Below £1000 pcm outgoings challenge

Andyjflet

By my calculations this is around 24 months off. My committed outgoings or bills are currently £1301 a month, I have a loan to clear which is £263 per month and another commitment which is £36 a month, both will be gone in 2 years, I'll need to then cancel something or find something to take it below £1000, despite increase in bills due to inflation. 
As I see it I could pay my council tax in one go meaning I am below the figure, or cancel all TV and Internet saving me £43, both realistically do-able.  

fatbelly

Council Tax has no interest or other penalty to it if making monthly payments.

The way forward with that is to go on to your council's website and see what the best option is - likely to be direct debit by 12  payments on the 20th of the month.

Why not post a statement of affairs and let people see if they can help you get below £1000

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

Andyjflet

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 

Number of cars owned.................... 0[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 2700

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 2700[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 425.1

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 292.29

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 131

Electricity............................. 14

Gas..................................... 14

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 13

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 20

TV Licence.............................. 13.37

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 43

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 150

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, dentist etc).... 0

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 11.09

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20

Haircuts................................ 17

Entertainment........................... 24.99

Holiday................................. 50

Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1238.84[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 3500

House value (Gross)..................... 100000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 0

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 103500[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 59000....(425.1)....3.2[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 59000.....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Loan...........................9701.82...262.6.....0

EE Phone.......................549.3.....36.62.....0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........10251.12..299.22....-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,700

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,238.84

Available for debt repayments........... 1,461.16

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 299.22[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,161.94[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 103,500

Total HP & Secured debt................. -59,000

Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,251.12[b]

Net Assets.............................. 34,248.88[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

TheAble

Looks extremely frugal to me (in a good way ). I'd get some buildings insurance though, if the zero for that entry really is the case.

Karonher

Do you really have over £1100 a month left over? Is there a reason you aren't paying off the loan more quickly?

fatbelly

I agree - pay down the loan with surplus cash.

There isn't much to trim off that budget. If you can survive without live tv then the tv licence can go

If council tax isn't over 12 months then switch it (doing this mid-year brings the monthly amount down a lot).

If you're happy with your phone then a new sim can reduce costs

If water is metered then a brick in the cistern can pay for itself

If you want a mse holiday for a lot less than £600 look for the Sun £9.50 thread in UK holidays

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6280645/sun-holidays-from-9-50pp-july-2021

We made great use of these pre-pandemic (was actually on one when lockdown one happened) and would join two together to get a week away. They're actually very good value IMHO

Kakiste

Through necessity I've had to live incredibly frugally. I found joining a local waste food group run by Eggcup (fareshare) has massively helped me bringing down our bills. I've spent £12 on groceries this week due to the amount of food I picked up in last week's collection. Costs me £4 a week but I get more than £25 worth of food in return for that. 

Andyjflet

TheAble said:

Looks extremely frugal to me (in a good way ). I'd get some buildings insurance though, if the zero for that entry really is the case.

Shared ownership property so the housing company cover that part. 

Andyjflet

Karonher said:

Do you really have over £1100 a month left over? Is there a reason you aren't paying off the loan more quickly

Yes I have that spare, I have just given myself  3500 emergency fund as the job was a bit dicey for a while and cleared my credit card with the last 3 months surplus, I'm now paying the loan down at double the rate. I have also agreed to help out my daughter at Uni @ £250 a month for a while as she's struggling.

mark55man

you've had good advice I can't add to that - I just wanted to say you should be super proud you are helping your DD out.  £250 pm is a lot but it will mean 10x as much to her in terms of reducing stress and having a bit for fun during these exciting years of her life.  It won't be for long, and although its dire at the moment the jobs are coming back

Andyjflet

Getting closer now, I'm down to around £1200 a month, following Dave Ramsey and having not used any form of credit for over two years now, once my current loan balance is cleared I will be at £940 a month.

I have just paid my contents insurance for the year up front and I have cancelled my Sky TV and will be cancelling my TV Licence from March 1st onwards.

I really believe having no consumer debt and low outgoings I can then start to throw any extra income at my mortgage and also worry less about the job I have to do.