Is this a realistic SOA for starting uni?

littlepinkstars44

Ok so i start uni in September (going straight into 3rd year:eek:)

And my friend has offered me first choice when her current flatmates move out in August. I really love her flat, and i am there all the time, and would love to live with her. The flat is across the road from our work, and so much nearer to the city centre, so much easier to get to uni in the mornings.

So i have made an SOA including my student loan payment (which may end up being more if i don't live at home) and what i would be paying if i lived there, i was just wondering is this realistic? like for groceries and that, it would obvisouly only be my own food i would be buying. And if there is anything needing to be tweaked. I'm just trying to figure it all out before making a decision.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 340
Total monthly income.................... 640
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 265
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 15
Gas..................................... 15
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 60
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 489

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
New Look Card..................90........5.........28.9
Dorothy Perkins Card...........210.......10........29.9
Arcadia Staff Card.............220.......10........29.9
Carphone Warehouse.............49........0.........0
Other RBS Overdraft............115.......0.........0
RBS Overdraft..................1400......0.........0
BOS Overdraft..................950.......0.........0
Additions Account..............154.......15........38.9
Kays Account...................173.......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........3361......70........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 640
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 489
Available for debt repayments........... 151
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 70
Amount left after debt repayments....... 81
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,361
Net Assets.............................. -3,361
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

TMoose

Seems reasonable, but do check if a) water is included in rent, b) TV license is included and if you are not both students, there will be council tax.

And also remember the one-off cost of moving!

Horace

Cut up your store cards as well and stop spending on them some of the APRs on them are ridiculous.

beccad

Will you really only be spending £60 per month on groceries? Or have I missed something elsewhere?

Tixy

Doesn't look too bad. I would mention that you can live on £60per month groceries but you will need to be careful over what you buy. If you have ready meals, expensive brands and bottles of wine you could spend double that. If however you can cook (or learn to cook) 5 or 6 decent healthy meals from scratch you can live on this amount. Don't forget you also need to get household cleaning products etc out of this £60 - a tip here is buy own brand basics products, you don't need top brand bleach or puppy dog toilet rolls.

Have you agreed thats how much you would give her for gas & elec or will you be splitting the bills when they arrive? If the latter ask her what her recent bills have been like - and make sure you have warm jumpers so you don't need the heating on all the time!

Are you intending on having a PAYG dongle for your internet or will you contribute to your friends current bill?

littlepinkstars44

TMoose wrote: »

Seems reasonable, but do check if a) water is included in rent, b) TV license is included and if you are not both students, there will be council tax.

And also remember the one-off cost of moving!

I'm in Scotland, so we don't pay for water...i don't think...my mum doesnt anyway.
My friend isn't a student, but told me because i am, i don't pay the council tax, just her.

Not sure about the tv lisence, as the tv thats there now is one of her other flatmates, and he will be taking it with him, meaning we won't have a tv in the house.

slig

Looks ok to me, as Tmoose says check what's included with your rent and what isn't.

I'd be tempted to reduce the mobile cost enabling you to slightly increase the groceries budget, but this might not be possible yet. £60 for all food is doable, but it involves a bit of skill; £80 a month is possibly more realistic for the moment unless you are already accomplished at cooking on a budget.

In theory you could reduce entertainment, but you do need to make the most of the student experience while you can, so £10 a week seems fair . If you could get a job in somewhere like the students union bar, this is a good way of making the most of being at uni, but without having to spend loads on entertainment, as you'll be getting paid to be in the bar!

dumpy

Groceries seem very low.

You really could do with trying to get rid of much debt as you can before you start in September some of those store cards are going to eat money with the APRs.

littlepinkstars44

Tixy wrote: »

Doesn't look too bad. I would mention that you can live on £60per month groceries but you will need to be careful over what you buy. If you have ready meals, expensive brands and bottles of wine you could spend double that. If however you can cook (or learn to cook) 5 or 6 decent healthy meals from scratch you can live on this amount. Don't forget you also need to get household cleaning products etc out of this £60 - a tip here is buy own brand basics products, you don't need top brand bleach or puppy dog toilet rolls.

Have you agreed thats how much you would give her for gas & elec or will you be splitting the bills when they arrive? If the latter ask her what her recent bills have been like - and make sure you have warm jumpers so you don't need the heating on all the time!

Are you intending on having a PAYG dongle for your internet or will you contribute to your friends current bill?

Thanks, we both work in morrisons, so our staff discount will come in handy
No we haven't talked about gas or electricity yet, as we only found out that one of her flatmates is moving out next month yesterday!! The other one, we knew was moving to England for ages. So its really short notice for her and me. I don't know how much on average a 2 bedroom newly built flat costs typically for gas and electrity, i'm just guessing here.

But one of her flatmates leaves his pc on all night, and always uses the tumble drier and dishwasher. We are not planning on doing any of that so hoping the bills won't be overly high.

She has internet already, but i don't know who it's with, so i am going to find out and see if there is cheaper deals on that but i'm averaging about £15-£20 a month, which we will split bewtween us, as we both have laptops.

littlepinkstars44

slig wrote: »

Looks ok to me, as Tmoose says check what's included with your rent and what isn't.

I'd be tempted to reduce the mobile cost enabling you to slightly increase the groceries budget, but this might not be possible yet. £60 for all food is doable, but it involves a bit of skill; £80 a month is possibly more realistic for the moment unless you are already accomplished at cooking on a budget.

In theory you could reduce entertainment, but you do need to make the most of the student experience while you can, so £10 a week seems fair . If you could get a job in somewhere like the students union bar, this is a good way of making the most of being at uni, but without having to spend loads on entertainment, as you'll be getting paid to be in the bar!

My phone contract is up in October/November sometime...and i am already planning to get a new one with Virgin £18 a month for unlimited texts and 500 mins, so that sounds really good to me!

Unfortunalty, the extent of my cooking at the moment, is heating something up in a microwave, so i feel that the grocery budget may go way overboard for the first few months, while i try to learn to cook!

littlepinkstars44

dumpy wrote: »

Groceries seem very low.

You really could do with trying to get rid of much debt as you can before you start in September some of those store cards are going to eat money with the APRs.

I am trying to pay off as much as i can, but only earn £300 a month, as i am still only a 9 hour contract at work. I have managed to pick up a few extra shifts over the past 2 weeks, so hopefully that will continue and i can pay off the new look card before moving in with her.