My SOA- Help Please

tq16

Although we are not in debt (bar mortgage) my husbands salary is to be cut in sept and the figures just don't add up. Really don't want to end up getting loans etc if aviodable at all.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ £100
Partners monthly income after tax....... £1002.56
Benefits................................ £173.69
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... £1276.25

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ £400
Council tax............................. 152
Electricity............................. 45 (this is estimate as not had winter in house yet)
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 32
Telephone and internet combined................... 28.62 (BT)
Mobile phone............................ 22.50 (tied in to contract for 11more months)
TV Licence.............................. 12.01
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 150 (my husband will have to drive to new work but hoping this won't have to go up)
Road tax................................ 17.92
Car Insurance........................... 18.84
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet expenses................................ 6
Buildings insurance..................... £27
Contents insurance...................... 10.49
Life assurance ......................... 9.64
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 30
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Charity donations........................7
step/pilates class........................24


Total monthly expenses.................. 1453.02

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 195000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 197500
Unsecured Debts
none
Total unsecured debts..........0

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1276.25
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1453.02
Amount left .... -£176.77:eek:

I know that amount may not seem alot to some people, in fact is less than I had estimated (£400) based in my husbands salary (what have we been spending the extra £200 on!!!) but please help, Thank you x

geranium72

have you looked into whether your benefits will go up if your husband's salary is cut - will you get more WTC and CTC?


Sure someone else will be along soon to help with the SOA - although the charity donations are the obvious things to go as well as the exercise classes

misspoppy

Hi

Are you sure you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to? your income is very low can you go back to work maybe evenings or weekends as you can't actually afford your essentials right now. Realistically you need to cut out your child related costs, charity donations, step, holiday fund and emergency fund just to get by.

BeautyandtheBeast_3

hi and welcome

having a very quick look - entertainment has to go as well as does the charity donations.
could you take on the Avon or Betterware as a sideline??

g_attrill

Check this page - I am pretty you should be entitled to more than you are getting (which is probably just child benefits at the moment?)

http://www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/

You may well be entitled to even more than that, definitely worth checking out.

tq16

Thanks everyone, Hoping benefits should increase but won't be able to find out for def until sept-so trying to budget without them for now. Have paid for exercise classes until end of oct, but will stop then, so can cancel that amount off, been putting off cancelling charity donations-incase there was another way but think will have to cancel them :-(
I ahve just gone self employed but alot of the work I have been asked to do is reliant on funding, I am hoping to hear by end of month if funding has been recieved- fingers crossed. My income is from a saturday job- I have been applying for evening work also but with no luck so far- seems everyone needs the extra money right now :-( Where I live is overloaded with avon/betterware etc I have been looking into others- virgin vie etc but al seem to have quite high start up costs- does anyone know of any that don't? Going to join grocery challenge and see if i can reduce spends there- are there anymore challenges like that which may help?

Fire_Fox

Electric heating is expensive - I currently pay £34 a month for two of us in a two bedroom flat but I am VERY careful with the hot water and heating and never use a tumble dryer. Your budget is certainly posssible but I would strongly recommend you read the meter monthly through the winter so you can adjust your use as appropriate.

Have you checked your council tax banding? That seems high for a relatively small mortgage payment. Also do you absolutely need to run a car? Have you looked into some combination of public transport, cycling, car sharing or walking to work? There is nothing in your budget for car or home maintenance - how are you going to manage these?

You don't need three phones for two adults. There are some excellent Pilates DVDs on the market (try Modern Pilates/ Cherry Baker), could you perhaps just attend the Step classes? Instead of paying for a holiday you could collect the Sun vouchers or Clubcard points until you have enough.

Definitely read through the 'Up Your Income' board - you can easily make some pocket money from home. If you have a head for figures matched betting is a very good payer. Also is there any possibility your kids could share a room and you could take in a lodger? This would bring in up to £4000 a year tax free.

RAS

Some first thoughts

tq16 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ £100
Partners monthly income after tax....... £1002.56
Benefits................................ £173.69 - get an estimate of what is possible on the new income.
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... £1276.25

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ £400
Council tax............................. 152
Electricity............................. 45 (this is estimate as not had winter in house yet) -
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 32
Telephone and internet combined................... 28.62 (BT)
Mobile phone............................ 22.50 (tied in to contract for 11more months)
TV Licence.............................. 12.01
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 - can you cut a bit off this?
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 150 (my husband will have to drive to new work but hoping this won't have to go up) - can you reduce this?Road tax................................ 17.92
Car Insurance........................... 18.84
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50 - what is this?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet expenses................................ 6
Buildings insurance..................... £27 - THIS IS HIGH. uSE A COMPARISON WEB-SITE ANS SWAP VIA A CASH-BACK WEB-SITE
Contents insurance...................... 10.49
Life assurance ......................... 9.64
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50 - has to go
Holiday................................. 30 ditto
Emergency fund.......................... 50 - ditto
Charity donations........................7 ditto
step/pilates class........................24 - is going


Total monthly expenses.................. 1453.02

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 195000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 197500
Unsecured Debts
none
Total unsecured debts..........0

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1276.25
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1453.02
Amount left .... -£176.77:eek:

I know that amount may not seem alot to some people, in fact is less than I had estimated (£400) based in my husbands salary (what have we been spending the extra £200 on!!!) but please help, Thank you x

tq16

Firefox; thank you for advice. Will def check elec meter regularly- we are economy 7 so have got timers for as many appliances as poss so washing machine etc can run through cheaper elec times. (also have my granny knitting thick jumpers for the winter!)
Tax banding correct for where we live- 4 bed house, we are very lucky to have small mortgage though moving home at right times and also overpaid as much as we could before children born.
The girls already share a room (hopefully reduce heating bill) but have had disasters with a lodger in past- so that really would be a last resort for us.
We don't have 3 phones? did I put that?- mistake if did. We have landline and then 1 mobile (which I use for work-mainly), stupidly tied myself into an 18month contract before we were needing to make cuts-will change to cheaper plan or get rid as soon as can.
No way we could manage without a car unfortunately, we struggle sharing the one as it is. Only 1 bus each way to our nearest town, at really rubbish times- my husband is trying to find someone to lift share with. car maintenance £20 month. house maintenance has been coming out of entertainment or emergency money-so will need to reassess that.

Thanks RAS, building insurance high as we would a house fire which involved large claim (had to live with family for 6months) that is lowest we have found using many comparison sites :-( Working through grocery budget as we speak- have just joined gc challenge and hoping to reduce this to £150. Will check out tax credits to see if can estimate what we may be entitled to. You are right about the things that have to go- I guess reality not yet set in as pay not yet cut, keeping hoping someone with a magic wand will appear- better start living in the real world :-)

gfplux

Hello TQ16,

OK so you now know that the original SOA shows you THINK you are spending £176,77 EACH MONTH more than you have coming in.
How do you manage that as you do not show any debt??? except your mortgage.

What is your mortgage?

Do you in fact have no other debt, credit cards, catalogues, overdraft, etc, etc,

You know you have to stop this today, don't you? you can not put of any reduction in spending, like charity, after TODAY.

You should start a spending diary today to see where your money goes.

Also have a look at this site - http://www.cccs.co.uk/



Good Luck, come back and let us know what you think

BeautyandtheBeast_3

An Ironing service???

could you do that - i hate ironing!