young and had too much fun!

siross2203

Hello All,

I am a twenty year old guy, live in a rented place in the centre of southampton with my girlfriend. I am fortunate in the sense that i have a good job paying well for my age with the ability to progress relatively quickly. I will post my SOA at the bottom but would like to explain first!

I earn 25k, my girlfriend 16k, so combined we do quite well but both have the ability to slip and think its a great idea to buy a new LCD TV for the bedroom at £250. I had 10k debt at 19 and luckily my dad loaned me the money to repay it all and i pay him back 167 a month as it equates to 2k a year. I have promotional meetings at the end of the year and i would have the opportunity to get a 35k basic and earn commission realistically providing OTE upwards of 75k. do i wait and hope that i can earn well andpay off debt then? or do i deal with it now?

I am writing on here just so that people can comment or suggest anything that i can do to maximise my income, to properly demotivate myself from spending. I have only about 500 saved but my car insurance is due for renewal in september but will be roughly 1k which i'm not sure what to do about - do i get a 0% card or what?

I know thats a very brief run down but if any of you more experience moneysavers see anywhere to save some cash then i would grealty appreciate it.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1577
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1023.17
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2600.17

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 760
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 91
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 12.5
Mobile phone............................ 85
TV Licence.............................. 11.29
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 37
Internet Services....................... 24.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
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...................... 6.48
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1318.26

Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 380
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5380

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin CC......................400.......100.......0
HSBC Overdraft.................980.......100.......0
Tesco CC.......................957.......300.......0
Dad's Loan.....................9500......167.......0
Total unsecured debts..........11837.....667.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,600.17
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,318.26
Available for debt repayments........... 1,281.91
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 667
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 614.91

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,380
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,837
Personal net worth...................... -6,457

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

Horace

Hi and welcome. There is something odd about your SOA - you have omitted some details namely road tax, car insurance and car maintenance. Also you haven't listed anything for presents, haircuts or entertainment - even add stuff such as the odd newspaper, coffee and lunches at work.

I don't think that you really really need a new TV for the bedroom either rather than spending that money on it why not put it towards your debt? Could you not transfer your outstanding balances to a 0% balance transfer card as that way you would only have one payment to make but you must be strong and not spend on it (or spend on the others for that matter).

I am sure that you could cut down on the food bill too especially if you plan your meals - you can get help on this from the oldstyle moneysaving board. Perhaps you could take packed lunches to work too.

Instead of buying stuff why not look at freecycle - as people list the stuff they don't want and you collect it. Have you got anything that you no longer use/want, if so either do a carboot or stick it on ebay.

~Beanie~

You have nothing in your budget for road tax, car insurance and maintenance

dancingfairy

Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 760
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 91
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 12.5
Mobile phone............................ 85 this seems awfully, awfully high - you need a much better contract. Phone and ask for a better deal or take your custom elsewhere - this is truly dreadful.
TV Licence.............................. 11.29
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 37 can you really afford to be spending this much on satellite/cable - get freeview or downgrade to a cheaper package
Internet Services....................... 24.99 this does seem awafully high - shop around
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
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...................... 6.48
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1318.26


There's definitely some stuff to cut back on there but you really need to add in all the bits that are missing - all your car costs/entertainment/clothes/ etc otherwise you won't get the true picture.

Try a spending diary and see what you are really spending.

siross2203

appreciate all comments so far, thought my income etc may come into question, i work for a frim of search consultants in the construction sector and it has just all changed to provide more opportunity for younger peoplecoming through and also the commission aspect has developed into a rolling payment and higher percentages, although i do understand that i cant rely on this.

road tax / insurance / service and tyres were all done last september and are included in the original debt.

my 500 is savings i have towards my new insurance which should be roughly 1000 and the 380 is money i have in two different shares at the moment.

hope this will help you help me!

siross2203

dancingfairy - thanks for your help.

my broadband is due for renewal next month so will defiantely look at getting rid of that. my mobile phone is due for renewal in november but i know this is very hgh, now i have my work mobile (since jan) i barely use my personal one so could get it down to a dirt cheap tariff if i take the time, thanks for that.

Horace

siross - if you show the car tax etc, separated out into monthly amounts that will help us (it may be that its already included in the debt as you say but you may be able to get some cheaper insurance, if we have an idea of what you are currently paying).

I also note that you haven't included any water bills in your SOA.

siross2203

i pay 10 a month interest on the HSBC account overdraft
0% virgin cc (400)
0% tesco cc
0% Dad Loan

siross2203

ok:

car insurance last year was 1300
car tax is 118 a year
maintenance (budget) - 250 / yr to be safe as now only do 5000 miles

so altogether 1700 to round up
= 141.66 a month

Emmy_L

How did you manage to pay nothing on your water rates?Is that included in your rent?

siross2203

i moved in march and havent had a water bill yet, in my last place both combined were 20 a month so i can estimate that.

if i clear my debt with the savings and shares then when it comes to buying car insurance est. at 1000 i will end up back at that situation if it makes sense? think it may be a case of swings and roundabouts though.