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Help and Advise on my monthly expenditure before I get into DEBT

Hello to the Money expert Team!
I would like to seek some advise on my expenditure before it gets out of control. !:rotfl:

I have been carefully running through this amazing website to see where I can save money and maximise my income. :T

I think I will try to reduce my monthly food bill extremely and I am considering, within the next week to be without my pet dog and give him back to his breeder. That should curb my spending. What do you think?

I don't spend on going out for drinks at weekends and really enjoy travelling abroad. I try to save for this as well as my pension which is equally important.

Please could you give me some advise and point me in the right direction??

Many thanks
FKG


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.83
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

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

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.12
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.92
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.30
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.60

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,126.77


Comments

  • -taff
    -taff Posts: 15,060 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I wouldn't get rid of your dog just yet....




    fkg wrote: »
    Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

    Monthly Expense Details

    In Your Home

    Mobile phones . . . 25.00 - can you change your tariff?
    TV licence. . . .. 12.50 - get rid of this and pay for netflix or similar at 5.99 a month, and use catch up
    Internet. .... .. . 31.00
    Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . 3.33
    Household maintenance . . . 70.00 - what is this being spent on?
    Electricity ...... . 40.00
    Gas . . . . . . . . 20.00
    Water . . . . . . . . 0.00 - you don't pay this?
    Council tax . . . . 170.00 - that's really hih, have you got a discount as a single person?
    Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.83
    Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230.00

    Motoring & Public Transport

    Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.00

    Savings & Investments

    Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.00
    Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
    Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

    Family

    Pet food. . . . .... . 40.00
    Pet insurance... . . . 13.12
    Travel insurance..... . 4.17

    Entertainment

    Big days out. . . . . 60.00 - every month?
    Pet costs . . . . . 65.00 - what is this for?
    IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) .. 2.92 - there are free versions of any anti virus software, also, if you use firefox as a browser, you can install ad block plus which will get rid of ads and any other nasties that may infect your computer


    Clothes, Health & Beauty

    Optical bills . . . . .. . . . 10.00
    Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00
    Fitness/Sports/Gym. . .. . . . 30.00 - is this more for social purposes?

    Big One-Offs
    Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.30
    Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.60

    Odds & Sods
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00


    Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941.00


    Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,126.77


    Non me fac calcitrare tuum culi
  • spicefox
    spicefox Posts: 21 Forumite
    Ok, I realise you are spending £50 on your dog per month - but why is the food so expensive?

    My partner and I have three cats and spend £20 pm on food. You need to have a look at that. The insurance is adequate. What's the £60 for though??

    Personally, I wouldn't give up a pet. Companionship is under rated.

    Why are your household costs so high? £70 is massive on top of council tax being £170 pm.

    There is absolutely no need to save £150 if your expenditure is higher than your income. Debt collection agencies and debt purchasing companies will question this. No doubt. And the £50 regular saving. Why?

    There is also no need for your "IT costs". I use AVG and have never had a problem.
    DFW NERD NUMBER: 1479
    Debt Free ETA: 30/04/2017
  • Puddylove
    Puddylove Posts: 507 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Pet costs seem high at around £120 per month - what is this actually for?
    Council tax is also high - if you live alone have you applied for a single person's discount of 25%?
    Mobile phone - there are cheaper tariffs around from - SIM only if you have a phone already.
    Savings - you don't seem to have any spare money to save - getting into debt to do so doesn't make sense.
    Food - is this for one person? Seems high.
  • Toomuchdebt
    Toomuchdebt Posts: 2,133 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I have 2 dogs and spend less than this on food a month-I spend £30 and this lasts 2 months and it's decent quality food not rubbish supermarket stuff.
    Debts Jan 2014 £20,108.34 :eek:

    EF #70 £0/£1000

    SW 1st 4lbs
  • So you have a choice, you have to either cut back on ISA savings or trim your budget.

    You own your own home without a mortgage, I assume. You are also getting on a bit, from the pensions in payment.

    When do you expect to retire? And will you then be getting an additional pension?

    Is your ISA saving for your foreign trips?

    I would think long and hard about getting rid of the dog. Company and exercise are both going to become more important over the next 10 years for you rather than less. I agree that choosing between this and foreign trips is difficult though.
  • dancingfairy
    dancingfairy Posts: 9,069 Forumite
    fkg wrote: »
    Hello to the Money expert Team!
    I would like to seek some advise on my expenditure before it gets out of control. !:rotfl:

    I have been carefully running through this amazing website to see where I can save money and maximise my income. :T

    I think I will try to reduce my monthly food bill extremely and I am considering, within the next week to be without my pet dog and give him back to his breeder. That should curb my spending. What do you think?

    I don't spend on going out for drinks at weekends and really enjoy travelling abroad. I try to save for this as well as my pension which is equally important.

    Please could you give me some advise and point me in the right direction??

    Many thanks
    FKG


    Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

    Monthly Income Details
    Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866.00
    Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53.00
    Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
    Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Monthly Expense Details

    In Your Home

    Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
    Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.00
    Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33
    Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.00
    Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
    Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
    Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170.00
    Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.83
    Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230.00
    Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Motoring & Public Transport

    Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.00
    Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Debt Repayments

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

    Savings & Investments

    Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.00
    Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
    Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

    Family

    Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
    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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.12
    Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17

    Entertainment

    Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
    Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.00
    Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.92
    DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Clothes, Health & Beauty

    Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00
    Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
    Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.30
    Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.60

    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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00


    Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941.00


    Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,126.77



    It is tough to run a household on one income. Unfortunately your SOA shows you are sinking by about £180 a month at the moment.
    What's the £50 a month? Is this for the pension?
    You could probably trim the food budget quite a bit with meal planning , batch cooking (ie making a massive batch of say spaghetti bolognese, rubber chicken (where you make a chicken last, so you have roast on sunday, cold meat and chips on Monday, chicken salad on tuesday, chicken soup, chicken risoles, etc etc, basically you make 1 chicken last and last), freezing meals, careful shopping etc.
    The decision re the dog is obviously a personal decision. It doesn't look like you can really afford the travelling and the dog, also if you are travelling what happens to the dog? I think you need to decide where your priorities lie.
    If you don't want to give either up then either go on cheaper holidays (you can get some great last minute deals) or go less often so maybe once every 2 or 3 years.
    I'm sure you will work it out somehow :)
    df
    Making my money go further with MSE :j
    How much can I save in 2012 challenge
    75/1200 :eek:
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