S.o.a

Graciefields

Hi everyone, decided to try and live within my means. Could some of you kind souls cast your eye over my SOA and offer me some kind guidance? I currently live alone and have a 19yr old son who lives away at uni and who is virtually self sufficient.

Kind regards

Gracie

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,962.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Child Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.18
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.67
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523.78
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346.67
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.75
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

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
Pmas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.75
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Netflix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Spotify Premium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.90
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.67
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,962.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,207.19

longtermplanner

Well, you either have to increase your income or reduce your expenditure by £245 a month or look at a debt management plan.

Actually you really need to improve by more than £245 a month because at that rate the credit cards will take forever to be paid off. What is the total of your debts?

Are you really spending £83 a month on birthdays every month? With no dependent children you should be able to reduce that to under £20.

Which would you prefer to do without, the winter holiday or lose the gym&sky ? You have to make choices!

Your food & househoold shopping is high - are you a smoker? And you have meals at work in addition. As it's just you, you should be able to get this down to £200 including meals at work.

67p a month for newspapers, is this a decimal place error?

~Beanie~

Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 None? Not even contents?
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346.67 For one person? :eek::eek:
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33 Very high, cut down a bit?
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00 Also quite a lot, cheaper holiday?
Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.67 is this right?
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.00 Take a packed lunch

[/QUOTE]

You've gota £245 shortfall at the moment and I think most of that can be found from your budget quite easily. Over £400 on food could be halved straightaway!

Graciefields

Thanks so far for the replies. The winter holiday was for me and my son. Its the first time in years we have been away but am planning on doing it every year now. Maybe he can contribute next time.

I buy the odd magazine.

No I don't have any home insurance at all. But do have something through my job which I think covers big items. I also have breakdown recovery etc through work which comes out of salary.
My total credit card debt is 20k and its all on long term 0%.

I am a non smoker but do like a glass or 3 of wine. My grocery bill is for everything including, alcohol, cat food, cleaning products etc.

Yes the birthday amount is ridiculous and will cut right back on that.

I work 10+ hr shifts and usually pop into Morrisons for a meal. Usually salad bar and a bag of crisps and bar of chocolate.

Dobbibill

Graciefields wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,962.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.18
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.67
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523.78
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346.67

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.75
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.75
Netflix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty

Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.90
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.67
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,962.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,207.19

Hi Graciefields,


First of all, well done on posting you SOA on here for help and support. It's a big step but the first of many to reaching your goal. :T


Just a few things that I could see that may help.....


mobile phone £33 - is it possible you can change this to a sim only plan or PAYG for around £10 a month (saving of £23)


satellite tv £29.75 - opt for freeview (saving of £29.75)


Netflix - this needs to go for the time being (saving of £6)


Gym £39.90 - are you in a contract with this, if not opt for exercising elsewhere like a running track, free and with the summer hopefully on it's way then quite enjoyable too (saving £39.90)


Birthdays £83.33 - this is quite a large amount for birthdays only, especially given you said it was only 1 child you had in uni or does this include Christmas as you have £0 budget for that, if this is birthdays only maybe cut it down to £30 a month and go for more creative than costly presents (saving £53.33)


Winter holidays £125 - is this something you are already committed to? this really is a luxury and takes an awfully big chunk of your monthly budget. Put this on hold until you have paid off your debts (saving £125)


meals at work £65 - is it possible to take a packed lunch? Have a look at the frugal living threads, lots of good ideas there for bulk cooking/freezing of meals and creative packed lunch fillers which would become part of your grocery shopping budget (saving £65)


savings so far £341.98 over a £245.19 shortfall
money left at end of month £96.79


Your food budget £346.67 - this seems quite high, is it just for yourself. As mentioned above check out the frugal living threads, shop at the cheapest supermarkets, if you follow their hints and tips then you should be able to shave this down by at least £100 a month if it is only you in your household.




These are just some ideas, I hope they help.;)


All the best with your goal, keep us updated on your progress. :T


Good luck


DB

theoretica

My comments are in purple - I think with a bit of thought and care you should be able to readjust things without needing to lower your quality of life.

Graciefields wrote: »

Thanks so far for the replies. The winter holiday was for me and my son. Its the first time in years we have been away but am planning on doing it every year now. Maybe he can contribute next time.
If you want to afford this within your means you will need to make major cuts elsewhere - or perhaps alternate years?

No I don't have any home insurance at all. But do have something through my job which I think covers big items.
Task: find out exactly what you have.

I am a non smoker but do like a glass or 3 of wine. My grocery bill is for everything including, alcohol, cat food, cleaning products etc.
It is still high and one of your major targets for cutting. The Old Style board here could help with ideas to cut it right down. Which is more important to you, your holiday or your grocery habits?

I work 10+ hr shifts and usually pop into Morrisons for a meal. Usually salad bar and a bag of crisps and bar of chocolate.
You could cut this down by simple things like bulk buying multipacks and taking them in with you. Why pay 50p for one when you can get 5 for £1? Similarly, you could buy saladbar sort of stuff to make packed lunches.

[Deleted User]

My first suggestion would be to redo the SOA, using the alternative calculator.

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

In the meantime, I note the following.

£33 is a lot for one mobile phone. Go PA/sim only (about £10pm) ASAP.

Given the Internet and Home Phone doesn't include Pay TV, then it's rather high. Check U-Switch for a better deal

While you are at it, I'd suggest dumping the Pay TV, and going Freeview/Freesat

Given you are out at work for 10+ hours a day, Gas and Electricity is quite high. I pay just £31pm for both.

You really should have Home Insurance (both contents and buildings, if you own rather than rent), especially as the house is empty a lot of the time.

£412 on Food and household shopping seems very high for one person. You should easily be able to knock a hundred (or maybe £150) off that.

£300pa seems a lot for haircuts.

Have you claimed the flat rate tax allowance, for the Work clothes? It's not a lot, but as the supermarket advert says, every little helps.

£1,000pa is a lot for birthdays.

Likewise, £1,500 is a lot for a holiday.

Graciefields

Ok, thank you so much for your replies and suggestions. I have made a start and have done the following:

Cancelled gym and netflix
renegotiated Sky down to 23.80
reduced winter holiday to 750
reduced birthds to 25 per month
am aiming to only spend 15 per month on meals at work.
This leaves me with an underspend of £125 per month.
I still need to do a lot more but at least its a start.
Bed sit bob I will look at your suggestions and see what I can do. Thank you.
Gracie

Graciefields

Oops and am going to try and cut my weekly grocery shop to £35.

dancingfairy

Graciefields wrote: »

Hi everyone, decided to try and live within my means. Could some of you kind souls cast your eye over my SOA and offer me some kind guidance? I currently live alone and have a 19yr old son who lives away at uni and who is virtually self sufficient.

Kind regards

Gracie

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,962.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.18
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.00

Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.67
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523.78
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346.67


Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.75
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342.00

Savings & Investments


Family


Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.75
Netflix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Spotify Premium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.90
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00

New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Education & Courses

Big One-Offs

Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00


Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.67

Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.00



Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,962.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,207.19

Hi, the trouble is at the moment your SOA is showing that your debt is increasing by by over £200 a month. There are some places that you could make cutbacks - food, presents, the gym, holidays etc but it's going to be hard to get back in balance let alone start to make inroads into your debts.
It may be worth considering a dmp with someone like Stepchange or National Debtline but you need to weigh up whether you get your budget to balance and try and carry on making the minimums or whether it is worth getting defaults and going on a dmp. It might be worth having a play with the snowball calculator at maksenseofcards.com to see how long it would take to pay the debt off assuming you can make your budget balance and pay the minimums each month.
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Graciefields

Thank you dancing fairy but my credit card debt is on long term 0% interest. Any savings I make with my budget I plan to put towards the cc payments which will bring it down quite a bit before the 0% runs out. Then I will transfer to another long term 0% and keep doing the same thing until it is paid off completely. Then I intend to do the same with my mortgage as its interest only.

I have cancelled the gym and am cutting back drastically on other things like food, birthdays and holidays. Thanks to some fantastic tips and advice on this site.