Is anyone else just stuck in debt and fed up?

Ignore anyone who says give up your cat, or anything else. You've got more coming in than you've got going out for the essentials.

You probably need to change your mindset a bit about having money put aside for unexpected things. Ideally you should have at least 3 months worth of living costs, so £1410 × 3 = £4230 for you, but obviously that's not doable for lots of people (myself included). Aim to put £1000 aside as an "emergency fund", as in, only to be used for actual emergencies.

Enjoy your cat, your netflix, your gym. Protect your well being and mental health.

Just to note i wouldn't get rid of the insurance or pet plan either. I have had to spend a very large amount on pets health in past few years you never know what's around the corner
Your doing good so far, you have another couple of months that are tight but then it will be better there is light at the end of the tunnel and its getting brighter,

Shocking people suggesting that i love my pets they bring me great joy and comfort. I lost one of my cats before xmas at 17, was and still heartbroken. Still have one cat, he a little fecker but i still love him. Please ignore anyone suggesting you rehome your cat

The OP isn't in a position where she needs to rehome her cat. Her money problems will ease significantly before too long, and it does look like she could do with a budget review - there seems to be money unaccounted for that could be leaking away somewhere.

Therefore rehoming the cat is not a realistic option - shelters are currently overwhelmed and have long waiting lists. They're not going to be able to help someone who can afford to keep her cat any time soon, even if she did want to give it up.

OP put the cat as an expense. It’s a realistic option, not cruel. Cats find themselves new homes all the time, and can be happily re homed.
Cruel is entirely different situation.

Your outgoings are about £1250 a month with your updates about cutting back. Plus £40 a week for food brings it to about £1410.

If you're bringing in nearly 2k a month, then you should have about £590 left over after everything is paid. Have a couple of no spend/low spend months and pay your loan off. Then aim to save some money for emergencies like the boiler breaking, unexpected bills etc.

How cruel she is not starving Just wanted budget help

I paid 78 for a boiler service recently.

Cancer the cover and save an amount each month for the eventual repair/replacement.

Your insurance would be unlikely to cover a replacement. My last boiler needed replaced around 12 years old, but it wasn't fit for purpose initially (underpowered)

A written budget each month would help. Consider using an app for this like YNAB.

Your main issue is debt.

Could you work more until that's cleared?

Look up Dave Ramsey on you tube. He has some good videos.

@Catsarekings123 have you only just moved in?

If so there's a lot of little expenses that really add up. Once that settles down you might be fine.

My mortgage was more than that on my first flat and I only earned 17.5k.

It was tight but I coped. I know things have gone up but your figures seem okay.

Once you have your refund why don't you work out a proper budget. The money saving expert site has good templates.

People tend to forget annual expenses like car maintenance, presents, professional fees etc..

If you factor in all of these things it will be easier to manage.

But I haven’t owned the house for 12 years, so that doesn’t make sense. In fact over the years I have owned houses I’ve claimed on my boiler cover three times. In this instant I had started new cover so had only paid £18 a month for 3 months then needed the cover when my boiler broke down. So if I’d saved it I would only have had £54 when I need far more to heat my home and water…

Just wanted to say OP that if you are watching Youtube on your laptop, you could use the free version and then download an ad blocker.

£1,600 going out. 28 K salary. About 400 a month left.

Your problem isn't the expenses you've listed - it's everything else. You should have hundreds and hundreds of pounds left outside the bills and food you've listed.

You need to work out where you're spending that money. That's where you need to cut back.

I am on UC and work part-time zero hours and 2 months ago we finally finished paying back my exdh's credit card (long story but refuses to move out/ get a job and we still have a joint claim). It was always transferred to a 0% credit card but we've been paying back £100 for years! Feels so good not to have any debt at last. It can be good to actually see when you will have paid it off and I used to 'write' in Samsung notes each month the new balance. MOT tomorrow which I'm not looking forward to but I'm hoping I've budgeted enough.

For me I’d rather keep the insurance and not have the worry of suddenly having to potentially face a ££££ vet bill and have to make a choice between paying for treatment on a credit card or taking out a loan or maybe not even being able to pay for it at all, and having to euthanise. I know I’d absolutely kick myself if I was in that situation and had cancelled the £40 a month my cats insurance costs me. I can easily spend £10 a week on things far less important than my cat so for me it’s worth it. (And a lot of peoples cat insurance will be less than mine).

But if you'd saved £18 a month for 12 years you'd have £2592 plus interest. You'd also have had the option to spend some of that money on adhoc large expenses that can happen without going into debt.

The OP says she's paying £42/ month not £10. I don't know if I've been exceptionally lucky with my cats but I've never needed OOH vets and they have never had anything major wrong with them other than one that cost £800 in vets bills for an unexplained serious leg wound. That's 8 cats across 30 years. None of my cats have needed dental treatment. I just pay their vaccinations and annual check up. I'm obviously not the only person who sees cat insurance as a waste as lots of people on this thread are saying ditch it (clearly not it you own a dog as vets bills are crazy for canines).

I was in credit card debt for most of my life this far (all due to poor spending habits.) This is the closest I have been to no debt (not counting mortgage.) I made a plan and have slowly crawled my out with my last 2k to go (and that will be gone by April).

You can do it OP!

You're not going to get anywhere near the amount by saving
I pay about £10pm which is £120 a year
Out of hour vets is £200 to walk in the door
Mine covers dental treatment too and up to 10k of bills

I agree with others, get rid of boiler cover, we've never had that, and apart from yearly service never paid anything for it.

I would live with Netflix and YouTube ads for a bit, they might not annoy you as much as you think. Although considering you don't have any other TV/entertainment stuff, I'd say this is pretty minor expense.

Regarding debts - what are those for? You have very low outgoings and pretty healthy income, there shouldn't be any need to get into debt.

But as you're already there, then:

You mention £400 overdraft, do you mean it's available to you, or are you in overdraft already? Unless it's free introductory offer, overdraft is one of the most expensive forms of debt, so try not to get into one. Even paying with credit card is better if you think you might run out.

Is credit card debt interest free? If you are paying interest on it/them, have a look if you cam get interest free one. You can get one up to 2 years sometimes, have a look on MSE website. Then move as much of your balance there as you can, it will usually cost about 3%, but after that you'll at least won't be racking up interest.

Obviously if you can't get one, then cc debt will probably be the highest in terms if interest, so you need to throw all you can at it.

If it's on 0 interest, then set up a DD for a minimum amount, and throw all you can at the loan with the highest interest. Then tackle the next one. Then the credit card.

It you are paid monthly, say end of months, it helps to move all your direct debits to the start of the month, then you know how much you have to play with until next pay day. Divide this into weekly amounts or whatever makes sense for you. Set yourself mini challenges, ie can I get through the week on less that £100, or whatever.

You can do it, you just need to plan and be proactive.