Is My Budget sensible .

muz3562

Ok so I have also recently had to move from living with my parents to to living alone . Ive just agreed a let on a place and am currently living on A friends couch till I get them keys .

Ive been pretty lucky in that family and friends have donated a fair amount of furniture meaning that the only thing I have had to buy is a washing machine and a bedside cabinet .

Ive been looking at my budget as im going to have to plan a little more carefully as my rent and bills are going to almost double .

I just want to know if I am being realistic about the cost of food and other expenses coupled with the utility bills .

I have only ever lived with other people when I was a student and since then I have lived with my parents so cant remember the last time I had to budget properly

My Basic Salary
£1538 every 4 weeks .

Expenses -Monthly
Rent £450
Council Tax £60.45
Utilities £100
Water £20
TV License £12.12
Internet £2.50 + £15.75 line rental
Reg Charity Donation £8
Mobile Phone £44
Motorbike Finance £62.34
Motorbike Insurance £54
Fuel for Car £100 - 22 miles a day work= 440 miles 2 tanks of fuel + enough for another full tank for other random journies
Food Shopping £160
Going out / socialising £80 pub/cinema or taking my oh out for dinner
Misc £80 - the odd coffee at work and any other little emergencies
Contents Insurance £9.18 month
Regular savings account £150 -some of this is for MOT/insurance in Nov
Repaying cred card £85 Balance £900 - £650 is interest free balance tranfer for 27 months (25 left)
Saving accnt for Car Tax £25

Based of my 4 weekly income I am left over with £19.66 which if not spent would just get deposited in the savings account for my holiday fund .

My question is is it sensible that I have allowed £160 a month for food plus another £160 a month for entertainment . I cant remember how much I used to spend at uni but I used to do a lot of shopping at tesco metro which was near my accomodation but was dear . Can I live of £40 a week for food . Given that I work shifts so often will be home at weird times and not always able to cook .

Also more importantly , have I missed anything off my budget

Thanks in advance

grumbler

Fuel for car or motorbike?
Is the content really worth paying £100+ p.a. for insuring?

£160 for food is more than enough if you shop reasonably.
Re the 'entertainment', only you know how much you need and can afford.

I'd cut the cost of the mobile at the very first opportunity and would try saving more that £150 p.m.


For possible missed items see Statement of Affairs

jonesMUFCforever

You have a car and a motorbike?

muz3562

grumbler wrote: »

Fuel for car or motorbike?
Is the content really worth paying £100+ p.a. for insuring?

£160 for food is more than enough if you shop reasonably.
Re the 'entertainment', only you know how much you need and can afford.

I'd cut the cost of the mobile at the very first opportunity and would try saving more that £150 p.m.

Fuel is for the car mostly , the motorbike is only a 125cc so one tank of fuel will do 300+ miles or 3 months for what I use of it .

How much would you say I should try and chuck in my savings ?

I forgot to mention im in a pretty fortunate work situation in that I also earn commission and rest days and overtime are paid at generous rates so I often take home around £1800 and currently any surplus gets saved . But I am budgeting for my bare minimum

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

You have a car and a motorbike?

I do , im currently in the process of trying to sell the motorbike but until I can do that the finance payments have to be in my budget .

grumbler

Where is the car insurance then?

Re savings, I'd say as much as possible until you have at least 6 months worth of your income saved.

muz3562

grumbler wrote: »

Where is the car insurance then?

Car insurance is all paid up this year until October , which is where my £150 a month savings comes in so that I have enough money to pay either it all or as much as possible annually in October .

TartanSaver

£160/mo for food is too much. Go to Aldi. Has your new flat got a freezer? Make large meals (soup, sauces, curries etc) and freeze them in single portion containers. You can buy loads of these online cheaply. Then when you come home at your weird times, you just need to microwave them. It requires a bit of advance planning, but the at the point you come home it takes no effort. If you don't have a freezer, get a cheap one off Gumtree.

If you really want to save money, sell the car and commute on the motorbike!

Rather than saving £150/mo now, look to pay of the interest bearing part of the credit card. The £250 which wasn't a balance transfer will be costing you cash.

Similarly, look into the terms of your bike finance, see whar the costs are for early repayment - you're probably better off overpaying.

If you're in the fixed term for you £44 a month phone bill, tough it out - but when it ends, don't get a new phone, just switch to sim only and save yourself at least £30/mo.

Given that you are paid four weekly, you should have room to spare, as a lot of these expenses are monthly! Remember there are 13 four weekly periods a year, not 12.

getmore4less

use the SOA format much easier

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

a budget is a Plan, you need everything you will have in/out for at least a year planned out, the SOA is year/12 snapshot.

if you want to go more advanced and things properly get MSMoney

YNAB if very popular with those that want to track their money and will do the job.

Start a spending diary and track everything, not in the plan don't spend it or modify the plan.

getmore4less

muz3562 wrote: »

Car insurance is all paid up this year until October , which is where my £150 a month savings comes in so that I have enough money to pay either it all or as much as possible annually in October .

A budget is a plan of where the money is going you have car insurance in with a figure for that, savings is not car insurance.

(the budget is the plan of where the money is going not where you have it stored)

CLAPTON

best to use the budget spreadsheet linked to by getmore4less above


but if you have been living at home cheaply why do you carry a balance on your credit card ?
why do you have bike finance?
anything that is costing you interest pay off asap.

your budget seems to have nothing for
-clothes
-holidays
-birthday and xmas presents
-do you really only spend 80 per month on socialising?
-do you buy lunch at work


try keeping a spending diary : literally write down every single thing you spend on for a month or too and see exactly where the money goes.

cheexy

muz3562 wrote: »

My question is is it sensible that I have allowed £160 a month for food plus another £160 a month for entertainment . I cant remember how much I used to spend at uni but I used to do a lot of shopping at tesco metro which was near my accomodation but was dear . Can I live of £40 a week for food . Given that I work shifts so often will be home at weird times and not always able to cook .

Also more importantly , have I missed anything off my budget

Thanks in advance

Since you live alone I reckon you could spend about 100 pounds (or less) per month on food. Do you buy lunch at work? If you do, consider taking your lunch from home. I do this too and you would be surprised how much you can save.