Our attempt at being MF!!

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  • CathT
    CathT Posts: 7,113
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    edited 23 September 2010 at 7:34AM
    SOA

    Mortgage:690.26
    Sky 46.00
    Tc lic 12.37
    [STRIKE]Sky cover 9.00[/STRIKE]
    British Gas 70.00
    Gas Cover 16.37
    Water 25.00
    C/Tax 125.00
    BT 16.00
    Life Ins 11.57
    Pension 25.00
    Charities 10.00
    My car ins 16.46
    Sofa 0% 33.63
    Internet 6.99
    I-phone 47.00 (includes 12 insurance)
    Oh phone 25.00

    Food and
    petrol £350

    OH personal spends £150

    Total £1685.65

    Income

    DH £1100 (before bonus, gets occasionally!)
    Me ~£1100 (my childcare voucher comes out of this but tends to cover costs of £240 monthly!)
    Tax credits+child benefit £200

    Total £2400

    Surplus £714.35

    Currently send minimum of £100 to mortgage. Not sure where the rest goes actually!!
    Mar 2024 - part 1 - £31,656 part 2 - £25,019 Total - £56,675 44 months to go!
  • CathT
    CathT Posts: 7,113
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Sorry for sudden posting without introducation, blame company of nearly 2 yr old!!!
    Any advice/tips greatly appreciated. We always seem to go over food budget!
    Mar 2024 - part 1 - £31,656 part 2 - £25,019 Total - £56,675 44 months to go!
  • :T on SOA but :eek::eek: have to do one too now!

    Am off for my fancy shopping trip but will come back later and comment on your SOA and post mine too

    If you're not sure where money is going, I would recommend spending diary - can use an online one, but my best was just a tiny notebook which I would write in as soon as I spent it (although I'm sure theres an i-phone app you can use too, that would justify it;)) I need to start one of those too...
    Mortgage [STRIKE]16/03/2011: £190K 01/01/2017: £107,729.65 [/STRIKE] 01/07/2017: £95,979.89
    OPs 2011-2016 = £45K 2017 OPs = £9250.20
  • Iris_Blue
    Iris_Blue Posts: 1,421 Forumite
    Hi again! :)

    A quick look at your SOA. What about haircuts, birthdays , christmas ,clothes, house ins, parking , holidays, entertainment, cinema trips, takeaways..or do all these come out of a monthly budget ? Like MW says you could do with logging your spends in a diary then you know where its going. I have every penny accounted for on mine, what I have extra goes towards OP-ing

    I use budgetbrain.com from this site as it tells you everything that you should be writing down. it makes you be really honest with what you're spending.

    Iris
    I can't be bothered updating this anymore
  • wynnvegas
    wynnvegas Posts: 1,377
    Mortgage-free Glee!
    Forumite
    Hi Cath,

    Well done. A spend diary is a great idea - like I say, we were comfortably blowing £800 on crap a month at our worst without even realising it! I would think you'll be able to get a better i-phone insurance deal than the £12pm you're paying. Martin has his guide here (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-mobile-phone-insurance#cheapest) which advised anything between £15-£60 per year depending on the model and cost of replacement etc. I believe paying insurances off annually saves a good bit as well but I've no reference point as we've never paid monthly.

    Cheers,

    Billy
    Mortgage Free: 28/10/2010
    Time / Interest Saved: 18.5 years / £61,866.50
  • Iris_Blue
    Iris_Blue Posts: 1,421 Forumite
    That's just it Billy , you don't realise how much you waste do you on the little bits here and there do you until you cut back.

    Just another thought Cath - I presume your on duel fuel as you've put british Gas down but not electricity. Seems a little high.. but not sure of your house size. Mines £83 a month for duel for 7 of us (soon to be 8 :D)
    I can't be bothered updating this anymore
  • Hi CathT
    CathT wrote: »
    Anyone else constantly feel like they want to move?

    We are so undecided on what to do and have been for a long time, do we stay or do we go. We want to move down south and want to do it while we are young enough.
    CathT wrote: »
    TBH I should probably stop watching all these property programmes, they give me delusions of grandeur!!

    This is my downfall too :rotfl:
    Mortgage Balance at start July 2010 - £170,000.00 :eek:
    Current Balance - £169,305.15 :j
    Savings toward overpaying - £269.98 :T

    Weight to lose by 6th Nov 2010 - 12lb
    Weight lost - -3lb:mad:
  • CathT
    CathT Posts: 7,113
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Think I should have done SOA when DD not around! (but that doesn't happen!) We also owe approx £1000 on 0%CC but don't have bills to hand to check. Tend to send 50-100 to this. I know i should pay this off first but I think i'd benefit more by sending what I can to the mortgage before interest rates shoot up.

    Have just switched to BG monthly monitor deal so I have estimated my DD as I think it will change month to month but I need to average out over the year so not hit with big bills in the Winter.

    Unfiortunately i have never budgeted for car expenses, holidays (last one 2006), presents, other day to day expenses - but have just paid for them as needed.
    I now save £10 a month that get from halifax accounts and leave it separate as i thought that would at least tax one car for the year.

    DH car insurance was paid outright last year but both cars are due for renewal in December.

    I have just paid outright for home insurance so that has swallowed up all the money I had left this month!!!
    Mar 2024 - part 1 - £31,656 part 2 - £25,019 Total - £56,675 44 months to go!
  • CathT wrote: »
    SOA


    Sky 46.00
    Sky cover 9.00
    BT 16.00
    Internet 6.99

    Cath, my only point is could you look at getting all three from the same supplier. With sky they offer free broadband if you have your phone and TV with them. I only have the basic sky package (3 mixes I think no sports and movies), but only pay £35 a month for TV, phone and internat.

    It may be worth looking at this area to check your getting the best value. Even if not through sky, talk talkk do phone and TV offers.

    Looks like your doing well with everything and making a really good start to the journey.

    Baby steps.
    Mortgage @ 01.06.10 £165,999
    Mortgage @ 31.10.13 £14,664
  • CathT
    CathT Posts: 7,113
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    edited 14 September 2010 at 2:04PM
    Hi all,

    Have just had chance to come back to my diary and look at SOA. Am unsure what my energy costs are going to be cos changing supplier in next few weeks (hopefully for the final time!) I have always been cautious with elec use but not so much with gas (until become a MFW that is) We have a 3 bed detached (although radiator not really used in bedroom 3) and are not really home that much! Both work full time but shifts. Prob only 3 days someone actually at home. Just wondering what others consumption is? We have double glazing, cavity wall, loft insulation, jacket on tank etc but an inefficient boiler and the radiators never actually get hot!

    Have tried to get SKY cheaper for a while and was offered 25% reduction which runs out in Jan (were paying 57.50!!!) I think we may cancel movies and sports (+espn) taking package down to ~£20 a month, will cancel the cover (a lot of people say is not necessary anyway-any thoughts?)
    Think we are locked into BT for another 6 months or so as they reduced DD if i signed up for 12 months.
    Can't get the free sky broadband, virgin tv or bt vision in my area unfortunately.

    Sofa still has 19 months remaining.

    Will def look at i-phone insurance, think i would be too afraid to go without completely but will shop around. Thank you for the link Billy.

    One more thing before i go, am new to Quidco. What is the difference between validated, tracked and received? I still have no credit on the account and thought it would be quicker to ask here than trawl through t&c's.

    Anxiously waiting for payday to send some more OP!!
    Mar 2024 - part 1 - £31,656 part 2 - £25,019 Total - £56,675 44 months to go!
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