Should itsthelittlethings spend less on coffee?

itsthelittlethings

Some of the figures could be wrong as I adjusted it.

MFWannabe

itsthelittlethings said:

Household Information[/b]

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

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

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

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1748

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

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

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

Total monthly income.................... 1748[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

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

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 210. - is this correct? It was £160 in your first soa? 

Council tax............................. 147

Electricity............................. 90

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

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

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

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

Mobile phone............................ 15

TV Licence.............................. 15

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0 - I thought you had Netflix? 

Internet Services....................... 24

Groceries etc. ......................... 240

Clothing................................ 85

Petrol/diesel........................... 0

Road tax................................ 0

Car Insurance........................... 0

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0 - Do you walk everywhere? 

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 10

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 23

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

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

Contents insurance...................... 7.5

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

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 38

Haircuts................................ 43

Entertainment........................... 90 - Is this realistic? 

Holiday................................. 60

Emergency fund.......................... 50[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1247.5[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 80.5

House value (Gross)..................... 128000

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

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

Other assets............................ 1000[b]

Total Assets............................ 129080.5[/b]

[b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

HSBC...........................1891......45........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........1891......45........-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 1,748

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,247.5

Available for debt repayments........... 600.5

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 45[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 555.5[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 129,080.5

Total HP & Secured debt................. -0

Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,891[b]

Net Assets.............................. 127,189.5[/b]

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

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

No comment neccessary. If there's anything really jumps out at you would be good to know.

Morning 
I’ve made some comments above in your soa 
However you’ve not listed your overdraft in your debts 
Is your credit card really 0%? When does this 0% end? 

You’ve only allocated £45 for payment which I guess is the min payment? 

joedenise

Yes

You have no children but have £10 per month allocated under Other Child Expenses, what is this?

This SOA seems inspirational rather than actual.  It says you have £555 left after debt repayments - if that was the case you'd be able to pay off your debt in a few months.

MayDogsandCoffee

Your SOAs don't tally, and TBH your posts are so inconsistent it is almost trolling.

Saver73

@itsthelittlethings

I think you need to have a 'lightbulb moment' before you're ready to move forward and change your spending habits to improve your finances.

You are in a good position not having mortgage/rent to pay and you could use that money to pay off debt, prioritise an emergency fund and pension and still have some fun money.  It really is just planning and sticking to a budget and making the most of what you have.

Imagine a situation where you did have mortgage or rent to pay?

The MSE posters have given you many suggestions and so far you haven't really taken much notice, except to put £100 into an emergency fund, which would have been a good start had you not increased your debt by unneccessarily spending in your overdraft.

There are many things missing from your SOA and it was suggested you use bank statements to calculate accurately.

On 23 November you had a balance of £714 on your SOA but many of the figures are different in your SOA today, and it is still as inaccurate.

There is still alot of missing expenditure such as subscriptions (Netflix, Motion, etc you mention many other apps and subs in your other posts), £100 at least for two section 20 notices, gym/yoga classes, travel (you spend a fair bit on train travel and there was mention of taxis in another post) and you don't include anything for haircuts or health and beauty things like eyebrows, nor the money you have spent on very expensive hair products!  I could go on about more missing expenditure - the coat, the boots, the camera...

Your grocery budget has varied between £125 (on the January shopping challenge thread) £200, £250 and £275, though from your posts I think you spend more than this due to the frequency of shopping.  This an area of expenditure you could easily save money by meal planning, using up what you already have and not going to the supermarket so frequently.  Try doing a weekly shop and if you forget something then live without it until the next shop.

Also on your other thread, in March 2025 you had £2750 in savings and £1400 on credit cards, a few weeks later you said it was nice not to have anything on the credit cards, suggesting you had paid off with savings, but again the figures don't tally, what happened to the balance?!

Fast forward 10 months, you have no savings, £100 in emergency fund and £2027 in total debt.  If you paid £100 a month towards the debt, and assuming you didn't add to it, that would take nearly two years to pay off.

Can you see the pattern yet?

When you have the lightbulb moment, you'll realise that you can live comfortably without the credit card and overdraft just by budgeting and spending your money wisely.  You can learn to live on what you earn and still have fun.  Budgeting doesn't mean buying the cheapest or missing out on things.

Have a read of all your previous posts in this thread and your other thread, make some notes, have a reality check, what do you want now, what do want for the future, when you're ready download 6 or 12 months worth of bank statements into a spreadsheet and you'll be able to categorise each section, then do a new more realistic SOA which the MSE posters can give you helpful suggestions on.  It isn't as bad as you think/feel but it could be better.

itsthelittlethings

I did a realistic SOA. It was very sobering. I have a £3 surplus.

Saver73

itsthelittlethings said:

I did a realistic SOA. It was very sobering. I have a £3 surplus.

It isn't realistic or accurate. It is missing large parts of your expenditure.  Have some time to think, read your own previous posts and take on board the comments and suggestions.  They are meant to be helpful not to be taken personally.  When you're ready I'd like to share money saving ideas for work lunches and evening meals.

MFWannabe

Saver73 said:

itsthelittlethings said:

I did a realistic SOA. It was very sobering. I have a £3 surplus.

It isn't realistic or accurate. It is missing large parts of your expenditure.  Have some time to think, read your own previous posts and take on board the comments and suggestions.  They are meant to be helpful not to be taken personally.  When you're ready I'd like to share money saving ideas for work lunches and evening meals.

I think OP may have meant they’ve done another correct one as they re saying they only have £3 surplus (not the one theyve posted on here) 

MFWannabe

itsthelittlethings said:

I did a realistic SOA. It was very sobering. I have a £3 surplus.

It may be sobering but hopefully will make you see that it’s not sustainable and you really need to reign in your spending now. 

Maybe post the correct soa and people will help 
Your current debt is not unmanageable and you can turn this around x 

Saver73

agree with @MFWannabe your current debt is manageable, you could easily clear it by reducing your grocery spend and your general "misc" spending but it would be wise to think of the longer term, not to get into a cycle of relying on credit cards and the overdraft but learning to live on what you earn.

There is a balance between living for today, being prepared for an emergency should it happen, and also thinking of the future.

one of my downfalls is my inability to go to my local shop to buy just milk when I run out mid week, I buy other stuff I don't need so instead I buy twice as much milk when I do a weekly shop and try my best to avoid my local shop!