Advice for a newbie? Am I going about this the right way?

bealski93

The_Moo wrote: »

I'm impressed with your planning -wish I'd been as sensible as you when I was a student.

Could I suggest you give some thought to contents insurance and to setting money aside for dental appointments? You should have contents cover for your stuff, student flats and houses can be targeted for burglary or thefts as they tend to have a lot of portable high value items like iPods, laptops etc.

Very important to have regular dental checks to head off any issues before they become expensive and painful.

Good luck!

Thanks I'm trying to learn to be more sensible - I tracked my spending back the past 3 months and it seems that the £100 I have left over gets spent on hot food and drinks on campus/video games/magazines :eek: And a few clothing splurges. The rest of the budget is accurate though.

I have contents insurance until September - paid upfront with savings from FT work As for dental, I should stick some cash aside for that (and probably prescriptions just in case too).

bealski93

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

If you go PAYG, Virgin offers an excellent deal for £10pm.

120 mobile minutes and unlimited UK landline calls

OR

1GB of data and unlimited texts.

Plus, you keep your £10 topup as well.

The advantage of the 1st one is, no matter what happens (financially) toward the end of the month, you can still ring family, friends, etc., for help and/or reassurance.

Wow nice! I'll look into that deal when my contract is up then. Even a small reduction in my phone contract would help

bealski93

AlexLK wrote: »

Wow, I'm very impressed for you managing to do this as a student! It has taken me until I was 32 and over £350,000 (not counting my mortgage) to face up to the fact I'm terrible with money. Keep this up and you'll go far.

Unfortunately, I do not have any tips for money saving as your SOA looks extremely lean other than to say cut that mobile phone contract down a bit.

Haha, thank you! I figured I'd nip it in the bud as they say. I've never been very good at saving cash - it burns a hole in my pocket. When I was working FT I just drew the cash out and gave it to my parents to put into an account - I knew I'd splash out and buy stuff I didn't need just because it was there. I need to learn to do it for myself

Any tips for stopping me spending money on silly things? Most of my debt is from stupid things like buying hot food on campus/chocolate and other sweets/magazines. I get in the mindset of 'oh I've had a hard day, I deserve it'

bealski93

I just looked and realised I've spent over £30 this year on library fines! :eek: oh wow... I've set reminders in my phone to tell me to renew or return and will remember to write down in my diary when they're due back.

mum2one

bealski93 wrote: »

Thanks Bedsit Bob, will do that now And thank you The Green Lady and haha, unfortunately for me there was no way about going to uni without taking out maintenance loans, even with working FT for a year beforehand! My year's FT work covered/is covering my laptop, my travel pass for the 3 years whilst in uni, gym for three years, contents insurance, paying for the difference in loan/rent and lastly contributing to monthly expenses.

I'm trying to learn and put things at least a bit straighter before it gets any worse. Next academic year I'm going on placement where I'll be earning £14k for the year and I'll be moving again so my money situation will change, but I want to learn and sort things out now and stop wasting my money away!

SoA:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 380
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 272.58
Total monthly income.................... 652.58

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 230
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 16
Gas..................................... 16
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 32 - that seems a bit high would you be cheaper looking at a sim only contract when your contract is up
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 140 -[COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"] that does seem high for 1 person, could you look at bulk buying some items with housemates but sharing them out, or arranging to bulk cook a couple of meals a week between you,[/COLOR]
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15 - [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]thats a good budget, but look at some of the threads, thrify gifty santas challenge, home made threads, look at sales[/COLOR]
Haircuts................................ 12
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 541


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Student Overdraft..............750.......0.........0
Credit Card....................280.......7.........18.9
Total unsecured debts..........1030......7.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 652.58
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 541
Available for debt repayments........... 111.58
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 104.58

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,030
Net Assets.............................. -1,030

Created using the SOA calculator


To calculate the rent (I pay it by term) and my student loan money (again termly) I added up this term (receive it on monday, pay rent on the tuesday) and next terms and then divided it by 12... I'm not sure how else to put it into the account (?)

Going by your outgoings
grocery - could reduce by £10 per month
phone - sim only you can get deals for around £15 a month (17 a month saved).

At the mo you have £111 left - do you have that at the end of the month, its easy to spend £1 here a magazine here soon adds up.

Although overdrafts can be pulled anytime at the moment yours is a student one so in theory is stay open.

What I would do (based on £111), put £50 a month onto the credit card as an extra to the £7, as an est, hat could be cleared in 6 months, the remainder I would £40 off the overdraft and £21 into emergency savings

jan/F/M/A/M/J - £57 off the credit card and £40 off OD

July - card should be cleared, £510 on overdraft - transfer the £57 and the 40, - just under 6 months be cleared - so by Dec 2014 - your be deft free xx

kangadoo

bealski93 wrote: »

Any tips for stopping me spending money on silly things? Most of my debt is from stupid things like buying hot food on campus/chocolate and other sweets/magazines. I get in the mindset of 'oh I've had a hard day, I deserve it'

The concept of "Spend Free Days" has been amazing for me in this respect, and NSK's monthly threads have changed how I do day-to-day spending. The January thread is here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64262775#Comment_64262775 Also realising that while I might deserve treats, I can't afford them at the moment and I get more satisfaction in sorting out my finances than I do from whatever it was I was going to buy.

AlexLK

bealski93 wrote: »

Haha, thank you! I figured I'd nip it in the bud as they say. I've never been very good at saving cash - it burns a hole in my pocket. When I was working FT I just drew the cash out and gave it to my parents to put into an account - I knew I'd splash out and buy stuff I didn't need just because it was there. I need to learn to do it for myself

Any tips for stopping me spending money on silly things? Most of my debt is from stupid things like buying hot food on campus/chocolate and other sweets/magazines. I get in the mindset of 'oh I've had a hard day, I deserve it'

The only thing that stops me is leaving my wallet at home and quite literally having no money to spend. Mind, I'm a bit of a "special" case. Second best thing I've found is having no plastic and just paying cash for everything.

However, my student experience was very different to yours, I did not have to budget. Had I chose to I'd have been in a great position now.

bealski93 wrote: »

I just looked and realised I've spent over £30 this year on library fines! :eek: oh wow... I've set reminders in my phone to tell me to renew or return and will remember to write down in my diary when they're due back.

Definitely sort this out, that is £30 for pure laziness in my opinion.

mum2one wrote: »

Going by your outgoings
grocery - could reduce by £10 per month
phone - sim only you can get deals for around £15 a month (17 a month saved).

At the mo you have £111 left - do you have that at the end of the month, its easy to spend £1 here a magazine here soon adds up.

Although overdrafts can be pulled anytime at the moment yours is a student one so in theory is stay open.

What I would do (based on £111), put £50 a month onto the credit card as an extra to the £7, as an est, hat could be cleared in 6 months, the remainder I would £40 off the overdraft and £21 into emergency savings

jan/F/M/A/M/J - £57 off the credit card and £40 off OD

July - card should be cleared, £510 on overdraft - transfer the £57 and the 40, - just under 6 months be cleared - so by Dec 2014 - your be deft free xx

Listen to mum2one, (not to me) she's good at this.

However, she will try to recruit you into her Christmas club, oh she already has and it's only just January.

[Deleted User]

AlexLK wrote: »

Second best thing I've found is having no plastic and just paying cash for everything.

I agree.

I won't have a Credit or Debit Card.

I find it too easy to spend money, when I have them.

With a Credit/Debit Card, I see something I fancy, decide to buy it, pay for it straight away, then I think "I shouldn't have bought this."

Without a Credit/Debit Card, I see something I fancy, so I go to the bank to draw out some money, by which time I'm thinking "Do I really want this? Can I really afford this?"

bealski93

mum2one wrote: »

Going by your outgoings
grocery - could reduce by £10 per month
phone - sim only you can get deals for around £15 a month (17 a month saved).

At the mo you have £111 left - do you have that at the end of the month, its easy to spend £1 here a magazine here soon adds up.

Although overdrafts can be pulled anytime at the moment yours is a student one so in theory is stay open.

What I would do (based on £111), put £50 a month onto the credit card as an extra to the £7, as an est, hat could be cleared in 6 months, the remainder I would £40 off the overdraft and £21 into emergency savings

jan/F/M/A/M/J - £57 off the credit card and £40 off OD

July - card should be cleared, £510 on overdraft - transfer the £57 and the 40, - just under 6 months be cleared - so by Dec 2014 - your be deft free xx

Thanks for the advice! I definitely don't have that at the end of the month - it has gone on (by looking back at bank statements and receipts):

- Food at university's cafeteria through sheer laziness/unorganisedness
- Hot drinks at Costa
- Magazines
- Meals out
- Clothing splurges

I'll aim to clear the credit card and reduce the overdraft, then in July I start a industrial placement earning £14k for the year before returning to university to complete my final year. So come July I'll be taking home just over £1000 and my outgoings will slightly increase (will go on petrol money for rides to work - we're carpooling, rent will increase slightly and will have to pay for internet) so I should clear my overdraft within a month or so from that

bealski93

kangadoo wrote: »

The concept of "Spend Free Days" has been amazing for me in this respect, and NSK's monthly threads have changed how I do day-to-day spending. The January thread is here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64262775#Comment_64262775 Also realising that while I might deserve treats, I can't afford them at the moment and I get more satisfaction in sorting out my finances than I do from whatever it was I was going to buy.

Will check this out, thanks! That makes sense, I think I would feel a lot better about things if my finances were more in order.