My finances are shocking

Microsoft Money is the best. Here is my last 12 months nicely broken down:D

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Hatter The Mad said:
Write one, make thousands! :D
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If only!

If there was something I could do to make a good extra wedge but it meant hermiting and working my arse off for say three, six months, I would.

On the upside though, I managed to dig out a really good spreadsheet I'd started last time I got this urge, and have fixed it up so it works just great. If I can stick it at, the way it looks from these little projections, I can definitely make a difference. I just have to stick at it.

It's definitely frustrating when I think about it, I earn fairly decent money and being in this situation living at home, I should have spare money coming out of my ears, but through my own recklessness with money, I don't have a pot to **** in . We live and learn.
 
I killed two birds with one stone - I bought a bike which got me really fit, and cut my commute costs from £50 a month to nil once the bike was paid off. It also means I can channel these expenses into buying more bike stuff as this is my real obsession these days.

I eat packed lunches when I remember to make them, and I have a cafetiere mug so I don't have to go to Starbucks every morning. £3 of coffee per month as opposed to per day.
 
Although we're certainly not hitting anything like the £2800/quarter in supermarket spending of the guy above, I do worry about the amount we (well, my fiancee mostly!) spend there. I reckon it must be around a grand a quarter, and we don't have cats! We usually do one big shop of around £40-80 a week but then there'll likely be another couple of grocery shops "to pick up a few bits" in the £12-20 range. Most girls are addicted to shopping for clothes and shoes, she's addicted to supermarkets! It annoys me because shopping 3+ times a week just results in half our food going bad and getting chucked away. Why buy a new loaf of bread when there's only 2 slices gone from the old one, and we're gonna be away all weekend? Why fill up the fridge with readymeals when there's two salad drawers full of veg? It makes no sense.
 
Its part of our generation, which is scary to think, I got my DD down to £30 a month which is just my car insurance and I paying back my parents for the money I borrowed to clear my debts and rent.

I have become a cheap **** when it comes to shopping, food wise I will buy stuff that is on offer and stock pile food and I have stopped buying "branded clothing" bought a pair of trainers for £30 which had been on sale for £70, just cant justify buying a brand and paying for it.

Cut up my credit cards and I will never have another one in my life.
 
Mohinder said:
Mostly debts. There's the normal stuff - bike insurance, phone bill, contact lenses, but a lot of debt. In fairness, I'm paying them off quite fast, but they're really eating in to my money.

I have currently about £450 a month - before cigarettes (going to have to stop), before feeding myself at work, before GETTING to work...

I can make it work, it just won't be easy, especially at first.
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you have a lot more disposable income than I do after I've paid all my bills, I wouldn't say I am unhappy about the money I have to spend, I suppose it depends on how you view "money"

if you really do need that extra money you Could stop smoking and start cycling to work, you would save a Lot of money and have a healthier mind (and body!)
 
busman said:
Hey guys

Just sent out a bulk email with spreadsheet attached. If you could all mail me to let me know you got it ok that would be great.

Cheers
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Any chance you could email me (in trust) the spreadsheet?

also on the subject of this why not host ti some where if you don't mind people using it ?
 
Mohinder said:
I'd actually consider it definitely, but I'm on a Mac! There's no equivalent really - there's finance apps but none as powerful as money.
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I use Jumsoft Money. It's really simple, but that's all i wanted, as it keeps things simple.

I use it to track all my accounts and list every transaction made, and categorise it. I also have a budget setup so i can see how i am doing.

I am now a lot more organised and am saving ~20% of my wage every month... whereas i used to overspend all the time!
 
jaxon said:
you have a lot more disposable income than I do after I've paid all my bills, I wouldn't say I am unhappy about the money I have to spend, I suppose it depends on how you view "money"

if you really do need that extra money you Could stop smoking and start cycling to work, you would save a Lot of money and have a healthier mind (and body!)
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Its only disposable income because I live at home, I'm 24 and I can't afford to move out! My outgoings are approaching £1000 a month for effectively nothing because I got in to debt. If I was living on my own and had £450 a month to myself id be overjoyed! Its not all disposable income either, it includes fuelling my bike and train expenses, which at £8 a day isn't too pretty. AND smoking! Knocking that on the head is definitely on the cards. Living at home, and having so little money is ridiculous :(

No ones fault but mine though.
 
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I know how you (The OP) feels.

I'm in exactly the same situation, although I do own a property.

Ex girlfriends & living a life I couldn't afford when I was young are to blame.
 
moneysavingexpert.com

There is an Budget Sheet (Excel or Numbers or Sheet) and you enter everything on there. Once that's done you start the hard work of cutting things back.

I saved loads by dropping a brand (We do our shopping at Lidl/Aldi/Tesco) and doing things like switching mobile contract (from £35 to £10) and calling Virgin Media and hardballing a price cut with them. I also switched my car loan saving £80 a month and only extending the loan by a few months.

All in all saved hundreds of pounds.

We did, however, do this before things got bad as I hate wasting money and prefer to have both a good buffer zone and plenty of spare cash for beer, gadgets and holidays in that order!

Just need to do the mortgage once the market picks up and I am a little further into my fixed deal (to expensive to change ATM) and save money to replace the car (I've vouched that no longer will I use loans to buy cars)

Every little helps.
 
For those who wax copious amounts of money when going shopping in supermarkets.

Make a list of you're dinners for the next seven days. Go out with a calculator (or the calculator on you're phone) and add up exactly how much you are spending as you put things in the trolley.

I did this two years ago and as the weeks went by, more and more money was being shaved off the food bill. I have now stuck to this method for two years and I cannot say we have ever spent more than £75 every time we have shopped. That is for 3 adults in the house and includes cleaning products. Also, take more time looking for BOGOF's and little extra's. Takes a little more time in the supermarket but hell, if it saves me money then I dont mind.

Granted, there will always be a loaf or a bag of carrots needed through the week but it has shaved hundreds a year off our bill and it also got my head into recipe books as dinners had to be written down for that next week. Amazing what you can do with good cheap produce.
 
Mohinder said:
I'd actually consider it definitely, but I'm on a Mac! There's no equivalent really - there's finance apps but none as powerful as money.
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VMWare Fusion, for these often annoying times when we Mac owners have to admit Windows is useful for certain things.
 
On the subject of MS Money.

How do you keep it up todate?

Would I have to every month go through all my transactions and then input these into MS money?
 
I also found myself in a rather awful situation. Primarily caused by silly spending as a student followed by silly spending when I first went into full time work when I was always "OMG I HAVE MONEYZ LOL". I took a £7k loan out, cleared all my cards and felt really good about things as I knew where I was and had a single regular payment that I could easily managed.

Then I spent more on the cards :(

I am sorting things out now though as I broke up with my GF, my Mum moved back to England and I am staying with her for a while. Because of this I have cut my outgoings by about £500 a month which is quickly helping me clear my debts.

Horrible feeling though, and I know that my situation is no way near as bad as some people's.
 
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