Where Does It Go? - UK Money Blog £

One of the first cutbacks in reviewing my budget was my mobile phone - by the end of the contract this had risen to £35 a month after a half price deal had finished 12 months before.  I’ve always been on contract and have never tried pay-as-you-go, so thought I’ll try it out as a way of keeping track of my expenses.

£35 may be pittance compared to the girlfriends bill (£90 last month) but still felt unnecessary as I rarely used all my free minutes (I use email much more)

This didn’t stop 10 minutes of polite “No”s to the 3 salesman trying to convince me to take out a new contract.  I felt 18 months is a long time for any mobile phone contract at the moment, particularly with new deals coming out.

One of the big pluses with a contract phone is that you get a new phone out of the deal, but my Sony Ericsson’s performs well (well it takes calls and texts - thats all it has to do really innit? ) and I’d still be contactable.

Naturally if you use a phone more than I do, you may want to consider a contract, but I’m always conscious that the companies make their money on the contracts, not the phones.

3 my provider tried to sign me up to the £15 a month 300 anytime minutes or texts, which gives you 300 minutes or texts or some combination of the two.  This works out at 5p a minute or text.

I’ll compare this is the Pay-As-You-Go 12p a minute I’ll be on, but know I’ll be a lot less likely to use the phone with this rate upon it.  If I use the phone more than 125 minutes a month, I’ll be better off on the pay-as-you-go.

Am I just being kooky not wanting to be tied to a contract?  I just feel having the money coming out of my account kind of forces you to use the phone more.

Tags: budgeting, mobile phones, 3, contracts, tips

One of the first things to do when planning out your future is to figure out where you are now; how much are your outgoings and what income can you gather?

There are various ways of budgeting, and often just a sheet of paper with two columns for income and expenses will do, although other organisation tools such as online budget planner calculators, stand alone programs and excel worksheet templates can help make the outcome look prettier.

• Budget Planner Calculator - quick and easy input online without any personal information needed, along with a print out feature
• Microsoft template for budget planning with excel
• Personal Budget Excel Spreadsheet - simple template, no macros or installation
• MoneyExpert help on budget planning
• UK Gov official guide to budgeting
• Consumer Credit Counseling Service guide to budgeting
• Free online personal finance manager, Expensr.
• Social payment service, Buxfer
• Online budgeting social network, Wesabe

Hello and welcome to Where-Does-It-Go.Com, a resource to help answer a common cry looking at the bank balance at the end of the month - where does it all go? Rent, loans, credit cards, student debt, petrol, car tax, council tax - let alone food for the table and clothes for your back. In todays ever complicating society, it takes more administration than ever just to keep a roof over your head.

This website is an attempt to try and make sense of it all; for those who don’t want to just pay what they are told but to find ways to make your money work for you and make your life as hassle free as possible so you can get on with what you REALLY want to be doing with your free time.

I’ll be trying to keep the site plain speaking and so a degree in economics isn’t needed to understand all the legalese involved. Obviously this is just some site on the internet so take everything said as my opinion, but I’m hoping that my experience and background in mortgages, marketing and insurance will help focus on the facts that really matter to you on a day to day basis, whilst also tracking my progress as I try and make money matters as hassle free and optimised as possible.