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

Wannabehousebuyer

katsu said:

Good luck in your decisions.  I would suggest you take some time to think about maybe making some money towards your expenses from survey sites and how you can switch to saving up for things. I hope my few comments are helpful.  Keep posting and let us know how your new budget works out!

Thank you. Ooooh this sounds interesting - i might have to do some research on how i can do this - any advice is very welcome- thank you!!!! xx

katsu

You can look up surveys on here, there are forum areas that cover it. Swagbucks is one I have done.  There are others that people do - maybe check the small things weekly thread for inspiration.  

Also do think about reducing your other spends on clothes etc (I don't think my comments on that showed up very clearly).  See if you can get by on what you have - none of us are going out that much this year!

Naomim

Well done on coming on and tackling your debt. I had my lbm in November and already feel so different to how I was.

A couple of things I noticed on your SOA was petrol but no car expenses? Is this petrol money you give to someone else? Also do you use uber/taxi's and is this factored into your night out costs? Finally,  I may have missed it but travel to & from work how does that happen? Are lunches included in the food budget? I work full time and even a £3 Tesco meal deal is £65 a month. 

Good luck

Naomim 

zippygeorgeandben

I would second £15pm for cleaning products.  £180 a year.  Just seems slightly high that's all.
But you seem to have your head in the right place so good luck!

Wannabehousebuyer

katsu said:

You can look up surveys on here, there are forum areas that cover it. Swagbucks is one I have done.  There are others that people do - maybe check the small things weekly thread for inspiration.  

Also do think about reducing your other spends on clothes etc (I don't think my comments on that showed up very clearly).  See if you can get by on what you have - none of us are going out that much this year!

Oooh will take a look - yea well i think i gave myself £40 as that is majorly cutting down on what i currently spend and if i took it too low i would 'rebel' however i plan the day before payday to what ever is left in my monzo pots to put towards some kind of emergency fund- i.e had to take my dog to the vets today £58 i was not planning on spending LOL 

Wannabehousebuyer

Naomim said:

Well done on coming on and tackling your debt. I had my lbm in November and already feel so different to how I was.

A couple of things I noticed on your SOA was petrol but no car expenses? Is this petrol money you give to someone else? Also do you use uber/taxi's and is this factored into your night out costs? Finally,  I may have missed it but travel to & from work how does that happen? Are lunches included in the food budget? I work full time and even a £3 Tesco meal deal is £65 a month. 

Good luck

Naomim 

Thanks for stopping by!

Yes, I have a company car I get a £100 petrol allowance from work that pays for my work miles and then the £20 is for my personal miles. I have no car expenses as thats taken out of my wages before i get paid- think it costs me bout £160 a month. 

Uber's, yes, it will just come out of my social fund, which when we are in the 'real' world again will kill me- but it has to be done. 

Lunches yes, the idea is that whatever i make for dinner i will have left overs for lunch, again this is all new to me so we will see how that goes. when doing my SOA it scared me how much i was spending on lunches, cigarettes and ubers - those 3 together actually would have meant i could buy a house already! made me feel sick! 

Wannabehousebuyer

zippygeorgeandben said:

I would second £15pm for cleaning products.  £180 a year.  Just seems slightly high that's all.
But you seem to have your head in the right place so good luck!

Thanks for stopping by. 
Well its £5 into the communal fund ( I live with my 2 best friends) for the house, for the pads for our flash mop and what not for the kitchen. 
£10 for me, for my flash wipes, dettol spray, fabreez for my bedding ( Mrs. hinch is to blame) but also my washing tabs are included in that too ? Does that still seem too high? Again this is me trying to learn about this stuff - its a total mystery for me

bellaboo86

I would say on the cleaning products to not use branded products as they are more expensive. What do you use the flash wipes for? Could you not a spray cleaner and a cloth instead? Wipes are not environmentally friendly. Also, if you wash your bedding regularly, do you really need to use fabreez on it? Could you get a diffuser instead to make your room smell nice? Space might an issue here but I’m sure washing tabs are the most expensive product to use. I think wash powder works out the cheapest. 

Applewood1

Stopping following Mrs Hinch will save you a lot of money. I think people forget influencers GET paid to promote products - but we don't. We PAY for them! Which is a big difference. 

Naomim

Wannabehousebuyer said:

Naomim said:

Well done on coming on and tackling your debt. I had my lbm in November and already feel so different to how I was.

A couple of things I noticed on your SOA was petrol but no car expenses? Is this petrol money you give to someone else? Also do you use uber/taxi's and is this factored into your night out costs? Finally,  I may have missed it but travel to & from work how does that happen? Are lunches included in the food budget? I work full time and even a £3 Tesco meal deal is £65 a month. 

Good luck

Naomim 

Thanks for stopping by!

Yes, I have a company car I get a £100 petrol allowance from work that pays for my work miles and then the £20 is for my personal miles. I have no car expenses as thats taken out of my wages before i get paid- think it costs me bout £160 a month. 

Uber's, yes, it will just come out of my social fund, which when we are in the 'real' world again will kill me- but it has to be done. 

Lunches yes, the idea is that whatever i make for dinner i will have left overs for lunch, again this is all new to me so we will see how that goes. when doing my SOA it scared me how much i was spending on lunches, cigarettes and ubers - those 3 together actually would have meant i could buy a house already! made me feel sick! 

Apart from Ubers/taxi's which I rarely got, lunches and cigarettes were me too.  I stopped smoking in Nov when I had my LBM and am still smoke free 6 months later    with lunches you probably need to at least budget a bit as it's bloody hard work having homemade lunch everyday and frankly, boring too!  I aim for at least four homemade lunches a week (when we're normally working in the office). 

I'm also going to recommend the Monzo pots. They revolutionised how I changed my budgeting.  I'm budgeting for a family of four so have more pots but the idea is you need to get yourself an emergency fund, essential for not using your credit card if your washing machine breaks etc. I also have a VET pot and plonk £25 in a month.  I can't believe I have managed to pay towards our debts - over the minimums and budget money for future purchases - ie Vet trips, Car insurance etc.

Edited to add:  Surveys, I use Prolific.co to do surveys.  When you start there's loads of questions about yourself, your political leanings, beliefs, education etc and you can feel quite violated but their surveys are pre-screened, usually from educational establishments and interesting.  I've had £80 since November as I tend to only do the short 5-10 minute ones. I'm currently doing a two week one about working from home and it will be £30. Every penny I make from surveys goes against my credit card debt as an overpayment.

Good luck with it all.

Naomim