Moving out and hope I can afford it all

loey93

I would say that £116 a month is not very much left over, especially if you think of it on a weekly basis - you basically have £3 a day to play with. Reality is a harsh mistress and will throw unpleasantly expensive things at you on an intermittent but annoyingly frequent basis.

Consider getting a SIM-only phone contract - this will easily cut £45 in half. Also £83 on a holiday? Sorry, but I think that's a luxury you can't afford right now. Just these two items would release another £100 a month, which would be very handy indeed!

I thought £116.00 was OK as I have allocated all monies, so this can just be used to help pay my debts off maybe?

My phone contract is due up in September so I will be getting a sim only contract, just checked and giffgaff is £20.00 a month

Yes I suppose I need to face reality that a holiday probably isn't going to happen for a while. My grandparents live in Spain so I might just have a cheap getaway there instead as I'll only have to pay for flights and some spending money.

artyclarty

The one thing that sticks out to me is council tax.
My band A property is somewhere in the region of £1200 a year so £100 a month that or £120 for 10 months and jan/feb payment break, nice for building up some savings after christmas! This is one of the cheapest councils in the country so I would double check your council tax liability.

It does confuse me that you do these calculations just based on you if you are going into this as a couple. I was in a similar situation and my partner lost his job making it very tough. I will be totally honest with you; our relationship nearly didn't make it as eating beans on toast for nearly 6 months and him always being around moping about being unemployed was stressful.

I may be way off base here so I apologise if this is not relevant. If there are two of you paying the bills though this should be easily doable.

I have to say, it is refreshing to see a young person with their head screwed on right for once. You are definitely heading in the right direction.

Good luck!

loey93

I'd suggest that you look at your credit cards - on the Barclaycard, you owe £1,500 and are only paying £40 a month. Even interest free, that will take you 37 months to clear. I'd be surprised if your interest free period is as long as that, so think about increasing the monthly amount so the debt is clear by the time the interest free period ends (or put enough into savings to allow you to clear the debt in a lump sum when the interest free period ends) Same with the Ikano - that will take you 22 months to clear - how long is your interest free period?

Yes both are 0%. Ikano was a interest free sofa I got on finance 2 years ago. Barclaycard is 0% for 36 months. Believe it or not I have a really good credit rating as I have never missed a payment and I have had loans/credit cards in the past and always paid them off. Hence why I am able to get 0% deals.

Once you have cleared your debts, think about a pension, too - you don't seem to have any pension contributions on your list.

I contribute 3% of my wage to a pension pot and my employer matches this. I have just not included it on this. This is just my take home salary

loey93

The one thing that sticks out to me is council tax.
My band A property is somewhere in the region of £1200 a year so £100 a month that or £120 for 10 months and jan/feb payment break, nice for building up some savings after christmas! This is one of the cheapest councils in the country so I would double check your council tax liability.

Yes £60.00 a month each, £120 in total

It does confuse me that you do these calculations just based on you if you are going into this as a couple. I was in a similar situation and my partner lost his job making it very tough. I will be totally honest with you; our relationship nearly didn't make it as eating beans on toast for nearly 6 months and him always being around moping about being unemployed was stressful.

I know it is quite confusing. I think we are going to set up a joint account for all household bills, rent etc. Oh really sorry to hear that. At least you managed to sort things out. My other half is self employed so this worries me a bit as one month he might earn a decent wack and the next month its next to nothing.

loey93

You don't earn enough to have £1000 holidays and that car. Because of the car payments until 2021 you are going to have to go without other things. A holiday is a luxury it isn't something you need it comes under something you want. Find a cheaper way of going on holiday or don't go away have holidays at home.

Yes I think I'll just be going to visit my grandparents in Spain for the next few years. Flights and spending money should cost me no more than £300

You don't have anything down for dentist charges. I assume that you do go to the dentist?

I haven't been to the dentist for years, If I have a problem with my teeth I'll go then.

The emergency fund is too small. It needs to be a minimum of £100 per month. At the moment you are not saving enough to pay for a new car tyre. You say car maintenance is included. Does this include parts or just servicing? What happens if you need a new exhaust system for example?

OK I suppose I can up this a bit. For the time being I am going to struggle to save £100.00 a month on an emergency fund, I think I'd rather put that towards paying my barclaycard off. All maintenance is included, the car is brand new and under warranty for 5 years. Only thing I pay for is damage or tyres.

Jakg

Sorry to jump on the boat of negativity, but...

Your moving out, with a dog. What happens to the dog when your at work, do you need a dog walker?
What about medicines etc for the dog (flea treatment, worming tablets, the odd vet visit that isn't worth claiming for?
You've acknowledges the pet insurance is too cheap - but what about it increases next year (as it will every year the dog gets older).

What about the one-off moving costs - tenancy setup fees, rent deposit, post redirection etc.

The reality is that £100 a month spare isn't really spare at all, once you think about "assorted living costs" such as a new phone charger, AA batteries, dog toys etc that individually are infrequent.

Candyapple

loey93 wrote: »

My other half is self employed so this worries me a bit as one month he might earn a decent wack and the next month its next to nothing.

If he is on a lean month and earns next to nothing, does he have any savings in place to cover his side of the rent and bills?

Otherwise the onus would be on you to cover everything out of your wage. Be careful as you may end up in a situation whereby your partner owes you money every month and will be playing catch up for a long time unless he manages to increase and maintain his business.

loey93

Your moving out, with a dog. What happens to the dog when your at work, do you need a dog walker?
What about medicines etc for the dog (flea treatment, worming tablets, the odd vet visit that isn't worth claiming for?
You've acknowledges the pet insurance is too cheap - but what about it increases next year (as it will every year the dog gets older).

I work relatively close to where I'll be living so I will go back on my lunch break to let her out etc. on the days that I'm working away my boyfriend said he will pay for a dog walker or she can go to my mums for the day. vaccinations is £20 a year + worming etc an extra £15.00. I'll be double checking the insurance later today

What about the one-off moving costs - tenancy setup fees, rent deposit, post redirection etc.

Already sorted all of that

The reality is that £100 a month spare isn't really spare at all, once you think about "assorted living costs" such as a new phone charger, AA batteries, dog toys etc that individually are infrequent.

I know I am really concerned that it is not going to be enough especially considering the amount I spend at the minute. However I can't live at home forever so I'll just have to be frugal.

loey93

If he is on a lean month and earns next to nothing, does he have any savings in place to cover his side of the rent and bills?

Otherwise the onus would be on you to cover everything out of your wage. Be careful as you may end up in a situation whereby your partner owes you money every month and will be playing catch up for a long time unless he manages to increase and maintain his business.

Yes he has savings. He set up his business a year ago. He pays himself £1000 a month, but the months he is earning more he takes out a "bonus". I.e one month he will pay himself the basic salary £1000, the month after he could take out up to £5000

suki1964

loey93 wrote: »

Yes he has savings. He set up his business a year ago. He pays himself £1000 a month, but the months he is earning more he takes out a "bonus". I.e one month he will pay himself the basic salary £1000, the month after he could take out up to £5000

I'm back again

Good to see that you are looking at the pet insurance, that's also very cheap for worming and flea treatment

The self employed boyfriend, this is going to be a problem, sorry

£1000 a month, is that really enough for him to pay his share of the bills and day to day living, and leave him with spending money?

When he decides to pay himself a bonus, where does the other £4K go?

When me and Mr Suki decided to buy a house together, although he was earning fantastic money, we chose to buy only what could be afforded on my wage. Meant we bought a tiny doer upper but back then, mortgage rates were high, and whilst he was earning high, he only needed to break a bone and that was it, no work, no money , no benefits

And it was wise planning, recession came along and his earnings plummeted. We got through because we weren't over spent. Another rescission, this time he was barely finding work, once again we survived because we hadn't over stretched , luckily this past recession we were mortgage free so managed when he had no work for months

I don't want to rain on your parade, but these are things you have to think about because as you say you are a big spender and his wages are not reliable.

Already you can see that money in reality is very tight for you, with very little in the way of disposable income. Living on credit isn't ever a good idea. Is your car bought on one of these pay X amount for X years and a lump sum at the end? If so hand it back now. You will never save the lump sum to keep it and you won't have enough saved to put towards a new contract to keep the payments low

You can hand them back and walk away, go read the motoring forums where it's explained