Just done our SOA- not good

cherrypie556

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1100
Benefits................................ 736
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1836

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 106
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 100
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34
Telephone (land line)................... 34
Mobile phone............................ 64
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 33
Car Insurance........................... 109
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 4
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 40
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 7
Other insurance......................... 7.5
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 29
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
unsecured loan.......................... 390
Total monthly expenses.................. 2099.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 6000

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest loan...................11750.....218.......0
Cahoot loan....................8000......172.......0
natwest credit card............1700......30........0
halifax credit card............2000......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........23450.....450.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,836
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,099.5
Available for debt repayments........... -263.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -713.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,450
Net Assets.............................. -17,450

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.
We are a family of 6 (4kids 2 adults) i do not work due to child care costs, hubby is self employed so our incomings do vary but the given amount is an average. We have one car and a van. I make our own bread, buy clothes etc from ebay or charity shops and are getting pre payment meters put in for gas and elec as just gone up to £200 a month.
.

**Amy**

Welcome to MSE.

The one thing that does jump out at me is that you have added the unsecured loan payments into your SOA twice (once under outgoings and once under unsecured debt payments). Does this mean you have that £390 "extra". This would take your surplus to -£323.50.

I would say you need to cut down on the mobile. Im sure you could at least cut that in half? And the meters would be a good idea for gas/electricity.

The only other option I can really see is an extra income. Have you looked on the "Up your income" board.

It might also be a good idea to contact one of the debt charities (www.cccs.co.uk or www.nationaldebtline.co.uk).

The CCCS has a form on their website which you can fill in and it will give you advice.

I hope this helps a bit.

x

moo2moo

Congratulations on posting!

Now down to business. I did read that your OH is self employed but a combined monthly phone bill of £98 seems huge. Can you get a fixed price landline package which would include all your calls at less than you are paying at the moment. As an example (but there are many others) BT unlimited anytime is £15.45 per month including free mobile saver add on (usually £1.50 per month) which allows you to make cheaper calls to mobiles. Can you shop around for a cheaper mobile package or make fewer calls?

Could you get a part time job when your OH is available to look after your children?

You should be able to reduce your food bill by 25% if not more, try the Old Style board for ideas.

Staciep88

cherrypie556 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0 could you not get a part time job?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1100
Benefits................................ 736
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1836

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 106 is this over 10 or 12 months?
Electricity............................. 100 wow - i see it has gone up you mention, could you not switch? or maybe buy a big coat and turn the heating off - thats what we do sometimes - no joke
Gas..................................... 100 again - wow
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34
Telephone (land line)................... 34 do you need this if you have mobiles?
Mobile phone............................ 64 can you lower the tarriff?
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 take a look at the moneysaving old style board. There is a man on there who feeds himself 3 times a day for 50p!!
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 33
Car Insurance........................... 109 change you swtich?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 4
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 40 whats this?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 7
Other insurance......................... 7.5
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 29 lower this
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 30 get rid of this
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
unsecured loan.......................... 390
Total monthly expenses.................. 2099.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 6000

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest loan...................11750.....218.......0
Cahoot loan....................8000......172.......0
natwest credit card............1700......30........0
halifax credit card............2000......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........23450.....450.......-
can you take out any 0% on balance transfers credit cards?
Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,836
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,099.5
Available for debt repayments........... -263.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -713.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,450
Net Assets.............................. -17,450

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.
We are a family of 6 (4kids 2 adults) i do not work due to child care costs, hubby is self employed so our incomings do vary but the given amount is an average. We have one car and a van. I make our own bread, buy clothes etc from ebay or charity shops and are getting pre payment meters put in for gas and elec as just gone up to £200 a month.
.

only a few things i have picked up on there

cherrypie556

Thanks guys. The mobiles are for two, mines £25 and rest is OH, he needs a lot of minutes as he spends a lot of time on the phone and we still have about 15 months on each contract to run so can't get rid of that. Re me getting a job, i have been looking and thought i had found a perfect solution. working in a care home 15 hrs a week 3 days a week 5pm-10pm and i got the job, however i would be working 15hrs for £6.43 extra a week because of the TC's we would lose so not worth it, especially ih Hubby has to knock jobs on the head to make sure he's home in time. I do do The bodyshop at home though to get a few extra pennies that way.Don't know about reducing our food bill by 25% we have 4 kids under 6 and i already shop at aldi buying only what is necerssary and buy the cheapest nappies i can (£5 for 50)

Oh and yes, i did add it twice so yes we ahave an additional £390 a month too.

cherrypie556

Stacey- The car insurance is for 2 cars, the landline is combined with the broadband and Tv so not worth getting rid as we would pay more. Can't cut back on the xmas.bday spend as we save with Park and thats how much it is a month. The halifax CC is a 0% bal transfer already. Other child related expensives is £10 each a month into their trustfund. CT i think is over 12 months all though not 100%

RAS

Hi love

You simply cannot afford to live as you are at the moment, so you are going to have to cut your expenditure.

Can I suggest that you go over to the Money Saving Old style board and talk to them?

If you are feeling brave, then let them loose on your most recent till receipt, if not, then just read their threads.

Many folk here would be suggest that you can cut the groceries bill in half, so 25% is not a tall order. try £50 this month and another £50 next month.

I do not recommend the pre-payment meter as the tariff is much higher than the normal one.

The average national gas/electricity bill is now over £1000, which means that you are payig over twice as much. start by going round the house and turning everything off except the fridge and freezer. Then turn both those off and check that the meter is stationary.

Once you have checked that turn the fridge and freezer and any heating controls back on but make sure you keep everything that you are not using turned off. Get energy saving lamps as they save about £14 per year if you use them in the most occupied rooms, so they repay the cost in months.

Double check if you are getting everything from www.entitledto.com, and do another check as if you are earning that 15 hours a week at the minimum wage, remembering that you pay no tax or NI.

You to separate out your hubbies work expenses and your family ones. I assume that the van is for work? Do you NEED another car? Can you reduce your insurance? And have you made any allowance for his tax liablities?

you cannot afford the child trust fund if you cannot afford to live within your means - harsh but you need to cancel it. With respect to park, when can you next cancel this?

barnaby-bear

If he's self-employed he should be claiming back a big chunk of the phone calls+rental/ petrol /car insurance (presumably so high as business use) / car repairs etc against tax each month.

The fuel bills are incredibly high - are you sure there's nothing wrong? The rent is low but the utility and food bills seem to be the killer they are very high.

savingholmes

If you do change you car insurance and things like that - do it through a cash back site so you can earn some money on the change.

I cut out unnecessary things on my house insurance - and reduced that by £30 a month, with my car - I got a discount... I pay £300 per year. OH pays similar... Your bill seems huge - I assume it must be age/accident related? It would be worth looking into. We've just reduced our phone and broadband by £29 it's worth looking into that as well. We switched our gas and elec - if I had done it through quidco I would have got up to £100....

cherrypie556

barnaby-bear wrote: »

If he's self-employed he should be claiming back a big chunk of the phone calls+rental/ petrol /car insurance (presumably so high as business use) / car repairs etc against tax each month.

The fuel bills are incredibly high - are you sure there's nothing wrong? The rent is low but the utility and food bills seem to be the killer they are very high.

Yes our fuel bills are obscence. We have rung N-power and we have had them checked by doing a reading every night at the same time for 7 days and they came back as normal. We do turn everything off in the house. The only things that are constantly on is the fridge, freezer and internet. I would love to cut our food bill by as much as poss but don't really know how too. I do not have the time or the patience to go trapcing from store to store looking for the best deals. But i will try anything. I'd love to make everything if i knew how.

His car insurance is high because its used for work so insured for all his tools too but he also has had a 28 day ban which puts it up slightly. Yes we need the other car as his van is only a 2 seater and we live in the sticks so need it to get anywhere. Its costly as the petrol/deisel prices are so high!

RAS

Cherrypie.

How many units of power are you using each day????

Re the travel costs, have you considered that he may not be charging enough to cover the costs of his work travel? Just about everyone is telling customers that with increased input costs, they have to increase their prices. If you do it nicely, and explain, people understand.

And with the van, have you checked whether keeping the tools out of the van at night would make a difference? And are you charging the cost of this insurance against his income?