My first SOA

DaveTheRenter

Hi,

This is going to take me some time to finish - I guess my inability to complete it quickly is proving its usefulness though?

Regular outgoings
Rent: 630
Council Tax: 104
TV License: 11.75
BT: ?
Internet : 18
Usenet : 6
Groceries : 200
Electricity : 21
Gas : ?
Water : 21
Insurance : ?
Entertainment : 300
Bicycle Maintenance : 20
Debt
Egg : 3500
Barclay's student account : 2000 (0% but the interest free portion drops by £500 at set intervals, the first drop is coming up soon I think)
Natwest : 1250 (0% for 9 more months)
Our Sofa's : ?

Regular income
Joint income (after tax) : 2500

My take
We have recently moved out into our first place together and month to month we are not increasing our debt. Now it is time we reduced it so we can start saving towards the next big thing (some time abroad, a mortgage, or a wedding | not sure which yet )

I will update my SOA as and when I think of things and get my other half to do so as well later on. Anything obvious that I have missed?

~Beanie~

Do you have a car / any travel costs? Clothes, presents, haircuts etc are missing also.

peb

As Beanie says it is all the incidentals that are missing and boy, can they add up. Have a look through your bank statements to see where money has gone in the past and rty a spending diary for the future. If you are serious about getting the debts down quickly that entertainment budget is very high - can you itemise what it covers?

Keep posting and get that SOA completed asap!

DaveTheRenter

Good point on the travel costs - we both cycle everywhere so its not too expensive but we definitely have to maintain them regularly :-\

bank_of_slate

Hi dave and welcome!
I think you're going to have to review the entertainment spending a bit! What does that cover?
And check out that you're getting the cheapest utilities, insurance etc.
...Linda xx

sparky0107

DaveTheRenter wrote: »

Good point on the travel costs - we both cycle everywhere so its not too expensive but we definitely have to maintain them regularly :-\

Hi davetherenter,
Welcome, I've added 2 links below 1 is for the snowball calculator, you'll need APR's, monthly payments & outstanding balances, this will tell you what to pay off first, also the spending diary, put all your daily spending into this, and you'll see where your spare cash is going


http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

http://www.spendingdiary.com/

Good luck & once again welcome to DFW

:hello: :hello: :hello: :hello: :hello:

poppyg_2

£300 entertainment blimey, that's the obvious thing that jumps out !!

DaveTheRenter

Thats probably underestimated as well..

Checking out the links, thanks for the help.

DaveTheRenter

The snowball calculator is fun, it says we can be debt free by september next year :-)
We have to make £500 repayments each month though - which should be ok.

Its ensuring we don't hop on a plane to Croatia for 3 weeks which will be difficult for us. If we cut back completely on our meals out and such we could probably have a holiday AND repay £500 per month. I will try to remember that next time were thinking about a meal out

Tustastic

Hi Dave
Look at www.quidco.com to see how much cashback you could earn by using it to renew insurance policies and get other financial products.
Include regular treats in your new budget, otherwise you will give into temptation or get thoroughly miserable. As you've just got a place together, why not start inviting friends round instead of always eating out with them? Doesn't matter if you've never cooked or entertained at home in your life. Just go to the Oldstyle board and you will find tons of simple, cool and bargain ideas for food and drink.
BTW, if you need any other furniture and such for your home, just get it for nothing from your local Freecycle groups, instead of adding to your debt and pushing that world trip/wedding/whatever further away. People are giving away nice nearly new stuff all the time.