My SOA

kiwichick

Hi All,

This is my first time on DFW and I think (really really hope) its also my LBM. I am working out my SOA so this post will be a bit of a work in progress as I find all the info, hope thats OK-I dont want to type it on my PC and somehow loose it so once its on here it stays!!

Monthly Incomings;
Husbands Wage £2500 approx depending on expenses
Child Tax Credit £36ish
Child Benefit £174ish
Total £2710.00

Monthly Outgoings;
Mortgage £730
Building & Contents INS £23.49
Council Tax £123
Water/Rates £26.68
Gas/Elec £93
Home Phone(inc broadband) £41.40
TV License £11.41
SKY £37
Payment to DH’s Ex £130
DH “pocket money” £100
MPP £28.86
Cat Insurance £8.95
Times Subscription £22
Car Insurance £34.03
Petrol/Diesel £340 (approx)
Food £400 (approx)
Savings for Kids £50
Endowment Policy #1 £50
Endowment Policy #2 £30
Mobiles £26
DD for Virgin CC £25
Debenhams SC £20
HSBC CC £50
Ann Summers SC £15
TOTAL £2433.41

Debts;
Debenhams SC – Balance £202.42 (limit £1000) APR 18.9%
Virgin CC – Balance £843.71 (limit £2500) APR 0% until ????
Ann Summers SC – Balance £86.70 (limit £750) APR 29.9%
HSBC CC – Balance £1762.19 (limit £2000) APR 0% until Dec 08!!!!
Mortgage - £138661.48 Fixed until 30/11/2010 @ 4.58%
Overdraft #1 £1700 approx
Overdraft #2 £450 approx
TOTAL £143706.50

Al x

beanielou

Looking forward to y7our update.

kiwichick

So there it is! At first glance it may not seem too bad bad we are a family of 5 and each month are finding ourselves further and further overdrawn, we are close coming to the end of our limit and I dread to think what will happen if we get there. Christmas has been paid for in terms of presents etc on CC and SC which has only added to the debt. There are always the unforseen things like kids party invites, school trips, new shoes etc and those seem to swallow up any spare cash. DH and I are both terrible with money and tend to spend thinking that because its plastic (ie.a card) that its not real money:o .

My biggest CC debt ends its 0% term this month so the payment on that will shoot up. I have been pre approved for another 0% but am now unsure whether to transfer that balaance or leave it and ask what there LOB deal is for repayment??

Al x

morgani

You could possibly find home phone and broadband for around half the cost.
Could you cancel the times subscription?
Could you consider lowering your sky package?
Not great but could you put the kids savings on hold for a while until you sort yourself out? Or lower them a bit?

Doing all that could free up around £150 a month which you could use to start paying off some of the debts.

Also what about lowering DH 'pocket money' ???

kiwichick

morgani wrote: »

You could possibly find home phone and broadband for around half the cost. Am stupidly tied in to this for another 8 months.
Could you cancel the times subscription? DH wont budge on this one.
Could you consider lowering your sky package? I certainly will and would go for freeview but DH insists on having it for the sports package. I am going to ring sky and ask what the cheapest way of having the sports pack is and then say still too dear, hoping they will offer me a reduced rate for 3 months or so??
Not great but could you put the kids savings on hold for a while until you sort yourself out? Or lower them a bit? All the kids saving and endowments are ones which screw us financially as if we reduce or dont keep up oayments we loose what we have put in so far.

Doing all that could free up around £150 a month which you could use to start paying off some of the debts.

Also what about lowering DH 'pocket money' ??? I've recently cut this from £125 to £100

Hope that makes sense???

hot_saver

Downshift on the food - trust me - he wont notice (and ifhe does, keep the old packs & top up wuth the alternative brands) - You can easily save £120 permonth off your £400 food bill this way - use this to pay off your cards.

kiwichick

Thanks for that, I am joining the the Jan Grocery Challenge in OS, am keeping all receipts from dec and noting in my sig the spends. I am trying to be frugal in dec but then will aim for a lesser amount in Jan x

natsplatnat

Hi! And welcome!! :j

There will be loads of money saving and making tips coming your way - so stay tuned!!

Would it be worth suggesting that DH either pays for the Times subscription out of his allowance or that he gets the best bits free by email everyday?

Have a look at the Old style thread for tips on batch making meals and definitely down shift on the food brands! There are some that you won't like (I can't stand anything other that Heinze beans!!) but most things you will not be able to tell the difference!

Can I ask how many cars you insure for the £34.03 a month? And also is there a public transport alternative to help reduce the amount spent on fuel?

I wish you all the best and remember, you are not alone and it is doable!

:beer:

kiwichick

natsplatnat wrote: »

Can I ask how many cars you insure for the £34.03 a month? And also is there a public transport alternative to help reduce the amount spent on fuel?

Hello,

Its for one car, its mine a Ford Focus, I've only been driving for 2 years hence the hefty premium, insurance for the first year was over £1000!!!!!

As for petrol/diesel, I need to figure out how to get a handle on this as DH goes on long distance work trips which he gets money back for. I need to ask him to keep ALL his receipts for these spends so I can work out what is genuine house cost and what is work. I find it very hard working out what is real monthly income is as though we get around £2500 this amount includes any reimbursed business expenses. These can be food/diesel/hotel etc. Do I need to ask him to provide me a copy of his claims? Should I have a seperate acc from which his expenses get paid???

Thanks Guys,
Al xx

CLAPTON

You need to discuss with OH about simply stop spending anything on CCs.
Then you will see better how much you are over spending and its just too easy to overspend... use cash and when its gone then its gone.

At the moment your SOA shows a surplus of almost 300 .... where does it all go?
Try keeping a spending diary (both of you) and seeing where all the money really goes.
Try working out a more comprehensive budget (currently i don't see anything there for car tax, MOT, RAC/AA, servicing, what about the costs of the children?.. you need to budget for these too, what about socialising and costs of the next lot of presents , holidays, treats, cloths etc..

Unless you know where the money is really going its very difficult to stem the flow.
try
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

What sort of savings plan means you lose the existing savings unless you continue...check this out .... its very very unusual.

What sort of endowment do as above... its all very very usual.

If, as you say you are finding yourself more overdrawn every month then I'm sorry to say you are nearing a crisis situation.... and I'm afraid that saying OH's spending money of 100 and the sky and the times etc is non negotiable is going to cause the crisis to come forward.

kiwichick

I have been on the phone this morning sorting out deals for CC's. My HSBC 0% ended on the 2nd of Dec so I will have a hefty minimum payment to make on that this month. I have managed to be provisionally accepted for a 0% 9 months with Abbey though so am waiting for the paperwork for that to come out to me. I will then transfer the balance. Well, that is the plan at least. Would I be better off doing a LIB instead? I never know with the cost of the new transfer in terms of a % if I am better off doing a few of these to have a 0% deal or just the 1 to get a LIB transfer??

We have 3 CC's with nothing on them so I will be phoning to cancel those accs today also.

I will also be calling SKY to ask about reducing the ocst of our package.

DH came home last night with little chocs for the kids, a bg bar (EACH!) for me and him, pepsi and bread. I had asked only for bread. This is a good reason for me to take your advice and keep a spending diary for us both. So starting today I will be keeping one for our house acc and another for my personal acc, DH will keep one for the house acc and one for his own. I went through our statements last night and calculated that over that last month as well as having been given "pocket money" he took out over £200 in cash withdrawls!!!!!! When questioned he says he cant remember what for!!!

Changes will be made!!!!!