You can write down everything you're supposed to.....

Trishiapp

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

From someone who knows, it's a novel experience having savings, but it's also a nice experience.

I will soon experience it for myself! Cannot wait!

[Deleted User]

Trishiapp wrote: »

The only 'extreme' is the 22 bank accounts!

And the £91pm for a Mobile Phone. :eek:

Trishiapp

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

And the £91pm for a Mobile Phone. :eek:

Indeed.

Just because OP has bank accounts coming out of their ears does not mean they are good at managing their money. In fact, looking at the SOA, the opposite is true!

vintagegirl

Bublin1 wrote: »

OP says she is a budgeting extremist yet this is the oddest SOA I have seen. It makes no sense.

to be honest i dont think its a bad soa.
Ive explained the arrears on council tax, so as far as i can see, beside the debt which im paying off, (believe me it was over £8k this time last year )
i don't see what's so bad about it.

My £6 a month for the passport is because mine and my sons will be due for renewal in about a year and a half

thecassman86

I think the biggest thing people are surprised by, vintagegirl, is the fact that you're clearly losing track of money somewhere and yet feel it's normal to have 22 bank accounts!! I think you'll find the lost money is in there somewhere!

vintagegirl wrote: »

The council tax arrears are not my fault, we moved in to a new build house which wasn't banded and took them months to do it, so everyone in the building has arrears.

For future reference, we bought a new build house too which had no council tax band. I guessed what it might be, contacted the council and asked if i could pay what i thought it'd roughly be per month so that when a band is assigned, i'm not in arrears... Turned out, for the first 6 months i actually overpaid when a band got assigned, so, i essentially got a free month afterwards.

woodformoretrees

vintagegirl wrote: »

to be honest i dont think its a bad soa.
Ive explained the arrears on council tax, so as far as i can see, beside the debt which im paying off, (believe me it was over £8k this time last year )
i don't see what's so bad about it.

My £6 a month for the passport is because mine and my sons will be due for renewal in about a year and a half

But you yourself have started to become concerned that it's not reflecting reality. Maybe after keeping a spending diary you'll be able to create a more inclusive one x

Heffi1

You haven't actually answered whether you have the £600 spare each month, that would be the first thing to work out and from there, it can help to see where you are over/underspending in your budget.

braddy970

Well done Vintage on getting your debt down from £8,000 to where you are today that is a big achievement, when does your phone contract and the other peoples that your are paying for end? As you have said the £91 is for 4 people and it is included in your income, if you are still in your plan could you ring up and see if your tarriff could be reduced if you don't use all the minutes and texts etc. It might be best if you close a few of those bank accounts just so you can have a clear picture of where things stand, I imagine things can get very overwhelming at times when you are sending money all over the place I bet it is easy to lose track. As everyone above has said there are a few things on your S.O.A that could help reduce outgoings and bring your money left over up but as your debt has gone down by so much I guess you are paying chunks to them each month?

vintagegirl

yeah thanks for our reply.
I just took out a newcontract so one of them finishes in 3 months, so that will drop to £60 per month.

I do tend to have more or less that left at the end of the month but it never carries over.
I will be short this month as ive changed my job

matttye

vintagegirl wrote: »

yeah thanks for our reply.
I just took out a newcontract so one of them finishes in 3 months, so that will drop to £60 per month.

I do tend to have more or less that left at the end of the month but it never carries over.
I will be short this month as ive changed my job

I'd pay off the unsecured ASAP and you'll save in interest.

Personally I'd probably pay off the council tax arrears quickly as well. Although there's no benefit to doing that quickly, I prefer smaller monthly outgoings.