How I live now.

A question about : How I live now.

Hello!

I'm Nora (sort of), and after wracking up a HUGE debt thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssss big a few years back, I finally managed to pay off everything. Here's the story - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=3559623

And then I went and unlearned all my good habits and learn-y stuff and have started to wrack up the debt again. So it's back to basics, a sparkling new diary, and some tough love.

Can't promise much wisdom - but we usually have a giggle along the way, so welcome aboard.

Nora.xx

Best answers:

• Ok, so the following is my SOA. It doesn't include the food/house shop, because I don't have the receipts for it - or any idea of what I've spent.
  Big red flag right there, anyone?!
  I do, however, have full cupboards, so I'm going to work my way through them before even thinking of buying more food or house stuff for a while!
  It does include everything else though - big, small, downright scary:
  Monthly Income
  Income from Employment (after tax) . . . . . . . . . . . . 807.98
  Income from Self Employment (before tax).. . . . . . . . . 0.00
  Benefits (WTC and HB). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158.46
  Monthly Expenses
  Home
  Mobile phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.20
  TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.75
  Home phone & broadband . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.36
  Gas & Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85.00
  Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.49
  Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.00
  Overdraft cost (interest) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.09
  Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .560.00
  Home Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16.75
  Motoring & Public Transport
  Petrol/Diesel . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76.50
  Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.38
  Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
  Car maintenance (MOT & Service plan). . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.49
  Breakdown cover .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.88
  Debt repayments
  Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87.86
  Other
  NHS PPP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.40
  Results:
  Monthly income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .966.44
  Monthly outgoings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080.48
  Monthly overspend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114.04
• Nora Breakdown cover Ј20.83 a month? sure that is correct?
• Hi Knitting Nora
  I am not quite where you are BUT hubby is thinking credit card again and I just cant go back there
  one thing to ask - KNITTING Nora - you have allowed no expenditure for hobbies - now I assue you knit - if so are you stash busting
  I knit and dabble in other crafts at the monment stash busting and knitting baby clothes
• Yay you're back with a shiny new diary!
  I've subscribed and looking forward to your updates. xx
• Yikes, that's an SOA and a half, isn't it?!!
  So, some priorities:
  1. Earning more;
  2. spending less.
  See - already getting the hang of this money saving lark.
  Seriously though, I had the renewal for my RAC cover through yesterday and it's gone up by Ј100! So first on my list is to ring and haggle with them to bring that right down. I currently have full cover for me because I drive a lot and the car is something of an old banger... plus I cover my mum - a left over from when I was staying with her a few years back. So Mum's been told to sort herself out (nicely!) and I'm going to reduce the cover to simply roadside recovery as that's the bit I'm always so worried about. Which should bring my bill down from Ј250 to Ј29.99 for the year!!
  Secondly, I need to do something about that gas and electric bill as I'm sure it could be lower. So I'm going to check whether I could be on a better tariff and whether I could be using my gas and electricity in a smarter way.
  I'm also going to see whether I can get a water meter installed as I suspect that would offer me some form of saving.
  Since I have plenty of food around the house, next is a meal planner so I don't waste any of it - because there's nothing in the pot to buy food at the moment!
  I'll be looking to reduce that fuel bill as well. I use the car to get to work, but there are other journeys I do which could be avoided or done in other ways. Plus thankfully petrol has gone down in price!!
  The phone and internet bill is high - I've spoken to BT about it before, and while I'm no longer under contract for the phone, I'm locked in on the broadband until April. At which point I'm considering cancelling them both/renegotiating.
  And finally, I actually run my own little craft business - though it currently doesn't make any money. So clearly I need to make more effort with that.
  I should also say that I've been applying all over for additional work, but haven't been successful yet. Never mind, though - there's lots of potential in that SOA and lots to do!
  Action 1: renegotiate RAC cover
  Action 2: check heating and electricity tariffs
  Action 3: evaluate use of gas and electric
  Action 4: apply for water meter
  Action 5: create food diary
  Action 6: reduce fuel bill.
  Action 7: Renegotiate phone/broadband or cancel.
  Action 8: Make more money!
  Does anyone have any other advice?
  Thankingyoukindly.
  Nora.xx
• Nora do you use either Quidco or Top Cash Back? If so look at breakdown cover with one of the other companies and see what cash back you can get.
• Thanks for the advice on the breakdown cover. I've gone with the RAC for comfort (or is that habit?), but got them down to under Ј100 for the recovery *and* a few extra bits I wanted. Really pleased - though now kicking myself for not doing it through Quidco!! Live and learn.
  Off to amend that pesky SOA.
• Well, guess who accidentally deleted half her SOA and had to redo it? Luckily, I realised I'd overstated the credit card repayments so a quick dabble (as you do) and it's all tickity boo. Well, maybe not quite tickity boo - there's a big old overspend, for a start!
• I am this month working on my SOA (is that statement of account - can tell I am new cant you)
  writing down EVERYTHING I am debt free but a life changing happening has nearly put us back into debt and my husband wants a credit card - ok its 0% BUT that term will end and I know from experience it will be run up and then a huge interest will need to be paid
  so I am here for the tips you can all give me (especially keeping the other half in line ) and I hope to support you on your journeys
• I just changed my breakdown cover from Lloyds bank to Startrescue, cut the cost down to Ј28 for medium level cover. Ј100 seems expensive, especially for RAC? They were doing an offer for about Ј30 back in January.
• yay shiny new diary! Not sure what advice I can give but I am subscribing!