SoA (it's worse than I thought!)

McCloud1

Wow, thanks for the responses people.

Firstly, thanks for taking the time to read the other thread (thank you Beanie for linking); the information was only disclosed as it's highly relevant to my financial situation, however I really cannot blame it all on that.

I do understand that I am massively wasteful in how I live, and MH issues or not I do need to reign it in at least a bit.

Asparagus1968 - On your initial response, I don't bother with contents insurance or a TV license; I don't watch TV other than Netflix, and I rarely do that.

In truth I should have somebody to try to keep me on track. The thing is, I don't have learning difficulties or brain damage; and I don't feel my friends would be any better. I have to learn at some point, or at least keep trying. I'm hoping that if I visit here regularly it will remind me.

PasturesNew is correct in that I would so something deceptive to break the rules anyway. To clarify, the SoA is based on solely my expenses, as they currently stand living with my flat mate.

Longtermplanner - No doubt you are right. My view has always been: "well a few quid here and there is nothing considering I may have a blow-out on takeaways and alcohol whenever I have a down-swing in my mood". Whilst I know it's nonsense, it's easy to justify to oneself.

RAS - I appreciate the advice, however I am agnostic and an extremely cynical person, so I wouldn't intrude somewhere that could be helping somebody else.

Bedsitbob - There's been a lot of text so you must have missed it where I stated that the £1,700 is left over from a previous loan, much more recent than the PDL (I hadn't previously included this detail) and one of the reasons for my post is advice as to what I should do with it.

Thanks again all.

bargainbetty

McCloud1 wrote: »

Number of adults in household........... 2 (finances separate)

Total monthly income.................... 1900
Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 525
Council tax............................. 60
Electricity............................. 80 - Can you talk to your flatmate about bringing down your energy usage together? Turn off lights, stop leaving things plugged in etc. I have a two bed flat and even with a flat mate my bill was only £90 pcm.
Gas..................................... 40 - As above
Water rates............................. 30 - Is this 10 monthly or 12 monthly? Ask for a reassessment or meter to be installed, as this is high for half a bill. Again, my flat was £33 per month.
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 60 - ask your provider for a cheaper contract. This is extremely high.
Internet Services....................... 32 - shop around
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 - just for you? Wow. You can bring this down significantly. Try doing an inventory of what is in your cupboards and only buying what you really need for a month to use up/save up. If you can't cook, borrow a book and learn some basics.
Clothing................................ 100 - Stop it. Reduce to essentials only for the next three months.
Other travel............................ 384
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14 - Look at the NHS annual or quarterly payment certificates. Saved me a lot.
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 - cut back on who you buy for and how much you spend.
Haircuts................................ 50 - stretch out your time between cuts, go to colleges or grow it out. You sadly cannot afford this right now.
Entertainment........................... 0 - don't believe it.

Cash.................................... 1400 Other assets............................ 300 - can you collect this in? (money owed to me)
Total Assets............................ 1700

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan - Family friend...........2200......200.......0 (the min payment is what's agreed, but I cant adjust if necessary)
PDL (inc charges) .............1000......0.........0 Use your savings to clear this. In full if necessary, or agree a payment plan with them. They don't have to reduce it or agree to a lower settlement. Just clear it.
Littlewoods....................910.......109.......0 (in arrears of £109 as well) Use some of the savings to bring this up to date.

If you could work with your flatmate to reduce the bills by a quarter, you would save £30 per month. Water rates could also drop by £10 per month. Reduce your food shopping and groceries to make a £100 saving. Mobile phone could be halved saving £30, clothing you could save £80 per month for a bit, haircuts and presents, halve to save another £50. That's £300 off your expenditure and onto your debts. It still doesn't balance, because your employer is deducting a significant proportion of your earnings in debt repayments. Could you take on a second job (bar work, shop work etc) to raise some extra from a couple of shifts a week?

You may also need to consider moving to a cheaper flatshare. If you are paying £525 plus all those bills, you simply can't afford to be there at present. When does your tenancy end? If you could find a share where bills are included, that might make a little more sense for you right now, even if it means a year in a less lovely flat.

I wish you the very best of luck

McCloud1

bargainbetty wrote: »

If you could work with your flatmate to reduce the bills by a quarter, you would save £30 per month. Water rates could also drop by £10 per month. Reduce your food shopping and groceries to make a £100 saving. Mobile phone could be halved saving £30, clothing you could save £80 per month for a bit, haircuts and presents, halve to save another £50. That's £300 off your expenditure and onto your debts. It still doesn't balance, because your employer is deducting a significant proportion of your earnings in debt repayments. Could you take on a second job (bar work, shop work etc) to raise some extra from a couple of shifts a week?

You may also need to consider moving to a cheaper flatshare. If you are paying £525 plus all those bills, you simply can't afford to be there at present. When does your tenancy end? If you could find a share where bills are included, that might make a little more sense for you right now, even if it means a year in a less lovely flat.

I wish you the very best of luck

Thank you for the input Bargainbetty, I will look into your suggestions when I'm home.


Regarding the energy bills, I really must emphasise just how irresponsible my flatmate is. Never worked, is 23 like me, has wealthy parents who just throw money at him, and generally doesn't care about anything but his various vices. He used to be a friend so it's not a random flat-share. I say 'used' as being his personal cleaner and paying for all communal items for over two years has gotten my back up.


If I'm moving out of this flat I would move to my dad's (not sure if you read my linked thread?) which is one of the major decisions I am trying to take. An SoA/budget would still be needed in this circumstance, but it'd be a case of 'how much money can I throw at debt?' rather than 'can I throw any money at debt?'


Re my 'savings', again not sure how much you've read, but that's money left over from the loan given by my boss which I used inappropriately, but it is money that's free to be used.


Everyone seems to advise getting rid of the PDL first, however this is the debt least concerning me and the hardest to enforce. I understand that the interest/charges are high, but they are likely to wipe a load of those if I offer them a settlement later down the line. Preventing interest accruing is not as important in my situation as getting rid of the most stressful debts first. The stress is half the reason I avoid dealing with it. That being the case, would Littlewoods/the family friend (flatmate's mum) not be better options?


Thanks again.