Huge Overspend

MrsSave

Oh, and I'd open a separate current or savings account to transfer the money for the car, holiday, gifts, etc. into each month so that it isn't spent on other things.

Feral_Moon

MrsSave wrote: »

Oh, and I'd open a separate current or savings account to transfer the money for the car, holiday, gifts, etc. into each month so that it isn't spent on other things.

I do have a savings account attached to my TSB account (the one I'll be using for monthly spending) so I'll transfer funds for the car & gifts etc into there along with any cash I might have left each month out of my £400 budget. It will be good to see some savings building again as I've completely emptied the account paying off the overspends each month.

Puddylove

Hi again
Your dog looks lovely - and I always wondered where roadkill disappeared to! :rotfl:
That new SOA looks much better - and I hope my comments earlier didn't offend.
Regarding saving for specific things, I use separate savings accounts for each pot so I don't get confused (or tempted to divert the money).
For small things I have accounts off my bank's current account - for bigger things I try to get the best interest rate.

datlex

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Due to a change in circumstances What is the change?

The £600 is a miscellaneous amount You clearly are not keeping a record or note of what you spend
My income isn't going to increase in the foreseeable future so something drastic needs to change. I haven't had a pay rise for 4 years and I was in debt then am not now so you can get out and build up savings

What would you do in my situation?
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1318
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1318

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 77
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 11
Electricity............................. 37this seems high to me. Can you look at turning off devices when not in use. Switch off items at night too.
Gas..................................... 30 again this is high, turn down heating a degree, if you have a boiler with the ability to set to come on at multiple times, when you have it on turn it off for 15 minutes out of every hour. i.e. 45 mins on 15 off. The temperature won't drop noticeably and you use less gas during that time
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20 seems quite high, simple changes here can make a difference, full load in washing machine, waiting until you have a full load to wash, use the loo whilst you are out (e.g. at the supermarket), shorter showers
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 46
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
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...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 12
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 40
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Window Cleaner.......................... 7
Student Loan............................ 5 if your income is below a certain threshold, you don't need to pay your Student Loan apply for a deferment
National Trust.......................... 5
Dog Food................................ 100 very high shop around for better prices. Also you don't have pet insurance
Total monthly expenses.................. 929


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds Advance.................8465......250........0
MBNA...........................5735......100.......4.9
Tesco Clubcard.................3990......150........0
Barclaycard....................600.......600.......0
Very...........................773.......65........0
Argos..........................347.......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........19910.....1195......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,318
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 929
Available for debt repayments........... 389
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,195
Amount short for making debt repayments. -806

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,910
Net Assets.............................. -19,910

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

I have put my thoughts above, you can reduce your bills.

enthusiasticsaver

The new soa looks much better. I do agree that overpaying the debts where you can afford to makes sense if it is all at 0% and you understandably want to avoid paying interest. If you get a handle on this now before the debt goes higher it is fixable by sticking to your new budget. Make a note of when the 0% deals finish and apply to balance transfer then to avoid paying interest if you can.

Lovely dog. I love German Shepherds.

Feral_Moon

Puddylove wrote: »

Hi again
Your dog looks lovely - and I always wondered where roadkill disappeared to! :rotfl:
That new SOA looks much better - and I hope my comments earlier didn't offend.
Regarding saving for specific things, I use separate savings accounts for each pot so I don't get confused (or tempted to divert the money).
For small things I have accounts off my bank's current account - for bigger things I try to get the best interest rate.

Thank you, he is my life And no, I haven't been offended by anything you or others have said. I needed to hear the criticisms as well as advice. I need a wake up call before I go beyond the point of no return.

I'm under no illusion this will be an easy ride though and it's going to be tough not being able to just go online and buy anything I want. Maybe the decluttering and selling off items I don't need might spur me on, especially once I see money coming back in.

I won't have enough savings to go chasing the higher interest rates for a while. The TSB one was previously the best (5%) but they reduced it at the start of the year and since then my savings have been swallowed up paying off the spending card each month. If I know the savings are for something specific, I'm pretty good at not diverting them elsewhere.

haras_nosirrah

you seem like you have a slightly addictive personality (the shopping and the drink) and also want to clear your debts as fast as possible.

I am the same - I had 13k in credit card debts 4 years ago. Now am debt free. I became addicted to overpaying. On my food receipts where it says 'you have saved £5.13' or whatever - i used to overpay to a card, anything I sold on ebay - overpay a card, did a mystery shop - overpay credit card. I used to wlithdraw my monthly grocery allowance I set myself (£250 for 2 adults and 2 children) and anything left in the envelope went off the credit card. I made it a personal challenge. maybe once you have got some control you could do something similar - any extra money from saving or selling can go off the card where the 0% finishes first.

I am now overpaying the mortgage instead

Debtslayer

Perhaps you could do some online surveys to bring in some extra money?
Every little helps X

Feral_Moon

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

you seem like you have a slightly addictive personality (the shopping and the drink) and also want to clear your debts as fast as possible.

I am the same - I had 13k in credit card debts 4 years ago. Now am debt free. I became addicted to overpaying. On my food receipts where it says 'you have saved £5.13' or whatever - i used to overpay to a card, anything I sold on ebay - overpay a card, did a mystery shop - overpay credit card. I used to wlithdraw my monthly grocery allowance I set myself (£250 for 2 adults and 2 children) and anything left in the envelope went off the credit card. I made it a personal challenge. maybe once you have got some control you could do something similar - any extra money from saving or selling can go off the card where the 0% finishes first.

I am now overpaying the mortgage instead

Haha you've got me totally sussed! :rotfl:

Yes, I do have an addictive personality and being bipolar, I'm often impulsive and reckless. I will need to find something to replace the shopping and booze but hopefully something positive rather than destructive. Setting myself a target each month to save X amount and raise X amount through selling stuff would certainly be a challenge I'd enjoy

Feral_Moon

I've just requested a return authorisation for over £200 worth of goods I've bought from Amazon this month, none of which have even been taken out of the packaging yet. This will be refunded to my credit card so that will reduce the amount owing on next month's statement.