SOA help please

LittleMissKitty

Hi, I've done a SOA (without the typos this time ) and I was hoping for some advice on where I could cut back a bit to free up some more money for debtbusting. It looks relatively healthy right now :j but DH is going to be made redundant next month so I really do need to reign things in in a bid to ride it out until he gets another job. Also we're on a tracker mortgage so things will only look so healthy until the rates start rising again...... and I'd like to overpay if at all possible.

Cheers
Kitty

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 280
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1404
Benefits................................ 200
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1884
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 550
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 135
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 22
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 18
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 325
Clothing................................ 250
Petrol/diesel........................... 175
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 37
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 26
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1826

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 350
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 176350

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 132684...(550)......2.24
Total secured & HP debts...... 132684....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft......................1600......0.........20
Inlaws.........................1400......0.........0
Parents........................8500......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........11500.....0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,884
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,826
Available for debt repayments........... 58
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 58
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 176,350
Total HP & Secured debt................. -132,684
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,500
Net Assets.............................. 32,166
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

~Beanie~

Is your clothing budget correct, £250 per month :eek:

LittleMissKitty

I seem completely incapable of filling this thing in correctly!!!!! It's meant to be a year. I'm useless! You see why I need the help yes.............

Kitty

LittleMissKitty

On the plus side you have just freed me up a couple of £100! by pointing that out!!! Thank you. Now I just have to work out where I'm currently spending that money

Kitty

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1404
Partners monthly income after tax....... 280
Benefits................................ 200
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1884
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 550
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 135
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 22
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 18
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 325
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 175
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 37
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 26
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1596

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 350
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 176350

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 133000...(550)......2.24
Total secured & HP debts...... 133000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
In-laws........................1400......0.........0
Parents........................8500......0.........0
Overdraft......................1600......0.........20
Total unsecured debts..........11500.....0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,884
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,596
Available for debt repayments........... 288
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 288
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 176,350
Total HP & Secured debt................. -133,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,500
Net Assets.............................. 31,850
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Horace

Keep a spending diary, that will show you where you are frittering your money away.

Tixy

Hello LittleMissKitty

I definatley agree with Horace, keeping a spending diary was a real eye-opener for me.

To be honest nothing really jumps out of your SOA to me. How recently have you checked to see if your gas & elec are the cheapest you can get? Try a price comparison and make sure you use the same company for both to get the dual fuel discount. If you are changing suppliers earn money through a cashback site such as quidco.

Some people do manage to spend less on groceries for a family of 5. I don't think its a huge amount - depends on the size of the children, if they're teens they'll obviously be eating more than toddlers. If you do want to make cut backs here you'll find loads of advice on the old school board - or try Martins drop a brand challenge.

Petrol seems quite high - are all the journeys necessary? Can you try to combine trips to reduce your mileage?

Presents seems quite high but I understand with 3 children you want to buy them certain things. If things get tight financially you may need to considering cutting back.

Hopefully when you've identified where the 'missing' £288 is you can stop spending that on whatever its going on.

Good luck.

Paragon

Hi Kitty, well everyone is different but I'll make a few comments on your SOA.

It might be possible to shave a bit off the groceries, but £325 a month doesn't seem extravagant for 5. I've been in debt for so long I pay to eat well so I don't get ill.

Car maintenance of £10 a month would be way to low for me. The trouble with car maint is it comes in big chunks and it needs doing otherwise you're left without wheels. I find it costs me about £4-500 a year to keep my 10 year old car going. That's about £35 to £40 a month.

As someone eles said £100 a month for presents etc sounds high - £1200 a year?

Also, zero for haircuts? Is it realistic? The worst thing I've found out about budgeting over the years has been setting myself unrealistic targets that you simply can't meet. best to overestimate on everything, if only slighty. It gives me room for contingencies.

Petrol - £175 a month? At 35mpg (low) that's 1500 miles or 18000 miles a year. I suppose at least this will drop hugely if its realated DH's job.

Otherwise looks good. Its amazing how it all goes!

sidnee

Are you paying anything towards the 3 debts you have? I would have thought the Overdraft is charging you?

Groceries - see if you can challenge yourself and your family to eat on £250 one month. Use what you can in the cupboards etc. If you managed that, why not try cutting further. Go on the "Old Style" messageboard for recipe tips on bulk cooking/batching/freezing.

Presents... could reign in on this one slightly, £1200 for pressies is high even with 3 kids birthday's and Xmas.

Gas/Elec - I would definitely search around for cheaper. £110 and month=£1300 a year for fuel costs. I think you could shave this cost by a) searching for a better deal, and b) saving costs yourself - switching off unnecessary appliances etc when not in use (i.e. overnight), cutting down on heating/hot water (as weather warms up), generally becoming more prudent.

Council Tax - can you arrange with your council to pay this over 12 months instead of 10? You should get free months around now if you are paying over 10.

Petrol - does this drop with your OH out of work? Factor this drop into your calculations.

theoretica

While you are planning have you checked everything you will be entitled to once your husband is without a job?

Pinky15

Hi there thought I would pop by and offer some suggestions, as I also have a family the same size lol. By meal planning I have found I have been able to do the shopping for £250. Outgrown stuff on ebay - have made £70 this month doing this. Can i also reiterate what someone else said about benefits. We earn about 300 more a month than you and get around 320 tax credits plus 170 fam allowance so check these just in case! Hope these suggestions help ! x

LittleMissKitty

Thanks all for replies. They've made me really think

@Paragon, you're probably right about car maintenance, we were lucky enough to be given a car in really good nick last year so haven't had to fork out for it yet, but I should probably budget a bit more for that realistically. Petrol is merely commuting which comes to about 21k miles a year so will drop off fairly soon. True about the haircuts though - haven't paid a penny for hair since I got married 5 years ago, it's a dream one day to be able to get a proper haircut without feeling guilty at the cost!

@Sidnee, I always forget to include OD charges as we've lived in our OD for 5 years so it's like another life expense. I think we pay about £15 each month but hopefully the OD will be cancelled out when DH gets his redundancy

@loaner, the premium bonds are pretty much my only emergency money, pathetic though it is I'm loathe to use it until I REALLY need to.

I think I'll definitely try the £250 a month groceries challenge. We're slowly converting to a beans on toast diet anyway in a bid to lower costs. I'm potty training DS1 but DS2 is still in nappies for a while yet (they're SO expensive!) and I'm going to wait a month or two for all the energy companies to level out and then look for a deal. Also I'll get on to Tax credits and find out what we'll be entitled to once DH is redundant (less than a week now :eek:)

Thanks again everyone, off to have a look at all the challenges and join in

Kitty