This is my income / outgoings - can you tell me how you would work this?

[MrTumblesbitch]

I am crap with money, and I want to turn this around. If I tell you my info below, please would you tell me how much you would save? How much would you pay off your debt? Am I being unrealistic if I thought I could get a mortgage in the next 5 years? I have 10k gifted to me for a deposit from a relative, but I would still need an extra £5k minimum.

Any tips for how to actually become good at managing my money and sticking to a budget?

Thank you! Info below:

In:
2,300 income - this fluctuates as I am self employed, usually £2k though
400 - child benefit and maintenance

Out:
950 - rent and house bills
200 - I am tied in to a franchise for next 2.5 years
100 - debt payments (I owe aprox £6k)
100 - sky / mobile / internet etc (will get rid of this at end of contract)
50 - fuel - I have a work vehicle so this is absolute maximum and there are no other costs to it.

200 - food? I currently would say I spend an obscene amount on eating out as I am knackered / lazy / depressed about cooking for 1 (Ds has a packed lunch on way home, cooked meal at school) so this is a guestimate for 2 of us for a month.

50 - cleaning products / loo roll / toiletries / bits that aren't food.

I have no savings and I need to find / put away money for my tax bill as from next Jan (which terrifies me)

Have I forgotten anything?

That makes total in - 2700 (though usually aprox 2400)
Total out - 1650

Why am I always broke??? If these were your figures, please will you tell me how you would run your accounts so I can learn how not to be so bloody crap!

A million thank you's if anyone has read this far! ps name changed as I am embarrassed - cubes of poo, your minge etc etc....

I would think about your tax bill. Do you know roughly what it is going to be for tax/NI? Am assuming you are not registered for VAT and do not need to be.

If you can say, what on earth is this 'franchise'? That's some £6k over the time scale. Is it just pure outgoing?

You need to record every single penny you spend to work out where it's going. Boring but the only way.

You need to find money for a tax bill? Arrears or ongoing too? Do you have a decent accountant? Arr you a sole trader?

I was just going to say where's your tax and pension??

I earnt £20000 as my first year as a sole trader and because it went into payment on account my tax bill was £4600

Ooh thank you, I truly apologise for coming over as crap - I will answer as best I can:

I pay NI - I don't have a clue about my tax, my colleagues tell me that most things are tax deductable and they don't pay much..... I can't nail any one down to an exact amount though as all our salaries are slightly different. Not VAT registered, no.

Franchise is a business I signed up to nearly 3 years ago, it was meant to be the way forward and be the way I could work flexibly around ds but it has ended up being a money pit and I wish I could get out of it. 2 years left.

£6k debt is owed to a family member, it is from when my ex left when I was pregnant, they are incredibly patient / lovely about it, but I would love to pay it back quicker now I am in a better position financially.

Diary of spending...... right, will start that tomorrow. I am a big fritterer, I wince just thinking about it

ahh cross posts - hang on, thank you so much everyone. I'll reply now!

If you are making £2300 a month profit through your self employment your tax bill will be high. You can't write that much off!

You need to keep your tax in a separate account each month - 20% income tax after you've earned £10k (I think) in a financial year.

If you're recording every penny you will probably find you spend more than you think on food and groceries. Only way to budget here is to really meal plan and stick to one weekly shop with no extras.

You need to monitor what you spend, if you are not a saving in that income and expenditure either you e got the income wrong or the expenditure wrong. It's boring, but ultimately really really useful, to know exactly what you are spending each day on everything and anything. Carry a notepad around and write it all down, every tiny little thing, and then analyse it. Them, you can work out what you actually spend as opposed to what you think you spend, and make savings accordingly. There is a total mismatch on your initial figures if you say that's what you spend and yet you aren't saving.

Start off by really knowing what you currently spend all your money on.

Tax bill will be due next jan (I didn't earn enough this year to pay tax) I am a sole trader, and I have no accountant as up till now I have never earned enough to justify it and have always done the tax returns myself.

I have no pension.... I know, I know. God this is terrifying. I need to sort it out though. How do I even go about getting one? Is it the best option or is savings better?

Also you'll need to file a tax return by the end of January or you'll be fined. If you signed up 3 years ago have you not been doing tax returns??

£3500 approx tax bill for a full financial year if you are earning £2300 per month, I'd say

I have a nest pension, super easy to sort out and you get 20% back off government so better than interest and it just goes out your account and you don't think about it so better for me than savings x

so, say I earn 24000 (based on 2k a month which is average)

20 % of 14000 is £2800 is £234 a month I need to put aside in tax alone. Shit!

If it's her first one she'll go onto payment on account so she'll have to pay half again so it'll be more like £5500

I suspect you're hugely underestimating food if you're eating out or going for the convenience food. We were one of those who happily guesstimated that we spent about that a month on food.

Until we added in the takeaways, meals out, lunch on the go, picking up this and that on the way home and the total came to nearer £450.

Yes but then you have to pay national insurance on top of that.

What's payment on account, please ?

www.moneysavingexpert.com/tax-calculator/

Use this to work out tax + national insurance

29% - you'll have class 4 NI too.

And at £2800 that'll tip you into payments on account, so will be £4200 in January with a further £1400 due in July.

Maxwell I have been doing tax returns but haven't earned this much before, my earnings for this year will be under the threashold, so it is my tax bill for next jan that I need to worry about.

Will go and google nest pensions, thank you!

I genuinely want to be better at this, I need to be better so I can make the most of this for me and DS. Will get a notebook tomorrow.

I think at the mo, I spend at least £100 a week on food (take aways, meals out rather than actual food and cooking) It is a really bad habit I have got into

Thank you so much for replies, I am really grateful for your in put.

Payment on account is when you are self employed if you earn more than £1000 in tax and national insurance you have to pay half of next years tax too in your first bill. It genuinely nearly crippled me in my first year trading.

If it's her first one she'll go onto payment on account so she'll have to pay half again so it'll be more like £5500

What is this?