.50 (approx)


I haven't included a budget for food or travel expenses but I think I'm approximately £150 for food (as long as I don't get take outs) and about £40 - £50 for travel expenses. I don't have a car so its buses or trains or taxis (very occasionally) or I get lifts.

I know that on paper I have more than enough to live on which means that the reason I am regularly skint is money mismanagement :embarasse. I have been way to careless with it and need to find ways to manage it better.

Mrs_Cheshire

Thats a great start for your SOA, but this link here http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php is much better as it looks at everything.
If you click at the bottom to format results for MSE, it makes it readable over here.
You mention childcare and credit union in the incomings but I think they are actually outgoings!

Midgie

Thanks Mrs Cheshire! I'll fill that out tonight!

I had quite a good day today. Little one is on the mend which is a relief.

I did spend £4.26 in Asda on Basil, Soda Crystals and a Project Book for the new year! I also took out £10 which has to last me til Friday.

However - I did also get 2 pairs of M & S pjs, 2 pairs of boots and a jumper! My cousin was having a clear out so I inherited them (none of them have been worn!)!

I also started the ball rolling to switch my energy suppliers. I got quoted £79 per month which reduces that bill by £32 per month!!! Woohoo!!!

Also I am currently paying £10 for my bank account which gives me free phone insurance and travel insurance and a couple of other benefits which I've never got round to using.

The travel insurance doesn't cover my daughter so I end up having to take other insurance out anyway (though I don't think we're going anywhere at any point soon) and the phone insurance I've never used and probably wouldn't claim on now that I'm getting to the end of my contract.

Is there any point paying the £10?? Should I switch to a cheaper account. They have one that is £0.

Ali-OK

Hi again and really well done on changing energy supplier - add a few more changes and they all begin to add up to substantial savings. :j

I use a free bank account which pays 3% interest when in credit - phone is insured under house contents insurance, so check yours for that too. I've never lost/had to make a claim, but worth knowing it's covered (something like up to £250 outside the home loss inc phone, cash and anything normally kept in the home).

Travel insurance - I use the comparison sites to get quotes if and when we need it. For me and DS (was 12 at the time this summer) it was £26 and that was 3 weeks away - it was so cheap, I actually phoned them after the online quote to check we'd be properly covered :rotfl: We were city hopping in the US and out to Hawaii too. All done the MSE way (and cost us little more than 10 days in Majorca) and bizarrely isn't any of my debt (that's all business start up living costs whilst not making a profit, remainder of kitchen refit and car).

So I'm a big advocate of getting a free bank account and taking out travel insurance as and when you need it. Go Travel (Lite) was our policy for this year and that was annual too (we had a trip to Europe earlier in the year so were covered for that too). Have used them a few times before and they have UK centres.

Sorry, rambling on now...but hope that helps.

Ooh, contact lenses - not TMI at all! What I do, is keep to my regular optician for checks - I'm on a monthly plan of £5 for a month with an independent optician that covers sight check, contact lens aftercare/check and 10% discount off their very expensive glasses (never bought from there!) and then buy the solution and lenses on line. Optician knows this, and by law has to provide the prescription. Just look for the lenses you usually have from your optician and compare the cost. Mine works out at £11 per month based on 4 pairs of lenses and 12 months worth of solution. My optician would prefer to charge me £22.50 per month for exactly the same thing and I'd have to collect them so add on parking charges for me! Nooo way

Keep on shopping around, you're doing brilliantly

Midgie

Right Ali-OK! I'm going to go and see about changing over my bank account tomorrow! And I'm going to start investigating the contact lens options!

I'm really impressed that you managed to do city hopping in America and out to Hawaii the MSE way! That's my kind of holiday!

Midgie

I hope I've done this right!


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1993
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 81.2
Other income............................ 200
Total monthly income.................... 2274.2

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 467
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 13
Council tax............................. 108
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 20.4
Mobile phone............................ 31
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 24.5
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 243
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 31
Life assurance ......................... 21
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Emergency Fund.......................... 100
Union Fees.............................. 12
Total monthly expenses.................. 1525.4


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 90000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 72500....(467)......5.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 72500.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................8330......282.......6.9
Credit Card....................5200......120.......24.9
Total unsecured debts..........13530.....402.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,274.2
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,525.4
Available for debt repayments........... 748.8
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 402
Amount left after debt repayments....... 346.8

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 90,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -72,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,530
Net Assets.............................. 3,970

Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Midgie

Though I do have to say - I've got 2 months without Council Tax and I get a break from Childcare Costs for a couple of months during the summer which always helps!

Ali-OK

Midgie wrote: »

Right Ali-OK! I'm going to go and see about changing over my bank account tomorrow! And I'm going to start investigating the contact lens options!

I'm really impressed that you managed to do city hopping in America and out to Hawaii the MSE way! That's my kind of holiday!

I've a Lloyds current account with 'Vantage' - you need that bit to get the 3%. Free otherwise. I have got an OD facility which is chargeable if used, but I've never needed it.

Santander 1-2-3 current account gives cashback on your DDs like council tax, energy bills, mortgage (if its with them), so that's quite a good one.

Halifax are doing a guaranteed pay you £5 a month - better than Lloyds if you keep less than a few £k in there.

Those are the ones off the top of my head - probably lots of info on MSE main pages with more to research!

Oh, don't let me bore you with holiday details, won't take much for me to ramble all that out :rotfl: Suffice to say it was fantastic, a holiday of a lifetime and planned over a year in advance and booked all the bits direct and as early as possible using all the ways to get cheap flights and good but relatively cheap hotels. Was knackered when we got home though :rotfl:

Good luck looking at contact lenses too - hopefully you'll have a nice surprise on the savings that can be made there.

SOA looks pretty good. Buildings and contents insurance looks quite expensive at first glance - worth shopping around at renewal time for that.

Look at using Quidco or Top Cash Back to get cashback as well. If you go through one of those, you often find higher cashback for insurances (car and house).

Mobile - chance of reduction there?

Clothing - I've set myself a goal to earn £60 for sales clothes in TU (Sburys) by earning nectar points through their Adpoints (watching adverts for points) and Canvass (surveys for points). DS is very easy clothing wise (preferring not to wear them but that's another story :rotfl:). I think girls are probably more expensive than boys to kit out. I budget £120 a year for clothes total.

I bet you could get food down to £100 a month but only if you've got an Aldi nearby. We're at £20 a week, been closer to £15 since November. Lots of batch cooking, bit of Yellow Sticker meat/fish buying, in-season veg/fruit. Alternatively, downshift brands to save that way.

Take baby steps though - can be overwhelming trying to change everything at once and getting new habits to stick.

Igamogam

Tiny little thing but it all helps...........are you claiming tax relief against your union fees? If not get on to HMRC and it can be back dated 4 years I think - just have to let them know if the fees change. Good luck

Ali-OK

Child Benefit is 13 payments each year too, always get 2 in December, just checked my bank account and the 2nd one arrived today. So that's also additional. :j