Just had a LBM... Help & hints welcome!

chiefsfanuk

Hello all,

I have hung around on MSE and the forums for some time and regularly read the articles and boards. However, it is only just about five minutes ago that I have had my light bulb moment!

I have just done the budget planner thingamy-bob. Oh dear. I am in the overspend category to the tune of a few hundred quid!

I think I have probably not noticed this day to day because where the budget plans for things like Christmas, holidays and birthdays etc, those are the kind of expenses I worry about when the time comes and that usually results in 'hellloooo credit card'!

I've put my statement below, there are a few key areas I am going to start with to try and bring that overspend down immediately. Here are what I think are my five starting points... Any other suggestions most welcome.

1) Give up smoking!!! I Spend about £3.80 a day on this and boy does that add up! Not only will this be good for my bank balance but good for me. I have one of those e-cig things I bought a while ago to try, well tonight I will finish my pack of cigs and try again.

2) My hubby to give up pepsi in return! This sounds silly I know, but the amount of money that we spend on Pepsi is unreal, we have challenged each other to a detox - me cigs him pepsi!!

3) Car breakdown, we had a good deal with the AA but I didnt haggle when it was renewal time - Very uncharacteristic of me! I am going to look into whether I am contracted to stay or if I can try a haggle/switch to RAC etc

4) Mobile phones, we have 4 mobile phones in the house (Me, Hubby + 2 DDs) As and when the contracts come up for renewal I am switching the daughters to PAYG and will try to get DH & I on sim only deals or similar, I'd like to cut this down by at least a third.

5) Pay down the debt!! Obviously

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,050.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206.27
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 475.11
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.54
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.50
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.50
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.60
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.10
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308.90
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.33

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.47
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.67
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.53

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117.10
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119.13
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.15
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Secured Loan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159.29
Catalogues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.50
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115.58
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,431.37


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,652.19

David19821982

Well done

Have you looked into anything you can eBay ?

chiefsfanuk

I am having a huge ebay/gumtree sorting session tomorrow and doing a car boot sale on Sunday

I am trying to think of a suitable target for extra earnings this month seeing as there is only two weeks left I'm thinking £100, maybe £150

David19821982

Id also look in downsizing interms of shopping brands if possible and making school lunches . Everything else seems perfectly reasonable especially if smoking and Pepsi are given up

[Deleted User]

It will help if you redo your SOA, using the MSE one.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

chiefsfanuk

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

It will help if you redo your SOA, using the MSE one.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Hmmmm I did use the MSE site :huh: It even gave me the code to paste, sorry for getting it wrong and I thought I was doing it all right posting that SOA before asking for tips n stuff Sorry!

I'll try the link you've given ta!

chiefsfanuk

That link is taking me to a site I don't know

[Deleted User]

If you fill in the details on the link, then click to format for MSE, you can Copy & Paste it into this thread, and the people (aka geniuses) on here, can advise you.

We all use that one, because it puts the figures into sensible categories, and automatically calculates the totals.

double_mummy

chiefsfanuk wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,050.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206.27
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 475.11
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700.00 how long will this continue for? or is this hubbys income?

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.54
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.50
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.50
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.00 have you checked these recently anyway to get them down at all?
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170.00 is this over 10 or 12 months?
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.60
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.10
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308.90
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.33 do you need this? i really hope this isnt all pepsi lol

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.47
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.67
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.53 this is almost as much as your insurance!

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117.10 over how many cards? are these the min repayments? what are the outstanding balances?
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119.13 is this the min payment? interest charges? how long left?
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.15 how long left? interest?
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Secured Loan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159.29 how long left? interest?
Catalogues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135.00 how long left? interest? is this the min repayment?

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 can this go?
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.50 can these be cut down to freebies for a couple of months?
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 do you need this?
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00 can you cut this down look at the OS board for home takeaways etc

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 never anything at all?

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 this is 300 a year anyway to cut this down at all?
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33 do you need this?
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67 this is 800 a year any way to cut this down at all?

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 do you need something here?
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115.58 good luck with getting rid of this
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,431.37


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,652.19

comments in blue

chiefsfanuk

Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700.00 how long will this continue for? or is this hubbys income?

Yes hubby's income He does get reasonably regular overtime also but I left it at basic take home pay to be safe


Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.00 have you checked these recently anyway to get them down at all?

Most recently I did this in January and couldn't make any savings, I am going to give this another look at over the coming week as I had one of the alerts from MSE energy saving club


Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170.00 is this over 10 or 12 months?
This is 12 months as it includes a small amount of arrears due to a failed DD that I still dont know what happened to it! As of Next April this will go down to approx £140 over 10 months pending c/tax increases!


Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.33 do you need this? i really hope this isnt all pepsi lol

His pepsi addiction is pretty serious stuff :eek: This one I want to reduce to zero!

Motoring & Public Transport


Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.53 this is almost as much as your insurance!

Yes, it went up from $11 a month, kicking myself for missing the renewal date but another one on my list to see if I am tied into it or not.

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117.10 over how many cards? are these the min repayments? what are the outstanding balances?

4 c ards between DH and I... Total o/s approx £3200
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119.13 is this the min payment? interest charges? how long left?

Car Loan -we are 16 months into a 48 month term (I see I put this in the wrong spot!!)

Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.15 how long left? interest?

This was a personal crisis last year a friend took out a loan on our behalf, as she has great credit she got a great rate from her bank (I dont recall it exactly) 12 months into 48 month term
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Secured Loan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159.29 how long left? interest?

7 years left out of a ten year term. Horrid 11.75% rate, roughly £9.5k o/s i think
Catalogues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135.00 how long left? interest? is this the min repayment?
2 interest free if I make the slightly higher payments, two 34.9%




Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 can this go?
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.50 can these be cut down to freebies for a couple of months?

This is a DD for membership to national trust, meaning we get to take the kids on a day out every weekend if we liked, we use this membership a great deal as it gives 'free' parking to the local beaches etc, I'd be reluctant to let this onego as whilst being frugal I think this is a reasonable amount for a years worth of family days out, especially as we never do cinema etc


Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 do you need this?

Nope Put this here as a just in case

40.00 can you cut this down look at the OS board for home takeaways etc

Yes deffo, we enjoy making home takeaways

New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 never anything at all?

All went on the catalogues, I hate buying myself new clothes but thats another story lol I will need to add something in here with the rework as I wont be spending on the catalogues...



Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 this is 300 a year anyway to cut this down at all?

I would like to try but think I would struggle, I based this figure on my usual £50 per child b/day spend and £25 per other family member

Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33 do you need this?

Tis booked, got a Sun holiday and this spend was including spendies and travel.

Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67 this is 800 a year any way to cut this down at all?

Last year my Xmas spend was roughly £1500, so I think I am cutting this down quite a bit, but I can try


Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115.58 good luck with getting rid of this

[I]Thank you![/I]


And thank you for your thoughts.... gives me something to work with and I really appreciate that

chiefsfanuk

Think I have figured out that other site now, but got a slightly different result Hmmmm

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 700
Benefits................................ 475.11
Other income............................ 206.27
Total monthly income.................... 2431.38

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 308.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 278.29999999999995
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 170
Electricity............................. 67
Gas..................................... 70
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 80
Telephone (land line)................... 15.5
Mobile phone............................ 75
TV Licence.............................. 12.54
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60
Internet Services....................... 2.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 325
Clothing................................ 16.67
Petrol/diesel........................... 130
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 31.47
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 56.17
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 25
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 29
Buildings insurance..................... 29.1
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 91.67
Haircuts................................ 8.33
Entertainment........................... 13.5
Holiday................................. 33.33
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Eating Out.............................. 40
Shopping for fun........................ 50
Smokes.................................. 115.58
Total monthly expenses.................. 2175.56


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 212500
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 217000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 24500....(308.9)....10.75
Secured Debt.................. 9300.....(159.2)....11.75
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4125.....(119.1)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 37925.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................800.......30........30.34
Credit Card....................1200......50........34.9
Credit Card....................700.......25........35.9
Catalogue......................217.63....80........0
Catalogue(DH)..................474.2.....40........37.68
Catalogue......................114.24....15........0
Catalogue......................547.67....50........37.68
Credit Card (DH)...............495.......20........34.9
Total unsecured debts..........4548.74...310.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,431.38
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,175.56
Available for debt repayments........... 255.82
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 310
Amount short for making debt repayments. -54.18

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 217,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -37,925
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,548.74
Net Assets.............................. 174,526.26

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.