What would you do differently? (SOA inc)

PatchCabbage

Hi All,

I've been reading this board for a while but now I'm ready to admit I might not be doing things right as every month I'm never where I think I should be... so I've posted my SOA below and would love to hear where you think I should make changes. I've already done/doing the following so any advice would be brilliant...

(It's based on my half of our household out-goings, there's just me OH and the cat.)

I pay all essential bill money and £110 into the j/ac each month to cover our joint responsibilities and tesco costs, so some numbers might seem low- they're the full amount over 12 then over 2.

We don't have a car but I commute which costs around £398 per month (no choice in that cost :mad: )

I've been reducing my OD on my current account by £100 a month but I've only been paying the min on the CC and nothing on the 0% OD.

I hope it all makes sense and I'd love to hear your thoughts, my aim is to have no debts at all by dec 2010.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1844 (Just my income)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1844
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 375 (My half)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 57 (My half)
Electricity............................. 17.5 (My half but we are in credit for more than £300 :eek:)
Gas..................................... 27.5 (My half but we are more than £500 in credit :eek:)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 6.66 (My half and we are on a set rate of £160 a year
Telephone (land line)................... 16 (My half, this is for virgin with phone, broadband and tv fixed until may)
Mobile phone............................ 37 (This is my baby :rolleyes:)
TV Licence.............................. 6
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0 (As above)
Internet Services....................... 0 (As above)
Groceries etc. ......................... 105
Clothing................................ 60 (I never mean to spend this month but I'm on SW and so need new work things regularly as I shrink- good but bad side of dieting!)
Petrol/diesel........................... 0 (We genuinely have no car)
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 398 (Unavoidable unless I get some tube refunds from the delightfull people at TFL for late tubes)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35 (Contact lenses)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12.93 (Worth every penny, he would be dead by now without it)
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6 (No buildings as the LL has that, I shopped around and renewed in November)
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 (ok so this was me roughly thinking I spend £300 a year on presents including presents... as I buy only 5 presents a year at around £60 each...)
Haircuts................................ 20 (This could go....)
Entertainment........................... 50 (Two curries).
Holiday................................. 100 (Motnhly installments for a holiday next December)
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1379.59

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 390
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 390

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card (Natwest student)....................490.......11........17.9
overdraft (Natwest Student)......................1100......0.........0
overdraft (RBS adult )......................400.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........1990......11........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,844
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,379.59
Available for debt repayments........... 464.41
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 11
Amount left after debt repayments....... 453.41

---

> so where does this go?
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 390 (I can't sell these as they're at the bottom of their value)
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,990
Net Assets.............................. -1,600


Any help is much appreciated, I feel like the OD's and CC's are in the way of me getting a house :mad: I know it isn't big amounts but I seem to struggle to get my head around where my money is and where it's meant to be... e.g. I have less than £150 of my RBS OD left until payday mid-January...yet apparently I had £453ish left after payments?

(I've exhausted ebayamazon, I made £300 for another OD.)

Sorry for the long first(ish) post but I know the more info the better! Hope it was useful info

XPatch

Tixy

Hi and well done for posting (and thanks for the useful explanations)

It seems to me you need to work out where the missing suplus money is going. If your od is reducing by £100 then you still have over £300 'leaking'. The best way to identify this is to keep a really detailed spending diary, which can handily start with the beginning of 2010. You need to write down every single item you spend on for a couple of months to see where its going.

Other things from your SoA - as its winter its sensible to be a bit in credit with your gas & elec but those are crazy amounts (especially considering the amount you are paying). I would seriously consider ringing them up and asking for say £150 and £250 to be refunded to you, then with your share of £200 you could pay straight to your credit card.

I guess you know you could get a cheaper mobile contract but I understand and mine is that amount too, its my indulgence (well one of them!)

Re the clothing - again hard in your situation, do try to minimise or could you either some very basic items (plain black trousers) that you can wear with several items or even something with a bit of elastic in the waist? If you are not going to be wearing them for long (as you continue to lose weight) then they don't need to be top quality, so shop around for cheap basics, if you have to wear suits even consider the supermarkets own brand.

Are your contacts all of the £35 per month? I used to pay £27 for my daily disposables but I now get the same branded lens from Asda for £45 for 180 lenses (3months supply -which actually last me 4months) so only £11 per month now. So do shop around and see whether you can save - there is an article somewhere on MSE recommending places to try.

Good luck.

lolly_896

Well done on stating your SOA, the only biggies i can see are the mobby but its nice to have something nice. And the curries, i think £50 on 2 currys is crazy lol We have a take away her that does starters, mains, rice and naan for £5 person. Maybe see if you can look at other options?

Ohh and definatley keep a spending diary as all the pennies spent adds up, so when i pop to the shop for milk and spend £20! Thats where it all goes

And groceries I'm guessing £105 is your half so between you, you spend £210. With some careful planning im sure this could be cut, we spend about £30 a week on a family of 4 x

curlytop12

do you mean you are in arrears with gas and electric? ie.you owe them or they owe you?

DVardysShadow

Just slightly concerned that you are doing this as your half of a household with a joint account. Is your OH is good financial health? Do you have any kind of financial product other than the joint account in common? Is the joint account in good health? If the answer to any of these is 'no' then perhaps you should give a little more detail, because problems here can undermine your efforts on your own financial health.

Re the SoA, I echo Tixy's comments about money leaking - you need to find out how it is going, because leaks can grow to take away all the benefits of you savings efforts. Having said that, I note £35/month on contact lenses - a good pair of spectacles will last for 2 years and look good if you decide to splash out, but still pay for itself in 6 months.

Poosmate

Regarding your contact lenses, you could always have laser eye treatment and your eyes should be good for many years. I've seen advertised on the tv that it's come down to £395 per eye so it would pay for itself in less than 2 years (if you chose that treatment).

I had my eyes lasered about 4 years ago and mine are still fine. I found it to be a true miracle - for the first time in years I could actually see what my bedroom looked like in the dark (well with the light from the streetlight), I could clearly see what was shampoo and conditioner in the shower. It was truely liberating! I am still in awe of the procedure.

The treatment I had was the more expensive treatment at the time (£1500) but I got both done for £1000 because I was flexible with the clinic that did it (i.e. fit in with their timescales - tbh I didn't notice any difference in being flexible than not).

When I had mine done there were 2 main procedures. I had the more intrusive treatment (I think it was Lasik but I get mixed up with the two) but recovery is much quicker and less uncomfortable (painful - feels like a bit of grit in your eye for a short while) this lasts for a few hours. The other is less intrusive but the recovery is longer and more uncomfortable (painful - feels like you've scratched your cornea (that hurts!) because that's basically what the procedure is) this lasts for about 24 hours then goes to grit in eye pain for about another day.

It truely is liberating and frees up so much time in the morning, no more messing with wetting/cleaning solutions and no more worry about losing a lens at the most inconvenient time ( Aaarrgh! Everyone stand still, I've lost my contact lens! <-- I don't miss those days! lol).

Oh and I once put cleaning solution on my contact lense before inserting it into my eye. The pain was almost unbearable! It was like I'd put drops of acid in my eye!

Hope that helps someone.

Poo

firestronaut

PatchCabbage wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1844 (Just my income)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1844
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 375 (My half)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 57 (My half)
Electricity............................. 17.5 (My half but we are in credit for more than £300 :eek:)
Gas..................................... 27.5 (My half but we are more than £500 in credit :eek:)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 6.66 (My half and we are on a set rate of £160 a year
Telephone (land line)................... 16 (My half, this is for virgin with phone, broadband and tv fixed until may)
Mobile phone............................ 37 (This is my baby :rolleyes:) Do you use all of the usage you get? If not, see if you can switch to a cheaper tariff.
TV Licence.............................. 6
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0 (As above)
Internet Services....................... 0 (As above)
Groceries etc. ......................... 105 Careful meal planning and switching to cheaper brands can help this.
Clothing................................ 60 (I never mean to spend this month but I'm on SW and so need new work things regularly as I shrink- good but bad side of dieting!) Join the crazy clothes challenge! Buy second hand and use charity shops! £60 is so high :eek:
Petrol/diesel........................... 0 (We genuinely have no car)
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 398 (Unavoidable unless I get some tube refunds from the delightfull people at TFL for late tubes) Can you not get some kind of discount if you buy a monthly pass?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35 (Contact lenses)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12.93 (Worth every penny, he would be dead by now without it)
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6 (No buildings as the LL has that, I shopped around and renewed in November)
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 (ok so this was me roughly thinking I spend £300 a year on presents including presents... as I buy only 5 presents a year at around £60 each...) Cheaper presents are just as good sometimes! You can easily knock £20/30 off this, especially since you have no children!
Haircuts................................ 20 (This could go....) I get my haircut 4 times a year at a backstreet salon. £15 for a restyle and I've never looked back.
Entertainment........................... 50 (Two curries).
Holiday................................. 100 (Motnhly installments for a holiday next December)
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1379.59

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 390
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 390

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card (Natwest student)....................490.......11........17.9 Pay more off this, you'll end up saving yourself money with the APR.
overdraft (Natwest Student)......................1100......0.........0
overdraft (RBS adult )......................400.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........1990......11........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,844
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,379.59
Available for debt repayments........... 464.41
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 11
Amount left after debt repayments....... 453.41

---

> so where does this go? Start a spending diary/
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 390 (I can't sell these as they're at the bottom of their value)
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,990
Net Assets.............................. -1,600


Any help is much appreciated, I feel like the OD's and CC's are in the way of me getting a house :mad: I know it isn't big amounts but I seem to struggle to get my head around where my money is and where it's meant to be... e.g. I have less than £150 of my RBS OD left until payday mid-January...yet apparently I had £453ish left after payments?

(I've exhausted ebayamazon, I made £300 for another OD.)

Sorry for the long first(ish) post but I know the more info the better! Hope it was useful info

XPatch

Hope this helps.

PatchCabbage

ok so... I think all the Q's are answered below...

Tixy - I've just opened a new 'spending diary', I will aim for a week first as I know if I think I have to do it for months I will never get round to it! I would cancel the contacts but I've only just got them... I feel like I will be in trouble with D&A...I will see if I can put them on hold whilst I look for a cheaper deal, but D&A were good as I have a toric lense which seems to cause problems. I will also see whether I can get some credit back from British Gas...I assume they're used to people asking?

Lolly - Totally agree it's a crazy amount for two meals out, however I always feel like I should go because it's a regular thing with friends (also it's £9 for starter, side, main, rice, drink, naan and a rose). The additional cost is from drinks I will knock some off and drink less!

Gem - They owe me

DVardysShadow - He's fine and actually has savings...way better than me...I earn more and so I calculate I can catch up this year if I take the bull by the horns and get my head out of the sand and out of the rut...not sure I can think of any more cliches for that sentence!

Poosmate - I cannot write how terrified I am of laser treatment, plus I love my glasses! (Oh yes, I have contacts and two pairs of glasses...I might have found a leak!).

Firestronaut... this is going to seem like a cop out but...my food bill is split and although i think I could live on around £20 a week for food, my OH wouldn't be impressed as he has no issues with money and sees saving money on food as somethinig only those with money issues do - I know it doesnt make sense and a saving is a saving but I'm fighting a losing battle. He basically says he will match whatever I can save, so as soon as I start saving (specifically for the house), he will too... annoying huh?

Clothes challenge.... sounds good to me! I'm guessing ebay and carboots would be good places too- particularly for cheap trousers...

So overall, spending diary, credit card payments first and buy clothes cheaper... those sound do-able. I bet I'm posting in a week to reveal my 'leaks'...I've discovered that one is my piggy bank collection (ironic huh?)...they're all full! so I never have change as it's all in the pigs...I will cash that in asap.

thanks guys! I might start a diary too... just so I can mentally catch up with where I am each day

lemoncheesecake

seems odd to me that you are separating your finances when you share a house and are looking to buy together in the future! Have you thought of combining your finances?

Your OH has savings and you are paying interest on your debts???? Have you considered him paying your loans of and then you both saving for a house together - if he is good with money this would work well!!!

PatchCabbage

lemoncheesecake wrote: »

seems odd to me that you are separating your finances when you share a house and are looking to buy together in the future! Have you thought of combining your finances?

Your OH has savings and you are paying interest on your debts???? Have you considered him paying your loans of and then you both saving for a house together - if he is good with money this would work well!!!

I feel a bit funny doing that... we've been together more than 5 years and yet I only confessed to having debts earlier this year (2009). If we were to buy together then perhaps I'd consider a loan from him but for now I want to try to dig my way out on my own.

We have a joint account for bills and tescos and single accounts for all other expenses. If we were married perhaps we'd combine into one account but for now we're separate- otherwise I would feel like he is suffering because of me?

(most of my debt came from a uni course which I don't feel he should pay for).

beanielou

Spending diary is the way to go.
Your debt is fairly low so good you have deceided to get a handle on t :hem now.
PAD(payment a day)is a good way to reduce your target debt.
Hope it works out for you