SOA help please...

nimbo

hi,

i have been working through my debts slowly but surely and have paid off 3 CC's and a loan early as it was costing me LOADS in interest, and am now left with only my overdraft which stands at -£1050... i guess i'm just looking for a bit of a kick to finally get this paid off. i have to have it down beneath the £500 mark by June but would just like to get it all gone.

i was originally going to see how much was left in the bank at the end of the month, and pay that off it, but obviously 'something' always comes up... (last month it was glasses which i needed:rolleyes:, and chocolate which i clearly didn't.:mad: meaning that next month it might have to be new jeans to accomadate the expanding belly!!!!).

so here goes my SOA.

Income
£1044 (and a few pennies)

Outgoings
Rent £360
Council Tax £60 (i am single and yes that i already have the discount...)
Phone bill £30
tv thingy £11.61
insurance £7 (for phone)
food £LOTS need to cut down and have no exact figures
water £40:eek: (i think, and yes this is alot but my LL won't allow a metre on the house as he feels that it would make it harder to let if i moved)
travel to college £10 this is a week, and is to college on Monday night meaning that next month there will only be 2...

i think that is everything.
the rest just disappears. !!!!!!!!!! (i do buy food but i have no idea how much i spend)

things shouldn't be dire, but the money that should be left over just disappears.

please give me advice as this month i want to go in on payday and lower my limit, but don't want to be too short for the rest of the month. as i just want to get it moving in the right direction...

thank you all froreading, and all coimment very much appreciated.

floss2

:hello:

Welcome to DFW....

We could really do with a bit more info - take a look at MSE Andrea's newbies post.

Such as:
gas / electric?
landline phone?
Internet?
mobile?
food?
contents insurance?
credit cards?
HP?
transport to work?
going-out?

:wave:

Floss x

nimbo

the only thing that i haven't included is my mobile insurance which is £6.99.

all of the others i don't pay.

accept for food and that can be anything from £4 a week top up to £100 a week blowing the budget.

all credit careds gone, and cut off at the sources. i walk to work, or get a lift if my sister is heading that way at the right time.

i don't have contents insurance, but it is on the list of things to get, when the OD is gone...

just need to find the motivation and the missing £500 from my wage!!!!:rolleyes:

ViHan

I think to work out where your money goes it might be an idea to keep a spending diary. Odd bits do all add up! newspapers, lunches.... you might be surprised where it all goes.

GingerSte

Hi Nimbo.

First of all congratulations on getting this far, and don't worry about the blip (on the chocolate I mean). Besides, glasses are a necessity. Health comes first remember!

As regards the "disappearing money". I most certainly know how that feels! The most popular way of dealing with this is to keep track of everything you spend in a spending diary. You can then see where your money is going. My personal downfall in that area was buying cans of pop or magazines while out in town. Those small purchases really add up! Once a tenner had been broken to get on the bus or train, that was it. My solution was to get a sports bottle and fill it up with juice before leaving the house.

tigtag02

Get rid of the Mobile ins and switch for contents as this is much more important and will (should) cover your phone.

The rest is pretty much as you and others have said and keep a diary, you'll be shocked at where it goes and motivated into sorting it out

Im crap at food shopping so have started doing it online which curbs my spress ~ t'asda are great for it and I always find a free delivery code on here.

Finally :wave:, welcome to our little corner of cyber space :D