Feels like I'm naked

Needcash_3

Rent £750
Council Tax £89
Mortgage £887.09
Life Assurance £27.47
Powergen (Gas & Elec) £46
TV licence £11.37
British Gas Cover £21
Gym £56
Water £6.48
TMobile £20
Contact lenses £18.5
Land line £ 15
Sky £19
Annual Bills (Car Service, car MOT etc) £50
Food £125
Petrol £100
Socialising/ Toiletries £125
Holidays (to ISA) £50
M&S Credit Card (£900 owed) (APR 4.9%) £100
Loan (£7k owed) (APR 6.9%) £168.54
Car Loan (APR 7.0%) £172.95
RBS Credit Card (£2000 owed) (APR 0% until April 2008) £50

Income: £2,942.54 Outgoings: £2,908.04

Any advice on how to further breakdown/ clarify?

Needcash_3

debrag wrote: »

£25 a month on food :eek:

No wonder I can't sort out my finances ... :rotfl:

Needcash_3

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Rent £750 Would renting a cheaper place be an option? Yeah ... not until Aug 2008 :mad:
Council Tax £89
Mortgage £887.09 Would selling up be an option? Would there be equity? Yeah .. just got to get my head round the idea of coming off property ladder in London
Life Assurance £27.47 IS this the cheapest you can get? Will look
Powergen (Gas & Elec) £46
TV licence £11.37
British Gas Cover £21 Have you ever used this, is your boiler old? If not, cancel. Yeah ... about twice a year and an annual service ... should I keep it?
Gym £56 Cancel and get an exercise bike off freeview or take up a sport Am in the process .. but have to give 3 months notice :mad:
Water £6.48
TMobile £20
Contact lenses £18.5 Get glasses? That'd save you £18.50 a month... (can you tell I wear glasses? ) lol
Land line £ 15 What about your internet costs? Nada ... don't use it at home
Sky £19 If you're not in a minimum term, cancel and go freeview. Same crap on but it'll save you £19 a month Have got a box, but don't get freeview in my area
Annual Bills (Car Service, car MOT etc) £50
Food £25 Failure to compute simple maths on my part here ... is £25 a week
Petrol £20 if you're hardly using the car is it worth having? Would public tranport be cheaper? Think of the money you'd save if you got rid of the car.. Failure to compute simple maths on my part here ... is £20 a week
Socialising/ Toiletries £25
Holidays (to ISA) £50 I would suggest stopping this until you are in a better position to be able to afford a decent holiday. OK ... good point
M&S Credit Card (£900 owed) (APR 4.9%) £100
Loan (£7k owed) (APR 6.9%) £168.54
Car Loan (APR 7.0%) £172.95 How long left on this? 3 years
RBS Credit Card (£2000 owed) (APR 0% until April 2008) £50 What will the APR be when the 0% runs out? About 20% I think ... is at home ... will look

Income: £2,942.54 Outgoings: £2,908.04

Definite food for thought here, am gonna stop that holiday payment

saffronflowers

NC - you are doing a fab job so far well done, it is daunting and we can be a bit like dogs with a bone!!!! A lot will depend on how quickly you want to cut your debt down by, but it seems that you have managed to get into the DFW spirit very quickly!

I did notice that your car is worth more than you bought it for, why not sell it and get a cheaper car with less maintenance tax etc

SFx

immoral_angeluk

With the sky... you can cancel and then get something called freesat.. it's basically freeview but you keep your sky box and the free channels come through the dish.. think it's only a one off fee of £10 too..
http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/

duchy

I'm not sure now is the time to sell. London property is the least likely to be hit with a property crash so don't rush into anything. It's a long term investment presumably and it's not as if you are left with been unable to keep up with your bills because of the mortgage.
Contact lenses-check out the on-line suppliers-often cheaper (don't forget to check out the ones that give cashback via Quidco) same with the utility switching-often cashback to be had as well as a cheaper deal.
May be worth playing Sky off against Virgin especially if you bundle your phone TV and internet services into one package (basic for all 3 with Virgin is £30)-check the quotes and then tell Sky you are thinking of moving-they may match to keep you. (I don't see internet access on the list though)
Petrol -do you buy anywhere or buy somewhere with benefits (like Tesco for points)
Home insurance-no mention. Don't forget Quidco cashbacks are generous on insurances (both home & car) No TV licence either-presumably under annual bills ?
The more detail you have of where it all goes the easier it is to work out a clear budget to hit those debt amounts

Needcash_3

saffronflowers wrote: »

NC - you are doing a fab job so far well done, it is daunting and we can be a bit like dogs with a bone!!!! A lot will depend on how quickly you want to cut your debt down by, but it seems that you have managed to get into the DFW spirit very quickly!

I did notice that your car is worth more than you bought it for, why not sell it and get a cheaper car with less maintenance tax etc

SFx

LOL .... thanks ... I know ... it's a bit scary at first ... especially with all the mistakes I made to start with with duplicate posts etc !!! I'm really loving this now though, thanks for the encouragement ... and I love how much attention to detail you guys pay ... can't wait to be in a position to pass some of this on myself one day x

immoral_angeluk

We all have to start somewhere

yeslek

Needcash wrote: »

Min payment on M&S is £23.36 ... so I'm really overpaying on that ... RBS is about £50 ish (don't have paperwork with me at work) .... Is PPI loan insurance? If yes, then no, I don't have any payment protection ... not even on my car loan ....

Just sent an email to cancel my gym membership - thanks all ... have to give 3 months notice though :mad:

good
creditors are sneaky !!!!!!s and minimum payments barely cover interest these day
yes, PPI is loan insurance.

Needcash_3

duchy wrote: »

I'm not sure now is the time to sell. London property is the least likely to be hit with a property crash so don't rush into anything. It's a long term investment presumably and it's not as if you are left with been unable to keep up with your bills because of the mortgage.
Contact lenses-check out the on-line suppliers-often cheaper (don't forget to check out the ones that give cashback via Quidco) same with the utility switching-often cashback to be had as well as a cheaper deal.
May be worth playing Sky off against Virgin especially if you bundle your phone TV and internet services into one package (basic for all 3 with Virgin is £30)-check the quotes and then tell Sky you are thinking of moving-they may match to keep you. (I don't see internet access on the list though)
Petrol -do you buy anywhere or buy somewhere with benefits (like Tesco for points)
Home insurance-no mention. Don't forget Quidco cashbacks are generous on insurances (both home & car) No TV licence either-presumably under annual bills ?
The more detail you have of where it all goes the easier it is to work out a clear budget to hit those debt amounts

.... Have worked so hard for my London flat investment .... really, really want to keep it ...
Home ins is under annual bills too ... bit will break all these down in my spreadsheets
Thanks for the advice