here is my soa, please give your opinions.....

mummy2mygirls

Monthly income after tax................ 2300 (sometimes gets more for overtime??)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 165
Total monthly income.................... 2465

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 810
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 99
Electricity............................. 55
Gas..................................... 70(both have just gone up, and im going to try see if i can get them lower, including turning lights of etc.....)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 49
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 (i know a good start to get rid of but hubby wouldnt unless really really last resort...)
Internet Services....................... 16
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 (joined the grocery challenge and hope to get this down)
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0 (havent included this as i tend to just pay for when over time etc)
Car Insurance........................... 38
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 (same as tax)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 15
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 16
Contents insurance...................... 17
Life assurance ......................... 27
Other insurance......................... 16
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 100 (hubby smokes and this goes towards the cigs rather then going out etc)
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1881

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 155000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 9000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 164000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 129000...(810)......NaN
Total secured debts........... 129000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
tesco credit card..............4500......110.......18%
Kitchen loan...................7000......113.......13%
Car loan.......................8000......279.......20%
Sofa...........................566.......70.8......0%
Computer.......................800.......0.........0%
Total unsecured debts..........20866.....572.8..... less then first thought so have to change sig/check i havent missed something of....

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,465
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,881
Available for debt repayments........... 584
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 572.8
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 11.2

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 164,000
Total Secured debt...................... -129,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -20,866
Net Assets.............................. 14,134

Im sure there is more i spend each mth and dont think about so i am thinking of starting a spending diary and also get hubby to.....
hubby works and i stay at home with two daughters and no 3 on the way..
thanks for reading and any advice opinions etc would be great
mel x

mummy2mygirls

opps just thought of a debt not included for £300 to hubbys boss. 0% to pay of when can....

bargainbetty

mummy2mygirls wrote: »

Total monthly income.................... 2465

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 810
Council tax............................. 99
Electricity............................. 55
Gas..................................... 70(both have just gone up, and im going to try see if i can get them lower, including turning lights of etc.....)
Water rates............................. 49
Telephone (land line)................... 13 Can you get a combined cable/phone/broadband deal?
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 (i know a good start to get rid of but hubby wouldnt unless really really last resort...) Combined deal
Internet Services....................... 16 As above
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 (joined the grocery challenge and hope to get this down) They will help.... this could be almost halved!!
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0 (havent included this as i tend to just pay for when over time etc) Allow for it..... it sneaks up on you otherwise : )
Car Insurance........................... 38 Can this be reduced via a cashback site quote?
Other child related expenses............ 15
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 16 All insurances - check for the cheapest options via cashback sites.
Contents insurance...................... 17
Life assurance ......................... 27
Other insurance......................... 16
Entertainment........................... 100 (hubby smokes and this goes towards the cigs rather then going out etc) How about Sky OR fags?
Total monthly expenses.................. 1881

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 129000...(810)......NaN
Total secured debts........... 129000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
tesco credit card..............4500......110.......18% Call and ask for APR to be reduced or switch to a 0% balance transfer card
Kitchen loan...................7000......113.......13%
Car loan.......................8000......279.......20% Can you downgrade the car?
Sofa...........................566.......70.8......0%
Computer.......................800.......0.........0%

Definitely do a spending diary and visit the Old Stylers.... they will help you so much too.

Welcome and good luck x

moo2moo

First off stop buying things on the never never plan. £800 for a computer? Did you really need it. Wouldn't a £300 one have done just as well. Couldn't you have saved up for it or done the overtime? More to the point when do you start paying for it as repayments aren't covered in your SOA and you're sailing close enough to the wind as it is. The same goes for your kitchen and the car and the sofa. Did you really need them? and did you really need to spend as much as you did on them?

Using the car as an example: You took out the loan for £8000, with interest at 20% you'll end up paying £10718 for it. Is it really worth it?

OH might not want to loose Sky or quit smoking but OH did want a new computer and a car and a kitchen.

You're relying on overtime for a lot of things. What happens when that dries up? and when number 3 arrives will £11.20 a month (your current surplus) be enough to feed and clothe him/her?

Having said all the harsh stuff you can make a difference. First of all no more loan agreements. You can't afford them. You can knock a large chunk off your grocery bill but it means cooking from scratch and dropping down a brand on things. Either go cold turkey and halve it or gradually reduce it.

Whats the "other"insurance?

mummy2mygirls

hi thanks for your replies.
the other insurance is against the mortage, life and mortage cover is seperate as thats what was chapeast, but im sure its nearly time to look at checking all the house and life insurances....will check and then use quidco...
I know we shouldnt of got so much on credit and thats why we are hear,(bad times but anoth said no excuse!!) we was in even worse finances as we had more on credit for a tv, toys r us from last xmas etc etc and have managed to clear them in the last few mths from hubby bonus overtime etc!! so just lookinginto ways to help even more now. NO MORE on credit from now on in our house....
as for the broadband and sky together deals we are unlucky in the sense we live in this little village where most of the good deals are not available yet....like the sky offer and tiscally (checked a few but they couldnt do it. so was cheapest to get bt for phone all calls and broadband.) i might ring up sky today and lower the package as a compromise with hubby. He has also said he will smoke roll ups which are cheaper and also has a plan to of given up soon after xmas as he wants to before baby comes.
thanks for your comments its good to hear other opinons and give me the kick up the bum we need.

mummy2mygirls

hi thanks for your replies.
the other insurance is against the mortage, life and mortage cover is seperate as thats what was chapeast, but im sure its nearly time to look at checking all the house and life insurances....will check and then use quidco...
I know we shouldnt of got so much on credit and thats why we are hear,(bad times but anoth said no excuse!!) we was in even worse finances as we had more on credit for a tv, toys r us from last xmas etc etc and have managed to clear them in the last few mths from hubby bonus overtime etc!! so just lookinginto ways to help even more now. NO MORE on credit from now on in our house....
as for the broadband and sky together deals we are unlucky in the sense we live in this little village where most of the good deals are not available yet....like the sky offer and tiscally (checked a few but they couldnt do it. so was cheapest to get bt for phone all calls and broadband.) i might ring up sky today and lower the package as a compromise with hubby. He has also said he will smoke roll ups which are cheaper and also has a plan to of given up soon after xmas as he wants to before baby comes.
thanks for your comments its good to hear other opinons and give me the kick up the bum we need.
mel x

mummy2mygirls

not sure why it went on 2 times.....

doodledo_2

Welcome to the forum and well done for taking the big step of posting your SOA.

A couple of things jump out at me and that is your grocery bill and your internet/telephone costs. Joining the grocery challenge is a brilliant idea so hopefully you will be able to get that amount down.

Have you looked into the packages where you can combine your phone, tv and broadband. I know Sky do some as do Virgin, might be worth looking in to.

I assume you don't work as you are looking after your children but is there any capacity for you to take on a small part time job maybe whilst your OH is at home?

Have you got anything you could sell on Ebay/Amazon to raise some extra pennies which could be chucked at your debts?

Good luck with your journey.

mummy2mygirls

hi thanks for your reply,
the phone and bb is the cheapest i can get where i live, (all the nice cheap deals are not available in the village i live in)
i did do Avon for a little while but it really didnt work for me and i ended up in more trouble then not doing it!! dont ask lol.
i do sell on ebay and have joined the ebay challenge and have a nice big pile to add on tonight so that will be going towards the debts. i also have joined a myster shopping site and have doen two jobs (managed to fit them in when dh not at work) but i find they all say without children so cant do many which is a pain as its a good idea for extra cash. i am only joined to gfk so if anybody knows any other sites i can join aswell it would be great!
i did look into a part time job before i got pregnant and evening bar work or in resturant would be good for timings, but not now im pregnant but i will look into once baby is hear if things are not a little better.
also starting to do any questionnairs (sp? pregant brain is just not remembering how to spell it???) and the click sites as ways to earn a little extra that i can put towards the debt (every little helps??) so any sites that people have found good i would love to hear aswell.
been on the hunt for cheaper life insurance..

thanks for reading everyone
mel x

Tashja

Hi hun

You have £165 down for other income - do you get child benefit or WFTC. i am sure you should get a little bit more then this. Also have you looked in to what you would be entitled to now your pregnant (sure start grant £500, etc)

T xx

mummy2mygirls

hi tashja thanks for your reply. yeah the extra income is £42 for tax credit and and £125 for family alowence. the tax credit is the lowest one (i think) and you are not entitled to any other help like the maternity grant or milk tokens etc.
mel x