Financial Help/Advice

Potbellypig

Is the car yours after you finished paying the HP, or have you got to give it back? If it's yours, then work out how much you could sell it for if you paid off the remaining £1700 now. Then buy a cheaper car. Could easily be a couple of grand to your cards and £200 extra a month straight away.

EssexHebridean

Usual, comments in red...

Dorbs wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 500 OK this is just what your partner pays towards your rent & living expenses, yes? In which case you should only be accounting for a single car within the SOA I imagine as I imagine that they pay their own car expenses?
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2800

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 197
Rent.................................... 600
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 140
Electricity............................. 66 Check you're on the best tariff you can get.
No gas so I assume you heat via storage heaters? If so if you haven't already do a lot of reading about Economy 7 electricity and how it works, and also how to get the best from your heaters.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24
Telephone (land line)................... 48 Even if this includes internet you're paying a lot more than you need to here - shop about a bit.
Mobile phone............................ 0 No mobile? Pretty unusual these days but fair enough.
TV Licence.............................. 11 How so? It's usually in the region of £12.37 a month?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45 You can batter this down a bit by haggling/moving supplier - £90 for TV/Phone/Internet is pretty high.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 Is this just your share or the full cost each month? If the former then that's seriously high.
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 11 Do you actually pay this monthly? If so you're overpaying and with your income you should just pay annually and avoid the loading for monthly DD.
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40 Does this really cover everything?
I bet tyres for an Audi aren't cheap for a start...think MoT Test, annual service, a proportion towards things like tyres and wiper blades, screenwash, and incidentals like the occasional blown bulb etc.
Car parking............................. 10 Park a little further away and reap the benefits of a walk?
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 Tsk. Get this sorted as a priority.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10 Is this realistic?
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0 Oh stop it - we both know this is nonsense,
don't we! :rotfl:
Holiday................................. 0 You don;t go on holiday at all? Not even a cheeky weekend city break here and there?
Emergency fund.......................... 0 You might want to think about adding to your savings by putting aside something in this category each month
Total monthly expenses.................. 1519


Assets
Cash.................................... 3500 Is this where the money you save towards car expenses ends up?
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 7500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1700.....(197)......0 0% interest? Really?
Total secured & HP debts...... 1700......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card 1..................6700......70........21.07 OK I'm confused - you said in your OP that these were 0% cards?
Credit Card 2..................5500......80........19.09
Total unsecured debts..........12200.....150.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,800
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,519
Available for debt repayments........... 1,281
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 150
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,131 This is a fantastic surplus -
what are you doing with it as clearly you're not either paying it off debt or saving it... ?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 7,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -1,700
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,200
Net Assets.............................. -6,400

OK - you're showing an annual surplus of over £13,000 - that's quite a lot of money in relation to the level of debt you have - in fact, that confirms that you could pretty much be debt free in a year if you want to be?

First job is to track down that surplus - you know and I know that currently it's getting frittered on all sorts of nonsense - that non-existent entertainment budget is seeing off a lot of it I'd guess. Start a spending diary so you can actually see where your money is going.

There is a good, solid reason why we always tell people to make their SOA as accurate to their current Situation as they possibly can - it means you can see with a degree of honesty where you're going wrong, and you can also track your progress in terms of putting things right. An aspirational SOA is pretty pointless as a starting place, so you might want to go back over your bank statements for 6 months and work out what you've forgotten and do the SOA again but make it accurate - that will also help you get a clearer picture of what habits you need to change.

Think about the things you've said you account monthly too - do you get a haircut once a month that costs you £5? Or is it less often and costs more, in which case start actually setting aside the money you state as being set aside towards haircuts. Similarly with car expenses - there is no sense the SOA claiming you set aside for them monthly if in fact you don't - it just skews things. Maybe start up a new savings account for annual expenses and budget to save money specifically into there? You could do the same for presents too.

Personally if the car finance allows it, I'd use a chunk of the savings and get that gone, then throw the £200 you're currently parting with there, plus a chunk of the surplus (at least £500 - ideally more) to whichever of the credit cards has it's 0% deal ending first (if they ARE actually on 0% currently - the one with the highest interest rate otherwise.) The more you can throw at the cards, the better, and the more likely you are to get them clear before paying any interest.

Dorbs

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Usual, comments in red...




OK - you're showing an annual surplus of over £13,000 - that's quite a lot of money in relation to the level of debt you have - in fact, that confirms that you could pretty much be debt free in a year if you want to be?

First job is to track down that surplus - you know and I know that currently it's getting frittered on all sorts of nonsense - that non-existent entertainment budget is seeing off a lot of it I'd guess. Start a spending diary so you can actually see where your money is going.

There is a good, solid reason why we always tell people to make their SOA as accurate to their current Situation as they possibly can - it means you can see with a degree of honesty where you're going wrong, and you can also track your progress in terms of putting things right. An aspirational SOA is pretty pointless as a starting place, so you might want to go back over your bank statements for 6 months and work out what you've forgotten and do the SOA again but make it accurate - that will also help you get a clearer picture of what habits you need to change.

Think about the things you've said you account monthly too - do you get a haircut once a month that costs you £5? Or is it less often and costs more, in which case start actually setting aside the money you state as being set aside towards haircuts. Similarly with car expenses - there is no sense the SOA claiming you set aside for them monthly if in fact you don't - it just skews things. Maybe start up a new savings account for annual expenses and budget to save money specifically into there? You could do the same for presents too.

Personally if the car finance allows it, I'd use a chunk of the savings and get that gone, then throw the £200 you're currently parting with there, plus a chunk of the surplus (at least £500 - ideally more) to whichever of the credit cards has it's 0% deal ending first (if they ARE actually on 0% currently - the one with the highest interest rate otherwise.) The more you can throw at the cards, the better, and the more likely you are to get them clear before paying any interest.

Will address the comments in red first -

1. Yes the 500 is towards rent and living expenses, so her 500 covers basically half of the rent, electricity and gas, council tax, sky, tv license and i get the food too.
2. I listed the 66 as just electricity but I pay a joint fee for gas and elec through EDF.
3. The 48 covers telephone, line rental and high speed fibre. Work do actually pay towards this with 33(before tax) in my payslip, but agreed it is high, i'm trying to get it down but i'm in a contract.
4. Mobile is provided by work so no cost there
5. Sorry, i've gone approximate on some answers so 12.37 is probably correct, i just went from memory on that one.
6. This is for Sky, and i've got an offer on this for 12 months to get it down to this level. We're both sport fans in the house which is where the main cost comes from.
7. Will address the food bit at the end of this
8. I will do that with the road tax, I didn't realise it was a lot cheaper via annual, but will do that when it's up for renewal!
9. I've put parking costs in there as a tenner for just covering things like days out when we need to park somewhere (visiting a market etc).
10. Presents is unrealistic yeah, Let's say 25 per niece/nephew(x5), 10er on brothers and sisters in laws, 20 on mum and dad, and 200 on girlfriend. x2 to include the same at Xmas and I think it's more like 800.
11. I can't actually find the interest rate on the car, I'll dig that out. The annual rate on the cards is for purchases.

Yes on entertainment I definitely do spend a lot, in fact with groceries combined (non weekly food shop) it's the bulk of my spend, which is where I need to cut down. Quick Sainsburys trips for a missing ingredient turn into buying 10 items, meals out, things like the football once in a while as well.

I keep a monthly spreadsheet with an overall view of my finances and how much I have to spend, and based on a monthly income of 2300+500, after bills and budgeting 200 a month on food, it leaves me with around 1200, so clearly I can save a lot more than I do.

My girlfriend only actually moved in a couple of months ago so this is what has prodded me to take action with this spending because even now, i'm struggling to put 500 away when it should realistically have been closer to 1k.

I've got my girlfriends birthday, anniversary, and Christmas coming up plus MOT due, Pet's vaccinations, two pre-planned trips to the football and a birthday meal so November/December might be difficult but going into January I want to really get this under control and stop going crazy with the spending.

Dorbs

sm_1988 wrote: »

Out of curiosity why does your partner give you £500 if your rent is only £600?

I thought 500 was steep myself, but she insisted on that. It basically covers just under half of our monthly bills, including food, so I pay for the food shop.

It's payday on the 18th November, so a spend diary is a great idea. I could also add up this months spends from my natwest statements and show those to you too if that would help?

Dobbibill

Dorbs wrote: »

The annual rate on the cards is for purchases.

Try and avoid putting purchases on *any Credit Cards that carry a BT balance.
You won't pay interest on just the BT if they are on a zero % offer.

*There are a few that are the exception.

Dorbs

Not sure what the best way to format this is, will just paste it in here.

08-Nov-17 D/D TV LICENCE MBP - 12.37 TV License
08-Nov-17 D/D SKY DIGITAL - 46.75 Sky
07-Nov-17 POS GAMBLING - 5 Entertainment
07-Nov-17 POS SUPERMARKET - 24.25 Food
07-Nov-17 POS GOURMET BURGER KIT - 24.45 Food
06-Nov-17 ATM HALIFAX ATM - 30 Cash - Entertainment
06-Nov-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 1.34 Car - Parking
06-Nov-17 POS PRET A MANGER - 3.99 Food
06-Nov-17 POS SAINSBURYS PETROL - 20 Diesel
06-Nov-17 POS SHOP - 5.69 Food
06-Nov-17 POS HOTEL CHOCOLAT - 15 Food
06-Nov-17 POS PIZZA EXPRESS - 25.75 Food
06-Nov-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 2.24 Car - Parking
06-Nov-17 OTR SAVINGS - 500 Savings
06-Nov-17 BAC RENT 500 - Income - Rent from Partner
03-Nov-17 D/D CAMELOT LOTTERY - 8 Lottery
03-Nov-17 D/D VWFS UK LIMITED - 197.8 Car Finance
03-Nov-17 ATM SAINSBURYS B 03NOV - 40 Cash - Entertainment
02-Nov-17 D/D ROYAL&SUNALLIANCE - 16.66 Pet Insurance
02-Nov-17 POS SAINSBURYS S/MKTS - 17.59 Food
02-Nov-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 1.04 Car - Parking
01-Nov-17 D/D WATER BILLS - 24 Water
01-Nov-17 D/D COUNCIL TAX - 140.98 Council Tax
01-Nov-17 D/D DVLA - 11.37 Car Tax
01-Nov-17 D/D HASTINGS INSURANCE - 21.33 Car Insurance
01-Nov-17 POS SAINSBURYS PETROL - 21.08 Diesel
01-Nov-17 POS GREGGS PLC - 2 Food
01-Nov-17 POS SAINSBURYS S/MKTS - 8 Food
01-Nov-17 POS SPECSAVERS - 45 Contact Lenses - Required
01-Nov-17 POS ITUNES.COM/BILL - 4.99 Entertainment
31-Oct-17 D/D MBNA LIMITED - 84.49 Credit Card
30-Oct-17 POS COSTA COFFEE - 4.75 Food
30-Oct-17 POS SKYBET - 5 Entertainment
30-Oct-17 POS HOME BARGAINS - 16.4 Food
30-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURYS S/MKTS - 11.5 Food
30-Oct-17 POS TESCO - 4.2 Food
30-Oct-17 POS TESCO - 9.2 Food
30-Oct-17 POS SKYBET - 5 Entertainment
30-Oct-17 POS LANTOKAY - 11.95 Food
30-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURYS S/MKTS - 35.2 Food
27-Oct-17 POS COSTA COFFEE - 9.5 Food
27-Oct-17 POS RUGBY TICKETS - 175.5 Birthday Present
27-Oct-17 POS STRAVACOM - 3.99 Entertainment
26-Oct-17 POS CAR PARK - 9.9 Car - Parking
26-Oct-17 POS POST OFFICE - 21.2 Entertainment
25-Oct-17 POS SPECSAVERS - 99 Glasses - Required
25-Oct-17 POS PRET A MANGER - 9.75 Food
25-Oct-17 OTR FOOTBALL - 70 Football Tickets
24-Oct-17 D/D VIRGIN MONEY CC - 68.29 Credit Card
24-Oct-17 POS TESCO - 5.5 Food
24-Oct-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 1.04 Car - Parking
23-Oct-17 D/D EDF ENERGY - 66 Electricity and Gas
23-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURY'S S/MKT - 36.4 Food
23-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURY'S S/MKT - 8.5 Food
23-Oct-17 POS LANTOKAY - 5 Food
23-Oct-17 POS LIDL UK - 40.68 Food
23-Oct-17 POS LANTOKAY - 16.85 Food
23-Oct-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 1.04 Car - Parking
23-Oct-17 POS LIDL UK - 5.29 Food
23-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURYS PETROL - 20.19 Car - Diesel
23-Oct-17 POS ITUNES - 0.79 Itunes Cloud Storage
20-Oct-17 D/D PAYPAL - 6.36 Entertainment
20-Oct-17 OTR FOOTBALL - 130 Football Tickets
20-Oct-17 BAC WAGES 2,523.32 -

I can see that the obvious problem here is i've spent over 350 pounds on food/eating out in the 3 weeks since i've been paid. Another food shop to come before payday means ill rack up probably 400 in a month, 100 a week on two people. That's awful!

Dobbibill

It's good that you've pulled the detail from your statement - a SOA is always a working progress.

You've already found a discrepancy in the food, I can several payments for itunes, sky bet and football tickets that would fit into the Entertainment category.

You've also got payments for glasses and contact lenses - these need to be included on the SOA. If they are annually then divide it by 12 and put that much away ready for them.

Another thing I noticed is pet insurance - I didn't see this on the SOA earlier.

Your BGC (which I'm guessing is your wages is higher than detailed in the SOA)

Be absolutely brutal with yourself - if you spend it then account for it.

Give every penny a job to do - whether that job is a bill, a CC payment, a coffee or savings - it needs to be allocated.

This is definitely do-able - brace yourself for some changes though

Dorbs

Dobbibill wrote: »

It's good that you've pulled the detail from your statement - a SOA is always a working progress.

You've already found a discrepancy in the food, I can several payments for itunes, sky bet and football tickets that would fit into the Entertainment category.

You've also got payments for glasses and contact lenses - these need to be included on the SOA. If they are annually then divide it by 12 and put that much away ready for them.

Another thing I noticed is pet insurance - I didn't see this on the SOA earlier.

Your BGC (which I'm guessing is your wages is higher than detailed in the SOA)

Be absolutely brutal with yourself - if you spend it then account for it.

Give every penny a job to do - whether that job is a bill, a CC payment, a coffee or savings - it needs to be allocated.

This is definitely do-able - brace yourself for some changes though

Thanks! Because I do overnight callouts, my pay will fluctuate. The lowest it usually goes is 2300, but it's been up around 25 or 27 before. Last month was a good pay packet.

I'll get to work on the SOA...

EssexHebridean

Dorbs wrote: »

Not sure what the best way to format this is, will just paste it in here.

08-Nov-17 D/D TV LICENCE MBP - 12.37 TV License
08-Nov-17 D/D SKY DIGITAL - 46.75 Sky
07-Nov-17 POS GAMBLING - 5 Entertainment
07-Nov-17 POS SUPERMARKET - 24.25 Food
07-Nov-17 POS GOURMET BURGER KIT - 24.45 Food
06-Nov-17 ATM HALIFAX ATM - 30 Cash - Entertainment
06-Nov-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 1.34 Car - Parking
06-Nov-17 POS PRET A MANGER - 3.99 Food
06-Nov-17 POS SAINSBURYS PETROL - 20 Diesel
06-Nov-17 POS SHOP - 5.69 Food
06-Nov-17 POS HOTEL CHOCOLAT - 15 Food
06-Nov-17 POS PIZZA EXPRESS - 25.75 Food
06-Nov-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 2.24 Car - Parking
06-Nov-17 OTR SAVINGS - 500 Savings
06-Nov-17 BAC RENT 500 - Income - Rent from Partner
03-Nov-17 D/D CAMELOT LOTTERY - 8 Lottery
03-Nov-17 D/D VWFS UK LIMITED - 197.8 Car Finance
03-Nov-17 ATM SAINSBURYS B 03NOV - 40 Cash - Entertainment
02-Nov-17 D/D ROYAL&SUNALLIANCE - 16.66 Pet Insurance
02-Nov-17 POS SAINSBURYS S/MKTS - 17.59 Food
02-Nov-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 1.04 Car - Parking
01-Nov-17 D/D WATER BILLS - 24 Water
01-Nov-17 D/D COUNCIL TAX - 140.98 Council Tax
01-Nov-17 D/D DVLA - 11.37 Car Tax
01-Nov-17 D/D HASTINGS INSURANCE - 21.33 Car Insurance
01-Nov-17 POS SAINSBURYS PETROL - 21.08 Diesel
01-Nov-17 POS GREGGS PLC - 2 Food
01-Nov-17 POS SAINSBURYS S/MKTS - 8 Food
01-Nov-17 POS SPECSAVERS - 45 Contact Lenses - Required
01-Nov-17 POS ITUNES.COM/BILL - 4.99 Entertainment
31-Oct-17 D/D MBNA LIMITED - 84.49 Credit Card
30-Oct-17 POS COSTA COFFEE - 4.75 Food
30-Oct-17 POS SKYBET - 5 Entertainment
30-Oct-17 POS HOME BARGAINS - 16.4 Food
30-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURYS S/MKTS - 11.5 Food
30-Oct-17 POS TESCO - 4.2 Food
30-Oct-17 POS TESCO - 9.2 Food
30-Oct-17 POS SKYBET - 5 Entertainment
30-Oct-17 POS LANTOKAY - 11.95 Food
30-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURYS S/MKTS - 35.2 Food
27-Oct-17 POS COSTA COFFEE - 9.5 Food
27-Oct-17 POS RUGBY TICKETS - 175.5 Birthday Present
27-Oct-17 POS STRAVACOM - 3.99 Entertainment
26-Oct-17 POS CAR PARK - 9.9 Car - Parking
26-Oct-17 POS POST OFFICE - 21.2 Entertainment
25-Oct-17 POS SPECSAVERS - 99 Glasses - Required
25-Oct-17 POS PRET A MANGER - 9.75 Food
25-Oct-17 OTR FOOTBALL - 70 Football Tickets
24-Oct-17 D/D VIRGIN MONEY CC - 68.29 Credit Card
24-Oct-17 POS TESCO - 5.5 Food
24-Oct-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 1.04 Car - Parking
23-Oct-17 D/D EDF ENERGY - 66 Electricity and Gas
23-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURY'S S/MKT - 36.4 Food
23-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURY'S S/MKT - 8.5 Food
23-Oct-17 POS LANTOKAY - 5 Food
23-Oct-17 POS LIDL UK - 40.68 Food
23-Oct-17 POS LANTOKAY - 16.85 Food
23-Oct-17 POS PHONE AND PAY - 1.04 Car - Parking
23-Oct-17 POS LIDL UK - 5.29 Food
23-Oct-17 POS SAINSBURYS PETROL - 20.19 Car - Diesel
23-Oct-17 POS ITUNES - 0.79 Itunes Cloud Storage
20-Oct-17 D/D PAYPAL - 6.36 Entertainment
20-Oct-17 OTR FOOTBALL - 130 Football Tickets
20-Oct-17 BAC WAGES 2,523.32 -

I can see that the obvious problem here is i've spent over 350 pounds on food/eating out in the 3 weeks since i've been paid. Another food shop to come before payday means ill rack up probably 400 in a month, 100 a week on two people. That's awful!

Well that was enlightening, wasn't it!! Just goes to show when you actually do it properly how much difference it makes.

At a glance I spotted the food thing that you've commented on.
Also diesel is higher than you have accounted in the SOA
A single item there attributed to presents is higher than your original SOA had your entire budget for the year...
Entertainment is astronomical - £330 in a month? Not bad for someone who put Zero in their SOA under that category huh?

You're absolutely right to budget with your income standing as low as it goes - but remember on the months it's higher to set that extra aside to either pay off debt or go into savings rather than just thinking "woo hoo! Spare cash!"

Dorbs

Wow.....Going through it for the previous month when I had a bigger pay packet, and the outgoings on food in one month (eating out, takeaways, meeting friends, food shops) totalled just under 585 pounds....that is staggeringly bad.

Feel a bit ashamed that i've wasted that amount