General Budgeting Advice

Dobbibill

I know you said you are looking for a short term solution but advising debt is not the way forward here on the forum, so recommending a CC or OD is not something that I'll be able to do.

What I would say is you are calculating alot based on when the tenants move in/pay rent etc etc and are back working full time but this at the moment is nothing concrete as a) you don't have a job confirmed for September and b) you don't have any tenants yet and when you do what's to say that they won't face their own difficulties and put you back to square 1 within a month.

You need to be looking at what you need to live on as a minimum amount so with that in mind, looking at your SOA the areas I can see that may help you going forward are:-

* mobile phone is high (change the package, maybe just slightly if data is a must for you)
* take a packed lunch to work to reduce your grocery bill
* you have £0 for car insurance but if your plans to get lodgers goes wrong you won't have the money to pay for this upfront for the year if you don't budget for it
* haircuts are high too, look at adverts for your local college, they will normally do it at reduced costs due to it being done by student overseen by a qualified stylist
* you don't have anything in an emergency fund, if an emergency happens you will have nothing in place and you'll be surprised how often emergencies seem to crop up (always at the worse time too)
* £50 relative?? how long will this go on - what is the total amount owed to them

All of the above are just suggestions and food for thought - a budget is not a short term fix but a lifelong management of all things financial

I genuinely wish you all the best

DB

Piscean1991

colsten wrote: »

Unlimited data, unlimited texts, 2,000 minutes, no contract: £18/mth.

Took me 30 seconds to find that on - with more searching you might find something even cheaper that suits your needs.

Can't you do the majority of your Data work on free WiFi? Thereby reducing the amount of data you need to pay for.

When I'm at home I can although I tend to just use my laptop at home. I'd consider moving to a plan which didn't have unlimited data but I'd want to monitor my actual data use for a couple of months first to get a good idea of what I'd need before taking that step.

justme111

The obvious option to me would be finding additional income . Babysitting, cleaning , stacking shelves at supermarket , weekend shifts at mcdonalds , deliveries -anything .

Piscean1991

Dobbibill wrote: »

I know you said you are looking for a short term solution but advising debt is not the way forward here on the forum, so recommending a CC or OD is not something that I'll be able to do.

What I would say is you are calculating alot based on when the tenants move in/pay rent etc etc and are back working full time but this at the moment is nothing concrete as a) you don't have a job confirmed for September and b) you don't have any tenants yet and when you do what's to say that they won't face their own difficulties and put you back to square 1 within a month.

You need to be looking at what you need to live on as a minimum amount so with that in mind, looking at your SOA the areas I can see that may help you going forward are:-

* mobile phone is high (change the package, maybe just slightly if data is a must for you)
* take a packed lunch to work to reduce your grocery bill
* you have £0 for car insurance but if your plans to get lodgers goes wrong you won't have the money to pay for this upfront for the year if you don't budget for it
* haircuts are high too, look at adverts for your local college, they will normally do it at reduced costs due to it being done by student overseen by a qualified stylist
* you don't have anything in an emergency fund, if an emergency happens you will have nothing in place and you'll be surprised how often emergencies seem to crop up (always at the worse time too)
* £50 relative?? how long will this go on - what is the total amount owed to them

All of the above are just suggestions and food for thought - a budget is not a short term fix but a lifelong management of all things financial

I genuinely wish you all the best

DB

Thank you, £50 to relatives will be continuing until September at which point the remainder of the debt (which will be £400) will be reviewed. Essentially, if I can't afford it at that point, they will put it on hold. It's probably negotiable before that too but I'd rather not because I just want to get it paid back and feel.. Not indebted to family members. That's probably me being stubborn though!

I had an emergency fund until recently and I'd like to start building that up again. I'm not sure I'd be too comfortable putting my hair in the hands of a trainee again because it resulted in a haircut that made me cry and I enjoy the experience of going to a salon. Having my hair done isn't just about maintaining it - it's also the experience of having it washed, being in a nice room, chatting to my hairdresser, having a posh hot chocolate. Maybe finding a cheaper salon will be a compromise for me. To be fair to myself, if there are times when I completely can't afford to have it done, I just don't get it done.

I will probably have to pay my insurance monthly next year which I accept - I'd rather not but it may just have to be done until I've got more no claims. Packed lunch is definitely something I need to be stricter with myself on. I never finish meals because I don't get very hungry so I aim to start taking in leftovers instead of binning them.

As far as lodgers goes, whilst I know this isn't a completely foolproof plan, moving house is still the best option for me financially. Basically, my stepdad (mum's ex) owns a house which is empty and has been for a long time but is also paying the mortgage on a house with his new partner. He's agreed to charge me £400 rent if lodgers are in the house and £150 if they're not but said I can have a rent-break if I don't have a wage over summer. That's at least something that is concrete. I'd rather have a free roof over my head than try to explain to my current landlady that I can't pay her.

There's so many variables in my finances that it's really difficult to plan for each eventuality and although I don't want to be advised to actually take on debt, if I do end up choosing to, then I don't want to sleepwalk into it and screw myself over by taking on anything unmanageable. I'll be bluntly honest when I say I have no idea what APR's mean and don't fully understand various forms of debt. Quite frankly, I wish I'd never taken on a student overdraft so big and, if I could go back to it, I'd probably be a lot more reserved about accepting it. Admittedly, they did offer me £2000 and I thought I was being dead disciplined to only take £1000 at the time!

I take your point about trying to work out the minimum I can live on and a some of the figures I gave were more estimates than exacts (I tried to over-estimate to compensate) so I think recording everything properly this month will give me a better idea of where I can cut down. I think I can probably do my grocery shopping much cheaper.

OurLass

Hello piscean.
Have a look at the old style money saving forum,they can give excellent advice on grocery and general money saving ideas

Also if you read Frugal Queens blog on frugal in Cornwall, you will find that very helpful. She is an expert on debt management and frugal living/budgeting.

Hope that helps:)