My SOA

Hey!teacher! · 19 March 2017 at 12:08PM

Hi yes the pet stuff is 8 per cat to cover all flea treatments and vaccines plus
10 off bills at the vets. Not sure it's worth it, need to see how much the flea stuff would be for 2 cats.
10 is food, bulk order of good quality cat food ever 4 months or so.
I think all the spare cash currently is going back the house, we've had a wall knocked down in the kitchen so have had to redecorate, redo the floor. My husband is doing it all and we are doing it as cheaply as possible but then we are just spending as and when we need it. After this though it's two more expensive jobs, Windows to replace and insulation to improve before the winter. redecoration but only doing one room every few months and it's mainly paint. We are in a much bigger house, so had barely any furniture, we are getting secondhand wherever we can but still want to buy what will last rather than replacing again in a few years.

Food shop yes definitely need to cut down. We just have so little time whilst we try to budget and meal plan I find myself forgetting things and going back 3 x per week then spending more. We shop in aldi mainly but I'm finding their prices are going up and we are spending far too much.
Re making extra money I'm signed up for some extra work just waiting for it to come through, as an examiner.
I think I need to get my husband on board, he just uses his card and doesn't think. I take lunches for work but he won't, he'll buy stuff in a supermarket local to work. It's not expensive but it still builds up.
We are wasting cash just because we are so busy and don't have time to stop and look at it all.

cms-help · 19 March 2017 at 12:34PM

If you re-categorise your SOA, you are spending £815 a month on food and drink.

[Deleted User] · 19 March 2017 at 2:16PM

It'll be easier to follow, and more detailed (allowing us to offer more relevant advice), if you use the MSE SOA Calculator.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Hey!teacher! · 19 March 2017 at 2:19PM

Just saw the comments in red from cms-help, Lots of things to think about there, thanks.

Phones, just took something off my bundle to make it 25 a month. Husbands contract is up but I've been nagging him for weeks to sort it and he hasn't. I have a damaged phone on a contract until Oct. Think I'm going to use the insurance that I get from the bank, get a new phone/repair, then as soon as Oct comes round get a sim for half the cost.

Electric, we were under paying for ages so now we're paying off the debt. Bill is about 120 a month, this is for everything though, no gas here. In the summer we won't pay anything to heat water as it's solar. So I'm hoping after a year we can see it even out.

Council tax - you're telling me! I hate paying this as the council don't even own the lane our house is on, we do! It's a 4 bed semi! South East. We arecommend also paying a debt as they cooked the payments up. So it will go down after April to 180.

Hair, my hairdresser seems to put his prices up every time I go, I have short hair so need to get it cut every 8 weeks ish at 40 a go. Add in children's hair at 5 each and husbands at 10 and that's where I'm getting 32 from. I need a new hairdresser!

Drinking, I put that in wrong it's about 30 a month averaged over the year I guess.

Childcare is a tricky one. We use vouchers to send youngest to nursery 1 day a week. That costs 200 a month but will go down in Sept 2018 to virtually nothing with the new 30 hrs. My mum does wraparound care, school runs for eldest and 4 days a week term time. I pay her as she gave up work to do this so we support her with costs. We are getting very cheap childcare but it's going to be long term, another 10 years until my youngest can get himself to school and back.

Car maintenance I save around 200 a month for all big bills. I think I might look at a service plan though to see if that's cheaper.

Investment is just a child trust fund, the scheme was running when my daughter was born but not for my son, I think theres about 2k in it approx. We really need to start saving for my son, I'd rather put the child benefit into a saving account for them both but it just gets swallowed up with all other costs.

Lastly our interest rates.

HP on a bike that my husband uses to commute to work is 0%, it's 2k at 50 a month. Approx 4 years to pay off? He maintains it really well so it should last much longer than that.

Mortgage is two interest rates, 117k at 2.65% and 170 at 3.09% - both tracked for about 3 years. The lesser interest one is up in 2 years but not sure what to do about it in between, I guess it might make sense to see what interest rates are like and pay more off that one as it's going to track. Or pay more off the bigger sum. Anyway all theory at the momemt as we seem to spend everything!

I really need to write down everything I spend but the weakest link is my husband who just takes out cash and walks around with pockets of shrapnel and uses his card without thinking.

Hey!teacher! · 19 March 2017 at 2:24PM

Food and drink is crazy I know. I think we use it as a way to relax at the weekends, we will cook something nice to eat, bottle of wine, I drink two over the course of a week. Husband has real ale, maybe 4 bottles a night at the weekend. Weve cut down a lots but it did show when we did dry Jan, we had an extra 80 -100 in the bank!
As I've said though it's not 300 a month on drinking out, if only! Two small kids, rare babysitting...more like 30 a month, if that.

DCFC79 · 19 March 2017 at 3:17PM

You can cut the cost of car servicing/mot by doing little bits yourself like replace wiper blades, top up the oil etc, can even see if the council has an mot testing station where they only test the car to paß and arent interested in changing things that aren't needed.

Oh and you could redo the SOA sgain using the link Bedsit bob said.

enthusiasticsaver · 19 March 2017 at 4:24PM

I think budgeting is your downfall as you should have a considerable surplus although as you say you have been doing the house up so maybe it has been going on that. Living in the south east is expensive so that does not help.

My suggestion is that you get much better at budgeting and allocate money for everything including the essential home improvements and personal spends for you and your husband. Tell him he has to live within a budget for personal spends (either one cash withdrawal a week or do as I and my DH do and each have a standing order to our own personal spends account once a month). He has to make that last and we use our joint account only for budgeted categories for bills, house, holidays and cars.

Maybe your friends either have a smaller mortgage or higher income. No one knows their friends exact circumstances so no point in trying to compare your living standards to them.

enthusiasticsaver · 19 March 2017 at 4:26PM

Get rid of the bank account with the £25 fee. They are very poor value. £300 per year for what?

LabRatty · 19 March 2017 at 4:28PM

Hi,
As others have said there's a lot that can be trimmed if you have the will to do it, but I see the main issue as communication between the two of you about how you want to live your lives and spend your time. The rest will follow.
Suggested steps:
1. keep a spending diary of EVERYTHING that goes out for the next month. Ask OH at the end of each day so there is less likelihood of him forgetting spends.
2. analyse the results and see where the extra is going.
3. armed with the evidence, schedule an evening to talk with OH about your joint priorities. Whatever you decide, it has to be something that you do TOGETHER or frustration and conflict will ensue.
4. put your agreed plan into practice and review at the end of the month. Tweak as required.

Additionally, beware of the following:
- it looks as if you have included child benefit in your SOA. On your wage this will be clawed back by the inland revenue.
- paying your council tax over 12 months instead of 10 may make it easier to budget. Ring the council if you want to do this.
- do you actually use the gym?
- consider local f'book selling pages for kids' clothes - round us a carrier bag full can be got for a fiver.
- comparing yourself with others is a very quick way to end up envious and dissatisfied. You don't know their situations (debts?) and have made your own choices re kids, larger house etc, so enjoy your family and don't be tempted to feel hard done by.

Wishing you all the best,
LR

cms-help · 19 March 2017 at 5:09PM

I think there are a lot of savings to be had if you are sufficiently determined and can get your husband on board.

It does sound like him having an account of his own with a pre-determined "allowance" every month is the way to go - when he's spent it then he's spent it.

Am guessing from your user name, you're a teacher. Me too with a military husband so know what it's like to have no time. We have two kids and are fortunate enough not be in debt (other than mortgage) but still only spend £300 a month on food/drink and that includes all cleaning stuff and nappies for the youngest. That's Tesco shopping too. I'd honestly struggle to spend what you do.

We spend a lot more on childcare. Our phones are £30 a month on contract and that's with unlimited texts, 500 free minutes and my husband has a data bundle because he's away a lot. I hope that helps with examples of deals you can find by shopping around.

My SOA

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