Just turned 30 and decided I need to sort my life out

Wannabehousebuyer

Hiiiiiiiii
Please be gentle, this is my first post  
Below is my SOA to give a little background

Household Information

Number of adults in household	3 but i am in house share so 1
Number of children in household	0
Number of cars owned	0

Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

Income	Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax	1600
Partners monthly income
Other income	166
Total monthly income	1766

Expenses	Amount(£)
Mortgage	0
Secured/HP loan payments	0
Rent	616
Management charge (leasehold property)	11.75
Council tax	0 inc in rent
Electricity	62
Gas	0
Oil	0
Water Rates	40
Telephone (land line)	0
Mobile phone	75
TV Licence	12.54
Satellite/Cable TV	0
Internet services	30
Groceries etc.	100
Clothing	0
Petrol/diesel	0
Road tax	0
Car Insurance	0
Car maintenance (including MOT)	0
Car Parking	0
Other travel	0
Childcare/nursery	0
Other child related expenses	0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)	0
Pet Insurance/Vet bills	0
Buildings Insurance	0
Contents Insurance	18.36
Life Assurance	0
Other Insurance	0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.)	0
Haircuts	0
Entertainment	0
Holiday	0
Emergency Fund	0
	TOTAL --------------------------------------------------------------965

DEBTS                          Amount                  Monthly payment                            APR
Barclaycard                375.77                                  20.00                                     30.81%
Aqua Card                   291.45                                  25.00                                     Cannot find on app but going to be high
Studio                         135.66                                   25.00                                      49.9%
Santander                    490.00                                  NIL                                            0%
Old Defaulted Car Ins    160.00                               NIL                                            0%
 Very (with collectors)  1733                           10.00                                         0%

TOTAL                                3185.88

Asset Description
Savings    £380
************************************************************************************************************************************************************

So.... here we go.... 
I have just turned 30, single, no children and i have had a heart attack- without boring you with details , im renting with two friends and my dog- ( I pay the bills and they pay me - if youre confused by the figures above. I want to start saving to buy a little shared ownership flat or such like - ideally will need £10-15k
My credit rating is poor from being stupid and being in a relationship with someone stupid and borrowing anything and everything - this is the last few bits to pay and ALOT of old defaults are now starting to drop off. etc. 

I have left a lot empty in the categories as i usually just tap or spend, I dont really know how much i should spend on things...... i am always running out of money and then shove on my credit card. 

BUT 
I now just want to grow up and get my ishhhhh shorted.  The 'savings' are a refund from the student loans company for over payment. I haven't touched it yet as I am not sure what to do with it. I get paid on the last working day and i have 211 in my account( after bills) and two weeks left to go. 
I am also worried they will find boyfriends and wanna move out leaving me on my own and no money to rent anywhere - let alone buy ( out contract runs out Jan 11th) we may stay another year - we have said we will decide in October. Ideally i would love to be buying my own place by then but very unachievable. 

I would love some advice on what you would do in my position, i read this forum so much that i think its all starting to scramble in my mind. 
Thank you in advance 

p.s - please be nice ! xxx

EimearF

Welcome to the forum!
Around £700 a month is going missing from your budget. Go through all your bank statements/ apps and see where it is going. 
Even factoring in a few hundred for other categories you should have enough to clear all your debts in 6 months. 
You dont have a lot of debt, so spending seems to be your issue. You need to be clear on what you are buying so that you can figure out how to make the changes you need. 

monetxchange

Is the SOA based on the full amount of your bills or a third of them? It's best to list your income and what you personally pay towards the bills, leave out what your house mates pay. So if a bill is £30 a month total, you put £10 on the SOA for example.

The reason I ask is the bills seem sky high if they've been divided by three. If that is what you pay each, you need to have a look at reducing usage and renegotiating things such as electricity, internet, contents insurance.

Your mobile is crazy but you probably know that. If you're stuck in a contract, make a note for its end date and get yourself on a cheap SIM only deal once it runs out. I pay £8 a month for 8gb data and unlimited calls and texts for example.

Another area I'd look at is the empty categories. You really NEVER spend a penny on holidays, haircuts, entertainment, having the odd drink out, any kind of travel whatsoever? I'd bet you do and this is where the debt had slowly creeped in. It's fine to spend - just needs to be realistically budgeted for and put aside for that purpose so you don't over spend.

Well done on writing it all down and coming here. That's the hardest part. You're in the right place and good luck on the next step of your journey 😊

Harlequinn87

Hi, i was just like you when i hit 30 and thought i really need to get a grip of everything as i was in 32k worth of debt!  I agree with the others above that you do need to go through all your expenses from the last couple of months to see where all the additonal costs are going. I found putting everything down in a monthly spreadsheet helped me... i know banking app's can show all this but i felt more in control of my spending even listing what physical cash i had as well as all the pennies matter. Some of your bills seem high but i'm assuming this is the overall cost with all 3 of you?  also assuming mobile is still in contract but like monetxchange has advised defo try and look into a sim only one when your contract is up. Now's the time to be frugal with your money.. i constantly had to say to myself do i actually need this or was it just the case of i just want it. 9 times out of 10 i didnt need it..lol plus its great that you have a goal in place to buy your own home, this is my current goal and i found it just makes you more determined to stay on course. Good luck on your debt free journey

fatbelly

I agree with both the above comments. I would add that any defaults on your file (it would appear that you have two) will drop off after 6 years. The key for you is not to add a third.

If you can control spending there is enough income to clear Bcard, Aqua and Studio very quickly, and that deals with your high-interest debts. Don't use those accounts again.  Killing off that interest would be a good use for your savings if you need to do that.

Wannabehousebuyer

thank you for all you comments- i will reply shortly - here is the info missing 

The addtional income of 166 is their contributions towards to bills - but here is mine below:

Income	Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax	1600
Partners monthly income
Other income	166
Total monthly income	1766

Expenses	Amount(£)
Rent	616
Management charge (leasehold property)	3.91
Council tax	0 inc in rent
Electricity	20.66
Gas	0
Oil	0
Water Rates	13.33
Telephone (land line)	0
Mobile phone	75
TV Licence	14.18
Satellite/Cable TV	0
Internet services	10
Groceries etc.	100
Clothing	0
Petrol/diesel	0
Road tax	0
Car Insurance	0
Car maintenance (including MOT)	0
Car Parking	0
Other travel	0
Childcare/nursery	0
Other child related expenses	0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)	0
Pet Insurance/Vet bills	0
Buildings Insurance	0
Contents Insurance	6.12
Life Assurance	0
Other Insurance	0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.)	0
Haircuts	0
Entertainment	0
Holiday	0
Emergency Fund	0
	TOTAL --------------------------------------------------------------859.20

1600- 859.20= 740.80 left.

I don't know how much i should be spedning on food shopping , going out, putting towards xmas etc. Can anyone give me a steer?

Wannabehousebuyer

EimearF said:

Welcome to the forum!
Around £700 a month is going missing from your budget. Go through all your bank statements/ apps and see where it is going. 
Even factoring in a few hundred for other categories you should have enough to clear all your debts in 6 months. 
You dont have a lot of debt, so spending seems to be your issue. You need to be clear on what you are buying so that you can figure out how to make the changes you need. 

Thank you for commenting- Hopefully this is shown better above now.
yes, 700 ish is left over - so at the moment im paying towards hen do's -( maybe getting a few refunds soon as we cant go) 
I've just given up smoking ( gave up for lent)  and was spending £10 a day so thats a bit chunk back. just not sure how to actually set up a budget and how much to allocate.

Wannabehousebuyer

monetxchange said:

Is the SOA based on the full amount of your bills or a third of them? It's best to list your income and what you personally pay towards the bills, leave out what your house mates pay. So if a bill is £30 a month total, you put £10 on the SOA for example.

The reason I ask is the bills seem sky high if they've been divided by three. If that is what you pay each, you need to have a look at reducing usage and renegotiating things such as electricity, internet, contents insurance.

Your mobile is crazy but you probably know that. If you're stuck in a contract, make a note for its end date and get yourself on a cheap SIM only deal once it runs out. I pay £8 a month for 8gb data and unlimited calls and texts for example.

Another area I'd look at is the empty categories. You really NEVER spend a penny on holidays, haircuts, entertainment, having the odd drink out, any kind of travel whatsoever? I'd bet you do and this is where the debt had slowly creeped in. It's fine to spend - just needs to be realistically budgeted for and put aside for that purpose so you don't over spend.

Well done on writing it all down and coming here. That's the hardest part. You're in the right place and good luck on the next step of your journey 😊

Thank you for commenting - this has now been changed above. 

Phone - yes - my contract ends december 2021 so miles away! im paying a hefty amount for the handset. 
I just don't know how much i should be 'putting aside' - i have put 100 for food shopping, but in reality its more than that as i know i need to cut back on the uver eats. 

Wannabehousebuyer

Harlequinn87 said:

Hi, i was just like you when i hit 30 and thought i really need to get a grip of everything as i was in 32k worth of debt!  I agree with the others above that you do need to go through all your expenses from the last couple of months to see where all the additonal costs are going. I found putting everything down in a monthly spreadsheet helped me... i know banking app's can show all this but i felt more in control of my spending even listing what physical cash i had as well as all the pennies matter. Some of your bills seem high but i'm assuming this is the overall cost with all 3 of you?  also assuming mobile is still in contract but like monetxchange has advised defo try and look into a sim only one when your contract is up. Now's the time to be frugal with your money.. i constantly had to say to myself do i actually need this or was it just the case of i just want it. 9 times out of 10 i didnt need it..lol plus its great that you have a goal in place to buy your own home, this is my current goal and i found it just makes you more determined to stay on course. Good luck on your debt free journey

Thank you for commenting  
yes i jst need to sort my life out haha! i am trying to see the current covid 19 situation as a great way to actually stop spending however that isnt going to plan, so this morning i woke up and decided to do something about it.  

Wannabehousebuyer

fatbelly said:

I agree with both the above comments. I would add that any defaults on your file (it would appear that you have two) will drop off after 6 years. The key for you is not to add a third.

If you can control spending there is enough income to clear Bcard, Aqua and Studio very quickly, and that deals with your high-interest debts. Don't use those accounts again.  Killing off that interest would be a good use for your savings if you need to do that.

Thank you for the comment

I have 12 defaults in total- the only default above is the very one. most of them will fall off over next year however the very one was only made last year so will be there for a while.  Should i use the £400 ish, cash i have to pay off one of the debts? Or shall i keep this aside for a rainy day?

TripleH

The best advice I can give is :
1. Stop living your life to impress others, live your life for you
2. To help you get into budgeting, meal plan, start making shopping lists AND stick to them
3. Find fun ways to entertain yourself but that don't cost the earth, boredom can lead to failure (your dog can help you a lot with this).
4. Factor in little rewards for yourself for achieving (don't have to be expensive) but that you feel you are always working towards something.
5. Any change is good, this is a marathon not a sprint, don't feel you have to change everything overnight.