SOA - need to cut back, but how?

simongregson

milliemonster wrote: »

Does your husband pay into a work pension? as if so if he did keel over the pension would pay out anyway so if you have this the extra insurances are an extravagance you don't really need

This is very true, I found out that my work pension will pay out 3x yearly salary if I should keel over. This means I don't need as much life cover. Also, it may well offer an income should he become too ill to work, but it really depends on the scheme so do check!

Merlot

Tizzi wrote: »

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax.....................0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits............................................. 100 - child tax credit/family allowance
Other income............................ ........0
Total monthly income.................... 2100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ ........770 - 10 yrs left, 34k interest-only: 3 yrs left - Could you not remortgage and take over a longer period of time?
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... ............0
Management charge ....................... 0
Council tax.................................. .116
Electricity..................................... 37 - capped with gas on recent deal
Gas.............................................. 35
Oil................................................ 0
Water rates................................. 27.41
Telephone (land line)..................... 22 - tesco all incl calls
Mobile phone............................... 10 - 2 x PAYG
TV Licence................................ 11.61
Satellite/Cable TV......................... 20 - just reduced to this basic package - get rid off
Internet Services........................... 16
Groceries etc. ............................. 280 - 2 adults, 1 child. Need to reduce somehow.
Clothing........................................ 10 - rarely spend cash on clothes. Mainly use survey vouchers & buy in sales
Petrol/diesel.............................. ...100
Road tax....................................... 20 - have 2 cars, 1 old banger for commute, other on finance is family car
Car Insurance.............................. ...30
Car maintenance (including MOT).... 20
Car parking...................................... 0
Other travel..................................... 25 - bridge toll
Childcare/nursery.............................. 0
Other child related expenses.............. 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc)..... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills........................ 20 - total 3 pets
Buildings insurance........................... 37 - This is far far too high
Contents insurance........................... 47 - this is far far too high
Life assurance ................................... 99 - 2 people - too high
Other insurance................................. 46 - redundancy & health friendly society - too high
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)........ 10
Haircuts.............................................. 18
Entertainment........................................ 5
Union Subs........................................... 5 - forgot to change this from 'Holiday'!
Emergency fund.................................. 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 1882.02

Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 190000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000
Other assets............................ 6000
Total Assets............................ 203500

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 84000....(770)......0
Total secured debts........... 84000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................1800......50........0 - debt always card-tarted to 0%
car finance....................5000......105.......0 - DH's debt, not sure of APR% atm
Total unsecured debts..........6800......155.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income........................... 2,100
Expenses (including secured debts).......1,882.02
Available for debt repayments.............. 217.98
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 155
Surplus(deficit if negative)................. 62.98

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 203,500
Total Secured debt......................... -84,000
Total Unsecured debt...................... -6,800
Net Assets.................................... 112,700

It feels like we’ve had this credit card debt forever! And every month, we’re using our other ‘emergency’ credit card to ensure we don’t go overdrawn. We don’t end up overdrawn, and pay off the card in full the next month without fail, but we always seem to be only just keeping our heads above water.

The insurance policies are very important to my husband, who’s older than I am and very anxious that his family be protected should anything happen to him. We’ve just reduced his life assurance/critical illness policy by £40/month by taking out a new policy as he’s now been a non-smoker for 2 years.

We need to clear the credit card and save as much as possible, as next year we’ll be having to put about 6k of new debt onto a credit card again. Our house has old fashioned windows that are very unsafe for a young child, and we’ve got through this summer without needing to replace them but by next summer they’ll be too dangerous for us to put off any longer. Plus the endowment policy, which matures in 3 years, will have a roughly £16k shortfall on current projections (we’ve looked into the mis-selling route, but we’re not eligible to claim, alas).

So, we need to be making savings and clearing debts, but can’t seem to get anywhere. Returning to work is not an option for me (for various valid reasons) at the moment, so any debt clearing needs to come from cutting back rather than an extra salary.

Could you please cast an eye over my SOA (which I cannot get to post neatly lined up, for some reason) and let me know where (and how!) I can make more savings?

Thank you very much!

I have added comments in above, you are spending almost £200 per month on insurance, this is madness, its good to be prepared but you are running up credit card debt by having such high insurances, something has to give.

Merlot.x.