23, IVA & just learning to budget

Rocketlolasaves

Hi all! I posted on the budgeting forum but was told here was probably best to post:

I've been reading this forum for a while never joined our posted. I'm 23. I have an Iva. I live on my own but have a lodger. 2 cats. I work full time have all my life and as my mother said I've been winging it all my life.

I've got this budget book from paper chase which made
Me realise I am out of control. I don't even know how someone gets paid 1600 and spends 1850 a month? I've took steps to try fix this. Stopped buying wine and smoking as I was spending £200 a month on cigarettes. What worries me is I have no savings. I have this Iva which in all fairness I only pay £70 a month on but how am I still screwed.

I wanted to upload a picture of my march budget my first one for reference but I can't. I just feel stuck. I feel like this is a late night rant but I'm consumed by it.

Serendipitious

Well first of all well done on stopping smoking. :j

That's an enormous boost to your budget and to your entire future. (40 years at £200/month is £96,000 at today's prices, and that's a house in some parts of the country.)

Someone will come along just now and give you a link for posting a budget.

But I had to stop by and say well done! :j

Rocketlolasaves

Thank you! You've just made my evening actually with the smallest comment of making me feel like I'm actually going to get out of this in a positive (providing I dont screw up majorly). I never thought of the amount in cigarettes I'd pay over a lifetime that's put a lot into perspective.

marcsshell

I second the well done on quitting smoking. The money you have saved as well as the benefits to your health WOW.

Don't be to hard on yourself. You are only young and have realised that you need to make some changes. That deserves a round of applause :T

Doing a SOA will really help people suggest ways in which you can make other savings.

johnac

This isn't an excuse for not budgeting but a trick I used to get me thinking about the money I had available without overspending.

From pay day (exclude all the money you've set aside for normal bills and savings) divide what you have left by the number of days until next payday.. that's your daily spend limit if you want to end the month without going over you can't spend over this (some days will be more some less but if it's roughly that each day you're ok)

If you start doing this and the daily rate is paltry then what can you cut out the cost of bills to increase what you have left to spend day to day.

If your daily rate is ok then what are you spending money on you don't need? And can cut out.

Do this calculation every evening... if the rate is going down think why, what did you buy you didn't need... what can you cut tomorrow to bring it back up.

I used to buy this, that and the other and wonder why there was no money left, you need to be on top of and aware of every penny going out and look for ways to minimise spend. Keeping a very close eye on you bank balance may help you.


Also well done on stopping smoking, I'm 5 weeks smoke free to save money. And you're 23 with a job, don't worry about not having savings but become stingey with every penny and it'll start to build.

sentientpoet

I will chip in and say congrats on taking a deep breath and saying you need to sort things out! You are young and there is time - once you start to figure out where the money is going you can start to take steps to change things. You will also feel a million times better just by taking control and not ignoring it. So take another deep breath - there's plenty of people on here who will be able to give great advice.

In the meantime, I think this is the SOA most recommend you fill in to repost here - select the MSE output option at the end.

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

zippygeorgeandben

Hey - you're so young yet owning up to responsibilities. This is SO fixable, believe me!

Rocketlolasaves

Thank you for all the support guys! I use this app called pennies alongside my budget book as the app allows me to track what i'm spending in my set up budgets alongside by budget book which tracks my spending throughout the month too.

Pennies allows me to see my daily amount available to spend by the days until the budget starts again so last night I was naughty and fed up and went to KFC totally £8 which came out of my "spare cash general crap" budget but left me -£1.28 for the day.

Rocketlolasaves

Here we go... I must add I get commission on top of my salary also but that's not guarenteed obviously so I don't count it. My IVA is £70 a month and was £12000 of debt now I can offer £3000 (Nov 2016) and be accepted apparently...

I also pay my mums phone bill and she pays me back what she owes within days of statement. Eg. This month her bill was £73

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1198
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 380
Total monthly income.................... 1578

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 535
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 109
Electricity............................. 43
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 54.03
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12.43
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40.2
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 11.47
Car Insurance........................... 42.63
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 29.95
Spotify................................. 9.99
IVA..................................... 70
Total monthly expenses.................. 1117.7


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1800

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Capital One....................198.23....6.6.......30.34
Vanqus.........................370.92....9.25......29.3
Total unsecured debts..........569.15....15.85.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,578
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,117.7
Available for debt repayments........... 460.3
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 15.85
Amount left after debt repayments....... 444.45

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,800
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -569.15
Net Assets.............................. 1,230.85

zippygeorgeandben

So am I right in thinking that you got paid today? Let's take it that your basic £1198 - what's the £380 for again?

Rocketlolasaves

I get paid the last Thursday of every month, this month I was paid on 23/02. The £380 is my friend staying with me and helping.