soa & How do you pay off a loan?!

scaredy_cat_2 · 6 January 2007 at 7:38PM

well, i read both southern scousers list and martins advice in budget planner as i haven't been keeping a record of spending at all , so i have used the last 3 months statements (sept, oct, nov) and worked out an average plus including things i know for sure. some of it is a bit Hazy e.g with cheques as just don't know what they are for

i would really love some help but can already see some things - someone had suggested paying off next - i am working 2 days supply teaching next week and this will pay my next account which will then be closed. In feb and mar i won't have to pay council tax so will put £208 towards o/d

2 adults 2 children

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - 0 (but i will be doing some supply teaching so could be £300)
Partners salary - £1237
benefit - £520 (this will go down soon)

Total - £1757

Monthly Outgoings:
Food £515 (this was 21 visits to supermkt, includes cleaning, toiletries, nappies etc and possible cashback) 22 visits!
Mortgage £541 (we are having a 4 month payment holiday starts end jan
Water £70.50
council tax £104
tv licence £11.37
house insurance £33
phone £30
subscription £2.50
Norwich union life cover £17
british gas electric £59
british gas £20
bg service contract £26
orange internet £17.99
swimming £35
fuel £50
car ins, tax,mot (using martins budget) £50
Total: £1582.36

on top of that there are other things that i would never have included but having used martins budget spreadsheet here they are

birthdays £26
christmas £50 ( i do actually save this each month)
hair £100
photos £10
leisure and family days - found this hard to calculate as we don't actually do loads costly things but perhaps around £20 i have overestimated rather than under
interest on o/d £20
bank charges £30 i am in process of reclaiming just under £900

windows £3.50
wheeli bin £2.50

all of these totals £242

so a grand total of 1824.36

its worse than i thought combined with debts which i will cut and paste from my earlier posts - no wonder i am o/d as i haven't even included loans and cc in the above
First Direct Loan originally £6000 over 66 months at 6.9%
Monthly payment £109.02 and 41 payments left (so £4469.82) but resettlement figure today is £4048.27. They say I can’t make overpayments on this.

First Direct 0/d (not quite sure as just put £700 on halifax for this) £2600 approx

Next directory APR 26.49% £150 generally pay minimum payment on this

Scottish Power (old gas bill) from transfer mess up £268.64 paying £30 a month

Graduate loan – Barclays resettlement figure £4503.92 an enormous 72 payments left at £78.77 at 7.9%

Husband’s o/d we think this is still 0% but will clarify. it is £1907

virgin cc just transferred 0% £2600
Halifax cc just transferred 0% £765

MIL 0% £2000

so £18874

also have mortgage and dh student loan comes out of his wages but i can't even go to these yet really

i feel sick and just need to sort this out - i do not want to live like this anymore - its pants. how can i have been so stupid and irresponsible

BUT now to be more positive and not whingy! and sort this mess out

millionaire_in_training · 6 January 2007 at 7:54PM

Never fear. If you are determined to do this and pay off your debts you will manage. This is my first month really trying although been reading this for a while and feel really inspired. I'm sure lots of people will look at your SOA and give you good advice but I wont even try. What I would say is I have managed to cut my shopping massively by writing a menu and buying exactly what I need.Take on board all the advice given and you will be fine. BTW there is myself and 2 kids being fed here.Good luck xx

lyric_grace · 6 January 2007 at 7:59PM

I'm not the most experienced person at this but at first glance your water seems high, are you on a meter? Or is this also an arrears payment? And also whats the thing on there called subscription £2.50 is this a charity payment?

oakdale_minx · 6 January 2007 at 7:59PM

Hi there scaredy cat, well done for writing it all down, I think that is probably one of the scariest parts!!

These are a afew things that jump out at me, i'm sure some of the other luvverly MSE'ers will be along to help soon.

scaredy_cat wrote:

Food £515 (this was 21 visits to supermkt, includes cleaning, toiletries, nappies etc and possible cashback) 22 visits! Visit the OS board, you will be able to reduce this hugely over a few months of planning

Water £70.50 Very high - are you on a meter?
house insurance £33 Have you looked at any other providers? You could probably shave a few pounds of this
subscription £2.50 What is this for? Can it be cancelled?

british gas electric £59
british gas £20 Added together these seem high, have you looked at uswitch to see if anyone else is cheaper?
swimming £35 Can this be reduced?

hair £100 is this a month?:eek:
photos £10 What are the photos of? £10 every month?

windows £3.50 Could you do yourself?
wheeli bin £2.50 Again, could you clean yourself?

scaredy_cat_2 · 6 January 2007 at 8:19PM

millionaire_in_training wrote:

What I would say is I have managed to cut my shopping massively by writing a menu and buying exactly what I need.

its funny but i would have claimed to have been doing this but on reflection i am so obviously not - have written meal plan for week, using as much as possible from freezer and cupboard and have already shopped for it today and did onoly buy what needed! thanks

Oakdale minx

water - not sure why this is high - i have to say this is another area where i am not sure why i pay this :eek: we are on a meter so i will add this to my list to investigate. we did have an extension built 2 years ago so lots water used by builders but even so - i have always paid it and by dd

house insurance £33 - we do house swaps for holidays and once mentioned no one would insure us!! not sure what to do about this. 3 free holidays this year!

swimming lessons can't be reduced - and it is due each school term but we put each one into 3 payments

£2.50 is a charity payment but i have to keep it because i am doing some training although if you are on benefits you can pay £1 for year but i have just paid it for the last 2 because its on dd and i felt i should for the charity will ring next week - have added to list

have only just swapped to british gas for gas have had awful time over last year with no gas supplier and desperately trying to sort out so loathe to do that just yet again but will do for elec

hair was £100 last month as had it coloured for 1st time and will be last time what was i thinking :eek: but is normally £100 a year for me and 2 dd

just spoke to dh will cancel wheelie bin and windows

photos are of children but dh has already been nagging that we dont' need to print out everyone - still in old processing film mode with digital camera so need to take his advice and jsut print/develop the ones we need and store rest on disc/pc

lots to think about and do - thanks

bananakinz · 6 January 2007 at 8:30PM

scaredy_cat wrote:

swimming lessons can't be reduced - and it is due each school term but we put each one into 3 payments

Just a thought, following on from a discussion that I was having with a mum at school - swimming lessons have to be provided as part of the curriculum - what would happen if you don't pay

school would still have to take the kids otherwise they wouldn't be fulfilling their duties

roswell · 6 January 2007 at 8:41PM

windows £3.50
wheeli bin £2.50

A couple of minutes a month will see these done away with, just to show you what your spending will do your annual out goings so you easy see where whats going and whats costing to what, I find thsi the best way to cut out whats not needed.

roswell · 6 January 2007 at 8:49PM

Food £512.00 £6,144.00
Mortgage £541.00 £6,492.00
Water £70.50 £846.00
council tax £104.00 £1,248.00
tv licence £11.37 £136.44
house insurance £33.00 £396.00
phone £30.00 £360.00
subscription £2.50 £30.00
Norwich union life cover £17.00 £204.00
british gas electric £59.00 £708.00
british gas £20.00 £240.00
bg service contract £26.00 £312.00
orange internet £17.99 £215.88
swimming £35.00 £420.00
fuel £50.00 £600.00
car ins, tax,mot (using martins budget) £50.00 £600.00

birthdays £26.00 £312.00
christmas £50 ( i do actually save this each month) £50.00 £600.00
hair £100.00 £1,200.00
photos £10.00 £120.00
leisure and family days £20.00 £240.00
interest on o/d £20.00 £240.00
bank charges £30 i am in process of reclaiming just under £900 £30.00 £360.00

windows £3.50 £42.00
wheeli bin £2.50 £30.00

Outgoings a year £22,096.32

Partners salary - £1,237.00 £14,844.00
benefit - £520.00 £6,240.00

Income £21,084.00

scaredy_cat_2 · 6 January 2007 at 8:57PM

bananakinz wrote:

Just a thought, following on from a discussion that I was having with a mum at school - swimming lessons have to be provided as part of the curriculum - what would happen if you don't pay school would still have to take the kids otherwise they wouldn't be fulfilling their duties

this is true but i think i misled as my 2 are 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 just swimming lessons organised in terms

shame though because that would save lots. Schools do have a duty to do swimming - i used to work at a school and swimming was free for the children - bus and all - do you get charged?

scaredy_cat_2 · 6 January 2007 at 9:02PM

Roswell, that is amazing - jsut showed dh and we both are quite speechless and stunned. some of those amounts are shocking. I have never looked at finances like that and it certainly puts things into perspective. thank you so much for doing that :embarasse over £800 on water a year seems a lot? see the problem is i just don't really know how much is reasonable which is also a little embarassing

roswell · 6 January 2007 at 9:35PM

I would look into the following

Food £512.00 £6,144.00 ( 1 think this really needs looking at ) personnaly (no kids) we budget £20 a week for each adult if you did that and £15 a week for each child it should be £40(2 adults) £30(2 children) = £70 a week (£280 a month) this is just a guess as i dont know what children cost.

bg service contract £26.00 £312.00 (Do you get £312 worth of stuff fixed a year ?) Or could you save this to an emergancy fund ?

swimming £35.00 £420.00 (any way to cut this down ?)

soa & How do you pay off a loan?!

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