Im new, my SOA, plan etc...

the_cat

schrojen wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3450 (thats from March as got raise
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 No JSA or other benefits?
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3450

Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 1400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158
Electricity............................. 50 Utilities seem high unless it's a biggish house
Gas..................................... 70 Ditto
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. abt 30 (Meter and no bill yet argh)
Telephone (land line)................... 40
Mobile phone............................ 60 Ouch!! PAYG...
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 38
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 500 Huge! But you know that now
Clothing................................ 100 Cut out for a while
Petrol/diesel........................... 80 I thought car was broken
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
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..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 50
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2651


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. broken!
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 0........0......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Barclaycard ...................3850......80.........24.9
Barclaycard 2..................1750......40.........same
Loan...........................500.......125........not sure but only 4 mts left
Overdraft......................800
Old bill for contacts 220..........
another
Total unsecured debts..........7120.........220.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3450
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2651
Available for debt repayments........... 799
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 220
Amount left after debt repayments....... 579

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 0


quote]

I have noted a couple of points above. What is OH doing for day to day money at present? Is this included anywhere. Did he get any redundancy payout at all? If so, you might be better off paying off some debts with it and using your salary to both live off, saving you interest

Deffo a spending diary for you both would help you track where it's all going. You can comfortably pay this off quite quickly with the excess in your budget, so I think that it's more a case of making sure that what is allowed in the budget in stuck to strictly

Good luck

schrojen

No benefits or other income..., and his spending money like getting to interviews etc not included in the above.difficult to measure. Utilities are what I pay in advance at the moment.which made me even when the bills came recently, gas shd go down soon tho as I just payed up to now and british gas is reducing their prices.water, god knows, never had a meter...they are coming in march to read it.I just thought I pay the same as I used to pay on fixed rate and hopefully get some back or else pay only little/not so much.But really not sure how the water meter thing will work out, waiting till next month. IM not including OH debt on here. He has an absolute huuuuuggge amount in which im not getting invloved, I just pay our bills and my debt. He is awful with money, even when he had a job, would spend the money rather than pay off debts and must have soo many defaults. Hopefully we can tackle that when he starts working again, he has had a few interviews. The deal normally is that he gives me 1000 per month for all bills. We got one holiday to save up for in august, wedding of his cousin...which is in asia....so thats another thing I gotta think of now and not mentioned in SOA

Jo_R_2

Just a little thing (not to us but I feel your pain!) but I have given up going to the hairdressers and now dye my own hair (okay, so OH does it most of the time but he's an odd guy who likes it!)

I get my preferred brands only when they're on sale so often have a few boxes sat about until I need them. Just a small thing but all the pennies add up!

natsplatnat

schrojen wrote: »

I havent been since October and that was only abt 50 quid. Paying 96 tonight (thats with a 40% discount) but this is becos having ridiculous grey hairs coming through...im only 31 and feel awful about it.

Just to make you feel a little better - I am not quite 29 and I have grey hairs too !!

schrojen

Hairdresser was well worth it...not a grey hair in sight haha.So yesterdays spend was 96 pounds...Going out tonight but hoping to keep spend to minimum, very clever that I forgot my free cigarettes at home !

tyllwyd

Some of the entries look high, but you seem to have income to cover it, so that's probably not the real problem. But with the two of you working up until fairly recently and no kids, my question would be why have you got debts and not savings? I can't help thinking that your SOA isn't a real reflection of what you have actually been spending up until now ... nothing on entertainment? nothing on presents? nothing on car maintenance? nothing on holidays?

I think you need to sit down and take control of your money - why not invest in a money management programme like MS Money or Personal Accountz, and start putting in what you are spending. Unless you know where the money is going, you aren't going to be able to make a realistic plan on where you can cut back.

schrojen

Yes there are of course things where the money went.the soa is more from sort of now.We have been on a massive holiday...OH was not working most of last year...car broke down last time and cost 400 pds to fix...xmas...trips home (im not from england and go home evry few months...plus my earnings above are from march, at the moment its 350 less...house move...so last year was pretty messy.oh and up until may I was earning abt 1000 less last year. So that sort of explains it I guess. Am having a spending diary now and made meal plans, so I think I am heading in the right direction!
oooooohhh got water bill yesterday, scary meter actually not so scary, we are in credit by 25 £ yiiipiie! so its actually not more expensive but slightly less to be on this meter !also now received sorn thingy so will cancel car insurance...
I have 109 on quidco but nothing got the paid status yet. When that comes it will go to the crdit cards.
Ohhh even better news, OH has found a job!!!starting Monday.unfortunately costs 90£ a week to travel and we dont know yet when he will get paid the first time, hopefully in 2 weeks.
This plan is coming together !!

sarahs999

I think you have the bones of what you need, but I just watned to say that your OH needs to be fully on board. My OH is traditionally v bad at money adn although he defers to me now and lets me control finances, he can easily blow £200 on nonsense after I've worked for weeks scrimping and saving and doing stupid reviews etc to earn about the same amount - and it does lead to ALMIGHTLY rows (mostly me shouting, him looking shamefaced, I have to admit). It's aan uphill struggle at the best of times, but if you're trying to carry your OH too it's a nigthmare.

And also, and this is REALLY important - right now you are probably at the peak of your 'spare cash' cycle in your life. You've got no kids, no mortgage. Believe me, if I had known how ridiculously I was frittering my cash when I was single and earning a good wage I would have been saving like a fiend. Once you have kids and a mortgage you will never go back to the kind of monetary freedom you have now, so you need to have a lightbulb moment about this. Just to illustrate, we pay about £800 a month on childcare at the moment, and that's with a Grandad doing two days. Imagine if you had that extra expense - and that's before all the other money that kids manage to drain out of your wallet! Sorry, this isn't meant to be a lecture, but your posts REALLY remind me of where I was a few short years ago. The cash you have now will be sorely needed in a few years' time.

schrojen

hA!that sounds very familiar !!! he is very much like that...but I live in hope. The best would atcually be if I could carry on with my bills etc as normal and use all the money he gives me (always a fuss getting it off him tho) to repay debts! but of course all this is always easier in theory.Im optimistic though, at leats for now

tyllwyd

schrojen wrote: »

...trips home (im not from england and go home evry few months...

Ohhh even better news, OH has found a job!!!starting Monday.

Congrats on his new job! That must be quite a relief for you both.

If you go home every few months, then I think you should definitely put that into your SOA. How much does it cost you each time - maybe £200 every three months? (Just a wild guess!) But that would be £60 per month. And when you go, do you need spending money to go out with friends/family? It all adds up, so if it important to you, you should budget for it.