How to get some more money to help clear bills etc

class2ldn

Hi guys, we have quite a few outgoings and I'm looking for ways to try and reduce them as on our combined wages we really should be in a better position.
My wage is now 51,000 and my partners is around 21,000.
Problem is I don't seem to have any money leftover each month to try and save up or pay off any big bills.
We are never behind or anything like that but it would be nice to try and optimise our incoming to lower the outgoings.
Currently our mortgage is 1124 a month, I have a credit card for 1650 which I'm paying 100 a month off. 0%
I have a car loan for 363, an old car loan for 261 but that ends this year.
I pay maintenance to my ex of 330 a month and I put 1100 into the joint account to cover the mortgage. Add to that the extra for fuel insurance phone etc it doesn't seem to leave much.
My partner puts around 600 in the joint account and all the joint bills are always covered.
I know my two loans don't help but my cars are my only real passion and I dint really spend any money on other luxuries.
I did ask on here about my overdraft and putting it on a virgin credit card but I may not have to as work are paying our annual leave as an average of what we now earn with overtime etc and backdating it to January 2015 so hopefully this amount will cover most of that.
Not sure where to address really.
My normal take home each month is around 2850-3000 and my partners around 1400.
Once my overdraft Is paid off I'm going to try and take advantage of some of the higher paying interest accounts but the problem is I have no savings or anything to put in it.
Any help would be great.

Cheers

~Beanie~

THe best place to start would be to complete an SOA which should include all your outgoings. This will help you to see exactly where your money is going and help others to find areas where you could possibly save a bit of money.

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

National_Debtline

Hi there,


In situations like this a full budget / SOA would be the most beneficial to help you break down everything that is going out. It will also help you to prioritise your expenses, for example, if your cars are subject to a hire purchase agreement then they are an essential living cost - the same as your mortgage and food etc. But if they are a personal loan then the finance is not linked to the vehicle and it may be worth considering all of your options with the vehicles (including possibly selling).


From what you have described above you have £4250 coming in (as a couple). The expenses you listed are: -


£1700 for mortgage and bills - does this include food?
£363 + £261 for cars - plus the running costs?
£330 child maintenance
£2564 in Total
£1596 Surplus - from this you have mentioned paying £100 to the credit card but, of course, you will have other living costs to.

Post a full SOA to help you find where the missing money is going and this will help you to deal with your debts in the long run. Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline

class2ldn

Thanks guys il have a look now

class2ldn

Right I've just filled out the soa.
Still a bit baffled as to where the money is all going.
My partner pays for the food.
Car insurance is around 89 a month for me 50 for partner
Fuel I don't really use much as I get free travel.
Partner uses about 100 a month.
I do spend a lot on food in the day at work probably around 150 a Month so I know this is somewhere I need to cut down on.
Overdraft charges are £30 a month aswell
My 363 loan is pcp but my 261 is a tesco one for a car i dont own anymore. (I know). Think that ends around December

crazy_cat_lady

You need to keep a spending diary for a while. You would be amazed how a few pounds here and there quickly add up. Social life, coffee, magazines etc.
If your soa suggests you have a lot of cash left and you don't then a spending diary should solve the problem.

andyfromotley

You can post your SOA on here, use the format for MSE button.

However you clearly have a severe case of fritteritus! You could try a spending diary if you want to know where every penny is going however i find that simply making a budget and sticking to it will solve your problem.

Note down your income, budget an amount to every expenditure that you can think of. Include a monthly amount towards Christmas / birthdays/ car servicing etc etc everyones looks different but the expenses listed on the SOA is usually a good place to start. You will hopefully be left over with a surplus. This goes to debt repayment or a savings account if you are debt free.

You then come hell or high water live to the budget that you have set. If you have £300 for groceries you do not spend one penny more than £300 on groceries. NOT A PENNY! This introduces disciplie to your spending. If you simply unavoidably havre to overspend in one of your catagories you have to then sit and decide which other category this overspend has to come out of. Its hard choice time, there is no 'spare; cash you have already sent that towards your debt or savings. YOU CANNOT use credit to plug the hole either. This in a nutshell is how you live on a budget. Making budgets is easy and fun (well for me anyway) Sticking to it well thats the important (and more difficult part.!)

You can do this budget on a bit of paper, a spreadsheet or a fancy budgeting program like YNAB which i and many others on here swear by, You will no doubt need to adjust your budget each month for the first few months but then you should have a good feel for how much you spend in each category. Soe people like to use cash and keep it in envolopes, some use multiple bank accounts as different pots or you can just keep it all in one and keep track of it on your paper/speadsheet/program. It matters not the principle is the same. You say how much you are going to spend on each category at the start of the month/payday and that is what you spend!!

Learning to budget and live to it has transformed my finances (like you i had very good earnings but no money and loads of debt!!!) and is the key to becoming debt free. I hope it works for you as well as it has for me and others.

Steerpike88

If you post your SOA a lot of people will go through it and give your ideas on where to save, what to cut, the things you're probably paying too much for and can get a better deal on. It's very useful, if a little scary.

class2ldn

Thanks for that, il have a good sit down later and fill it out properly.
Did talk to my partner last night and said we really need to stop spending on things we don't need.
We've tried to balance the percentage we put in the joint account as obviously I earn a lot more but woth all my personal outgoings it's a bit tight on my side.
I don't necessarily worry about it but because shes on a lower wage I have to input more to balance it if that makes sense.
To be fair she hasn't got any real debt apart from her car loan but she does spend on things on amazon etc which we don't really need.
Tried talking to her about setting up different high interest accounts but she's the type that can't be bothered to have loads as it's too much hassle setting up standing orders etc etc.
I'm quite good at not spending on pointless stuff, yes food at work as before but I am addressing that, we have 1 takeaway a week now on a Tuesday which has helped cut down the outgoings more then I realised. Food is expensive lol.
I think maybe we've just stretched ourselves a little too much, our mortgage is quite high, 230k left over 29 1/2 years so once we remortgage in 2017 it will help a lot. I think the issue for me is getting out my overdraft. Before our mortgage I wasn't in it and only used it to clear my credit card at the time to help.
I'm slowly getting out of it as my pay is 4 weekly so rather then being around 2700 in it il be down to about 800 this month and then lower each month.
Hopefully that annual leave money will speed it up
Il get onto the soa when I get home from work.
Thanks all