Getting It Together one step at a time and wedding planning

Saverladytobe

Hi everyone

I've been lurking on here for a while now and I think its high time that I get my !!!!!! together! I am pretty high earner (£80k) but I have barely any savings and very much feel like I am living month to month. Over the past 4ish months I've been trying to consistently save and stick to a budget but this month after some very "fu** it" moments I have 20 days to pay day and very little money to get by. Thankfully, all my bills etc are covered but I commute into London for my job and have put some silly impulse purchases on my CC this month (even though I was determined not to put anything on it). 

My goals are as follows: 
1. No more money on the credit card other than any Kindle purchases to keep credit score ticking over. 
2. Have a proper emergency fund in place (currently only have around £800 which isn't great given that I own my house so would either have to borrow from parents/partner in order to make it work). 
3. Consistently save for the big things each year so it is not a scramble/have to rely on the partner each time it comes around (currently owe him £256 from our holiday OVER A YEAR AGO). 
4. Create and stick to a monthly budget - I am okay with this BUT whenever I get stressed at work I tend to spend money which is often so I need a better way of dealing with things.

Non-money related goals: 
1. Cut down on vaping!! 
2. Get a consistent gym routine again. 
3. Cut back on phone time. 
4. Do the 80/20 way of eating - 80% healthy, 20% unhealthy ish. 

I will post a SOA soon as need to go through everything but join me on my journey!! 

Sarahwithlove

Could you leave your credit card at home and only use a debit card with limited funds on? Maybe have a weekly budget you transfer to that account to use? It would help eliminate too many impulse purchases 

Saverladytobe

Okay so I did my SOA and its not as bad as I thought BUT i still somehow manage to run out of money this month??? 

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 4426.84

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

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

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

Total monthly income.................... 4426.84[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 1960

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

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 121

Council tax............................. 166

Electricity............................. 0

Gas..................................... 0

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

Water rates............................. 0

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

Mobile phone............................ 26.8

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 38.25

Groceries etc. ......................... 400

Clothing................................ 200

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...................... 0

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

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25

Haircuts................................ 0

Entertainment........................... 100

Holiday................................. 200

Emergency fund.......................... 400

Investment Account...................... 50[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 3687.05[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 1107.78

House value (Gross)..................... 530000

Shares and bonds........................ 256

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

Other assets............................ 6000[b]

Total Assets............................ 537363.78[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 399000...(1960).....2.89[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 399000....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Amex...........................461.79....25........0

Partner........................250.......0.........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........711.79....25........-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 4,426.84

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,687.05

Available for debt repayments........... 739.79

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 25[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 714.79[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 537,363.78

Total HP & Secured debt................. -399,000

Total Unsecured debt.................... -711.79[b]

Net Assets.............................. 137,651.99[/b]

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

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

Saverladytobe

Okay so based on the above - 
This months goals are as follows:
Take £150 out of emergency fund to last through the month with the £76 that I have in my account. All my food shops are done on our joint account which means that this really only needs to cover getting to and from work, a few social occasions (book club, going to spend the weekend at OH's parents holiday home next weekend, and some other bits and bobs). 
Remove Amex from Apple Pay ASAP!! 
De-clutter house asap and find things that I can sell. 
Aim to get all debt paid off in September pay check so I can start focusing on savings (doing the Dave Ramsey method of paying off debt BEFORE starting savings) although not sure how this will pan out as have holiday booked in France in September and only have £500 saved which I don't know how much will cover as OH is planning holiday.  

Saverladytobe

Sarahwithlove said:

Could you leave your credit card at home and only use a debit card with limited funds on? Maybe have a weekly budget you transfer to that account to use? It would help eliminate too many impulse purchases 

That is what I've been doing the past few months - putting all bills money etc on Natwest, all household things on Joint Account then any other stuff on my Mozo - but i added my Amex onto my apple pay to pay for an uber home after a VERY drunk dinner but I am removing now and sticking to old plan . 

in_need_of_direction

Can you return the credit card purchases for a refund?

Saverladytobe

Morning everyone, happy Friday! 

Hopefully today will be a low spend day - i bought coffee this morning (£4.20 - sometimes I hate living in London), but hopefully there will be nothing else to spend on today. WFH today, and then going to the lido for a swim with BF this evening after work. We've got a food shop coming this morning so assume we will make some dinner this evening and watch the Olympics. 

This weekend has the potential to be a no spend weekend aside from travel. My mum is kindly taking me to the spa tomorrow for a massage and a facial which is SO needed. We may go to the pub to meet my friends after but not sure, if not I am going to start cleaning out my wardrobe. Sunday I am going to hopefully finish cleaning everything out, go to the gym and then going to Putney for some of the BF friends leaving drinks, which will all come out of the joint account, so nothing out of mine thankfully. 

Sarahwithlove

Enjoy the spa day

Saverladytobe

Morning everyone! 

I hope we all had good weekends - mine was good although financially not amazing. I ended up having to put some emergency things on my credit card so we are now at a £600 debt - but I'm not annoyed as it could have been a lot worse!

I am in the office this morning and forgot my breakfast so spent £8.48 grabbing that after I finished at the gym, but hopefully this will be all I spend today as I did manage to bring my lunch in (forgot to grab my shake out of the fridge door at 6am this morning). 

Our WiFi is up for renewal - going up from £38.25 to £45.25 in september - not ideal! The BF has been shopping around for better deals and has found a good Sky one which is 328.50 and then £32.25 after 6 months so that's great as both options will be cheaper than what we are currently paying. 

I've got some time on Thursday as we are going to Eastbourne for the weekend so I will hopefully be able to get some more deals!

Have a great day xxx 

Saverladytobe

Sarahwithlove said:

Enjoy the spa day

The spa was amazing had such a lovely time! 

Saverladytobe

Morning everyone, happy hump day! 

Aside from brekkie yesterday, I only spent 7.99 on a vape (naughty I know), which i was actually pretty happy with. I met some friends in the evening and didn't buy snacks as I usually would so v proud of myself there. 

I forgot my breakfast AGAIN this morning so that's £9.09 in pret I didn't need to spend but it's okay as that really will be the only thing I spend today. 

I have £127.91 of spending money this month (this is just for travel, food, clothes etc as all my bills are paid for and come out of a separate account) which is okay - i'm away with the BF's family this weekend but still need to buy my train ticket but hopefully that won't be too much with railcard plus cashback on Monzo. The bank holiday next weekend is a quiet one for me as I will be spending it deep cleaning the house (honestly can't wait), so hopefully that should take me to payday on the 28th! 

My Amex bill next month has gone up to £641!!!! I'm so annoyed at myself but I know its a direct consequence of me saying "!!!!!! it" and just buying stuff that frankly I didn't 100% need! I've also realised that I've probably been saving a bit TOO aggressively over the past few months as I've been saving 10% of my overall salary as opposed to my monthly pay check, but that was really just to get something (read anything) in place if things went west. So when I do my budget for next month I'll base my savings on 10% of my actual pay check (which will probably all go into my holiday pot as we are going to France next month), which should (fingers crossed) give me some breathing room! 

Hope you all have fab days xxx