Constantly going overdrawn

Gigervamp

Another thing that might help is if you can change the dates the DD's come out so that they all go out a day or two after payday.

simplyswede

I've got online banking AND phone apps for my accounts but I still don't manage to keep on top of things! I suppose I need to get into the habit of checking my NW account more often to see what's going on.

I've just pulled last month's outgoing bills from my NW account and it looks like this:

Mobile £28.50
Council tax £70.00
Student loan £150.00
Gym £27.99
Electric £26.00
Gas £30.00
Rent £400.00
Pet insurance £14.85
Water £29.23
Orange mobile 18.75

Total £795.32

So I've upped my standing order to £850 just to cover any potentially higher bills. Is there anything that stands out as missing to anyone?

Again, thank you all for replying and helping!

smssms

If you have online banking you should be able to download quite a bit of historic data, so you can look through that to see what things can and do go out of that account.

From a totally personal point of view - £150 for gym! Put that in a savings account for a few months and buy a jacuzzi, bike or exercise machines to use. But seriously, could you haggle for a better deal with the gym?

Gigervamp

The gym is £27.99 not £150.

I read it like that too, but realised that the first amount in the list related to a mobile, not council tax.

Mrs_Bones

As well as upping the amount you transfer each month, have you currently put in the money to pay the overdraft off and to cover any charges that has incurred. If not you'll likely be in the same position next month. At the moment you seem to be leaving yourself a £50 breathing space for your bills but if possible I'd make that higher, could you transfer over £900 a month? Personally I'd be happy with a £100 breathing space with essential bills, especially if you are not one to keep a regular eye on outgoings. Believe me I know what depression is like and sometimes when you are down it's very hard to keep on top of financial matters. At least if you know you've got an excess in to cover your essentials than you are unlikely to get nasty surprises by going overdrawn. It means you'll have less in your FD for leisure spending but that's often easier to cut down than worrying about the basics each month.

simplyswede

Sorry for the confusion, the formatting went all over the place - changed it now!

Mrs Bones, I've taken your advice and upped my standing order to £900 a month. That leaves me with about £650 a month for travel, food and any other spending, which should be ok really.

I've also got a standing order of £50 going into my savings account but I've only got it up to £100 once before, and then I had to transfer it into my main account as I had gone overdrawn. I'm up to £100 again now - maybe I should just transfer that into my NW account as a buffer for this month?

joedenise

simplyswede wrote: »

I'm up to £100 again now - maybe I should just transfer that into my NW account as a buffer for this month?

Sounds like a good idea.
Denise

calicocat

Is it just you? Are you on a water meter as if so that seems a lot for a month for 1 person.

Mine is 20 and that includes a garden being watered in the summer.

LeaLea89

Definitely look into a water meter, we have just made the change over and saved £30 per month. Also, i do exactly the same with my bank accounts to enable me to see what I've got left for me etc, another idea would be that if you have anything left over at the end of the month from your spending account pop that into your bills account as well, it will build the buffer for you then and you wont have to worry too much if anything does happen, even if it is just a small amount it all adds up x

camNolliesMUMMY

Hi we are with nationwide I've downloaded the app on my iPhone so I can quickly check my balances and I've set up alerts if my balance has dropped below £20.