Here goes! (my SOA)

Spentit_3

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2One is mine, the other is my daughters that she needs to get to uni

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 280
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2580

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 343.72
Secured loan repayments................. 155.84
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 262.64
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 92 (110 over 10 months)
Electricity............................. 41
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 22
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 22.5(Sky tv, including phonecalls, landline and broadband
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200(new budget, probably closer to about £500)
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 2.92(£35 per year)
Car Insurance........................... 17
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... (no MOT for 3 years)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 88(I work from home for husbands business but returning to my old job soon)
Other child related expenses............ 68(School dinners, swimming lessons etc) Son enjoys hot meal at school )
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 22 (should add cat and dog food to this about £40 pm)
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20(Includes buildings)
Life assurance ......................... 40(critical illness cover)
Other insurance......................... 16(boiler cover)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1569.62


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 8000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 158000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 41124....(343.72)...4.69
Secured Debt.................. 18532....(155.84)...4.79
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 3204.....(262.64)...0
Total secured & HP debts...... 62860.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................9460......25........0
credit card....................1286......25........0
credit card....................539.......13........0
loan...........................8106......167.......9.42(loan for car)
loan...........................9201......206.......7.9
Loan...........................8248......236.......9.5
credit card....................2730......61........6.79
Total unsecured debts..........39570.....733.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,580
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,569.62
Available for debt repayments........... 1,010.38
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 733
Amount left after debt repayments....... 277.38

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 158,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -62,860
Total Unsecured debt.................... -39,570
Net Assets.............................. 58,774

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.


The truth is I want our situation to get better but I would find it hard to give up any of these things especially the car! We bought it new at a great price on the internet, it's very cheap to run. Eldest is at uni and needs car to get there, it would be a nightmare by public transport. We also pay the insurance on her car, it's on one of the credit cards and was £750.

Any advice greatly appreciated, please don't be too hard on me!

Spentit_3

Forgot to add that our income varies from month to month and isn't usually lower than this. When we get extra it always gets spent on rubbish so I'm keeping a spending diary this month and really trying hard not to buy anything I don't need. I'm meal planning too and working on putting all extra money into paying off the debts.

Sunny_Donny

Hi
Boiler cover - shop around as there are packages for less. Use Quidco.
Go to the old style board for help with menu planning and reducing the budget £200 sounds reasonable for you rather than £500.
others with more experience will be along to add more ideas.
Ebay any thing not used anymore.

Spentit_3

I keep hearing posters mentioning Quidco but I don't know what it is, I'll have to check that out, thanks

marfan_not_martian

Spentit wrote: »

I keep hearing posters mentioning Quidco but I don't know what it is, I'll have to check that out, thanks

www.quidco.com - you can earn cash back for just about anything - I got my home contents insurance last year for £ 85 for the year and earned £120 cash back - so in effect they paid me to have insurance for the year.

You can earn cash back for switching utility providers, car insurance - actually just about any insurance you can think off and also earn cashback when making day to day purchases online, ie littlewoods, hmv -- theres loads more - check it out

xx mnm

Spentit_3

Thanks Marfan, I'm just having a look now:D

johncolescarr

Hi,

Gas bill seems high, you have a big/old house? If you havent already done so, look at insulating roof/cavity wall. You can get grants for these. Make sure you shop around for gas and elec.

Other than this, a good portfolio. You can meet your repayments each month, so put any additional cash against the credit with the highest APR if you are able to do this without incurring penalty

btw, quidco is at following link:
http://www.quidco.com/

Keeping_Positive

Hello

You have the right idea on lots of things ie spending diary, grocery cut etc. Have you seen the http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk calculator. It will show you a debt free date and what to pay off first. The more you can use the excess monies to pay extra each month the better.

I do think you need to budget for dds car insurance, entertainment, haircuts etc. Its these things that are needed that ruin budgets by being not there or unrealistic.

Good luck

Numpty_Monkey

Thats a good deal you got there marfan:T

Theres nothing much to trim on your budget,
Maybe gas and electric
Life assuruance and boiler cover
and go through :TQuidco

Spentit_3

johncolescarr wrote: »

Hi,

Gas bill seems high, you have a big/old house? If you havent already done so, look at insulating roof/cavity wall. You can get grants for these. Make sure you shop around for gas and elec.

Other than this, a good portfolio. You can meet your repayments each month, so put any additional cash against the credit with the highest APR if you are able to do this without incurring penalty

btw, quidco is at following link:
http://www.quidco.com/

Just checking the gas statement, we don't have a big house and it's about 30yrs old. It has insulation in the roof and cavity insulation. We were paying £50 but the payments were put up to £65 last month but looking at it we only have a £10 deficit. I'll have to look into this.

nic_santorini

just had a quick look at your SOA. Must sayu I thought the first half was fine, low mortgage payment and your spending looks very minimilistic now but obviously was not always that way due to the amount of loans and credit cards you have. The same old advice of making sure the secured loans are paid off always and then tackle the credit cards - the highests first with any extra you have. You certainly are on the right tracks with keeping a spending diary and that will stop the unnecessary purchases. I am sure people will tell you to sell your car and pay off one loan - if you can afford to keep the loan, then keep the car - older cars have many unknown maintenance costs. Don't go for the services at main dealers. You need servicing to maintain any warranty and you can have these anywhere where the business is VAT registered, e.g. Kwik Fit. My nissan service was over £200 and Kwik fit was £72 - for the same thing. Menu planning, cooking in batches etc. Hope that helps.