please critique my budget?

[cigarette999]

I'm an AO in the Civil Service. Earn 24.8k a year without overtime, however overtime is due to stop in the next month or so.

I'm about to move into my own 1-bed flat, by myself.
Mortgage will be £440 a month, then single person Council Tax band is about £100 in my area.
Electricity, water, internet, insurance etc..
Hard to say as I've always lived in places with fixed bills but I reckon it'll be around £800 all included.
I WFH 3 days a week which will increase my electricity bills.
Don't drive, bus is £4 return to work so only £8 a week.
After tax it's about £1700 a month.
So say £900 after mortgage and bills.
It might sound like a lot, but that's to cover phone bill, transport, medication, food, any repairs/maintenance, savings, credit card and any sort of going out etc.

I know people live on less, but people also live in a lot more.
I'm not a big spender by any means, but I'd like to put away savings in case of emergencies etc. And for repairs, and I'm sick of having to work just to get by, like anyone I'd like to treat myself a little and enjoy life.

CS salaries are not great, even though the Flexi and other benefits are very good. I am applying for EO roles and have got on the reserve list for 2, however not with great scores.
There's no consistency when scoring the personal statements and it's entirely subjective.

I spent ages on a HEO application for which I met all the criteria and received 1s across the board which means they probably didn't even read it.

I'm mid 30s and have a degree and a Master's. AO is an entry -level position. Was previously in teaching, thinking of going back for financial reasons despite the issues around it.

@Bjorkdidit i wish I’d started using YNAB as a single childfree person. Getting used to putting a little aside each month for things like car repairs and Christmas would have been just as lifechanging then, if not more, as I’d have been used to doing that as my finances got more complex.

But the OP can still do that, as I suggested in my post 'standing orders to a savings account for annual and irregular expenses'. I just don't see how you need to pay for an app to tell you to do that.

On the jobs, you seem to be blaming the recruiting panels for your poor scores. It’s more likely your applications were poor or that your experience didn’t match the requirements.

An option is to improve your CV, statement and STAR technique, apply for lots of promotions, mainly focused on in the same ‘profession’, policy or operations.

or if a problem is that the ‘profession’ you’re in isn’t easy to get out of (eg operations casework) even apply for roles at your current grade in another field, in larger departments, ideally with higher pay.

My advice is on applications. Always get a senior member of staff to help you with these as they have sifted and successfully passed the boards themselves. Once you have the knack of STAR and selling yourself you'll hopefully secure a new role soon :)

@Bjorkdidit I'm with you, I find the YNAB a bit cultish.

Your budget looks ok but really you just need to earn more. I’m an SEO and watched Richard McMunn videos on YouTube to get ideas on what to say. He does CS ones covering each of the CS values and he’s fab. I got offered two jobs in a week after watching these videos!

Once you’ve cracked what they’re looking for, you’re laughing. Work smarter, not harder, and sell your time for the highest price.

We pay (couple)
£150 council tax
£35 water
£40 broadband
£100 gas/electric
£20 mobile each PAYG
£300-400 food

It's doable as long as you make sensible choices like taking lunch to work when in the office, limit coffees out to very occasional, ditto take away, build up a bit of a buffer savings pot as owned properties can need repairs and lock away your credit card for absolute emergencies only. You can live on £30 a week food budget if needed but do allow yourself a little treat once a week ie a better home cooked meal as constant watching the pennies is hard, also batch cooking is your friend, and wfh makes it easier.

I'd also consider taking a second job eg local pub on a Saturday, 2 of the staff at my local are civil servants and do every other Saturday saving the money for treats, they come in on the other week as punters and get 25% staff discount! Being able aid to be where you want to be

Well you can't do much about your council tax but your broadband and mobiles are higher than they need to be. You could reduce broadband to about £20-25 pm and more than half your phones.

Water is dependent on are, but I would have thought that, for the OP, if she's on a meter and not a wasteful washing and cleaning nut, I'd expect it to be quite a bit less than that.

Gas and electric is obviously dependent on the property and occupation, usage, type of heating and even in a one bed flat it depends very much on the type of flat.

A modern well insulated energy efficient flat will obviously be much cheaper to run than a high ceiling, single glazed Victorian conversion or even a purpose built flat of the 'storage heaters' era. MIL lives in this latter version and her winter bills are eye watering, but needs must. So OP, it's definitely worth understanding what sort of heating and hot water your new home has, how to use it efficiently and work arounds if it's expensive to run (only heat one room, wear layers plus slippers and wrist warmers, understand economy 7 if you have it, and consider alternatives to the main heating system if necessary).

Have you got someone you can run your applications past. I’ve recruited a lot and will often look over applications even for people I don’t know very well to make suggestions. Get some honest feedback, often it was not meeting competency requirements. And for H positions, lack of management experience.

This budget sounds OK, as you have no children, car or pets currently

Once you move in, you may need to buy white goods, furniture or furnishings. However you can buy these over the next few months or second hand.

You can work out your budget once you move in, 5ake average of 3 or 6 months

I would prioritise saving for

An emergency fund
Paying into your work pension
Savings for hobbies, holidays

This is a bit true actually.

Seems fine to me. I've lived on a lot less.

I don't think all your other bills will be £800 though. I live in a 2 bed flat and I pay £130 for electric (no gas), £20 for water, £80 for TV/Internet and £60 for 2 mobile phones. Spend a lot on food but mostly it's for my teen DS, my food bill would be less than half without him as he eats more than me.

Is it worth doing a cost benefit analysis on whether it costs more to heat the flat than the £4 on fares, especially during the winter.

I also think upskilling and raising your profile may be easier if you are in the office more.

Who do you bank with? I have my salary paid into a high street bank account. All my direct debits come out of that account. I leave an amount in there to cover with some spare. I then transfer the rest to my Chase account.

I use my personal spends from the chase current account. This is an amount per week that's for whatever I want. I then have seperate savings pots as you can open 10 savings accounts with chase. I have the following

Holiday
Birthdays
Christmas
Car
Maintenance (my hair and waxing!)
Books
Pension
Savings
Joint savings.

And I split it the remaining amongst those pots.

My pension I save £333 a month into it, I get interest monthly on that at 5.1% then I transfer it yearly into my Lisa.

Obviously change the pots to what meets your needs. Any money left in the current accounts the day before payday, I Sweep into my savings.

In terms of your bills, it's always best to overestimate. If you keep a seperate bills account then it can just stay in there.

We always give monthly gas and electric readings too.

I would stick with the civil service - there are a lot of benefits - a very good pension, decent holiday allowance, flexible working.

Also it is easier to access jobs and promotions from inside. Civil service job applications require a knack, it is about demonstrating competancies and outcomes, particularly the role you played in achieving them.

Something else to consider is sometimes in the CS a sideways move can be good for promotions. It is about accumulating relevant skills and experience, not just climbing the ladder in a linear fashion.

Don't be afraid to ask a senior colleague for feedback and advice on areas you need to improve. I am much more senior in a public body (think equivalent of grade 6 or 5) and I missed out on a recent promotion opportunity. I sought advice and was told I needed to strenghten a particular area. So I have requested a sideways move on to a different project for 6 months that should give me the experience I lacked.

Your phone seems high for pay as you go. If you already own the handset, you can get a sim only deal for a lot cheaper with free minutes, texts and date. Mine is £9 a month with Sky

Sorry it is sim only.

I used to do the same job as you a long time ago. I got a job in a pub a couple of night during the week and one night at the weekend. That helped a lot.

If it is a leasehold flat you are buying make sure you factor service charge and ground rent in too. Check with the solicitors as this could easily be £100-150 a month plus the potential for large one off costs if major works are needed (eg new lift). Aside from that budget seems manageable though you won't have spare for lots of luxuries until you get promoted.

Your budget sounds fine. Keep a record of what things cost then refine the budget as you go and check you're still balancing it.

You're obviously missing the point with your CS competencies. Have you asked for feedback? I've seen so many which say 'I'm great at communicating and influencing, look at all the people I've worked with' which would score a 1, you need to say what you actually did.

Feel free to ping over an example.