Soa

likklegem

Hi all! My husband and I are in the process of completing on our house. Thanks to our parents we've been able to have a decent deposite plus have money for the necessary repairs.

To be honest - things are no where near as bad as they where 2 years ago. We were renting, paying out a fortune in debts run up as students (and after we got married and did a bit of travelling) -it is much more managable. Howe, I need a bit of help. I've done a combined SOA based on my husband's and my income, our debts and what we have to pay out each month - however, I would love or some one to go over this and see a) where it appears to be wrong (utilities may be off as I've only just started back up) and b) where we can cut back without it being too painful.

I havent really budgeted in nights out / entertainment as for the next year were going to be boring and do all the work on the house (which the money isn't included here as our parents have given us the money - delayed from when we got married as a present to start us off! Really decent of them!)

My main problem is until July we're not living together - pretty awful as now I'm staying in our new home on my own in the week (he's renting a room of a friend) due to job commitments - he's a teacher and cant resign until Easter / July depending on him getting another job! That said this is our dream home and we felt that now was the best time to get on the housing market. Each weekend one of us goes down to the other to see each other, not ideal but hey that's life.

We re both determined to cut back our debts and start a family - any advice would be brilliantwe just seem to be going through money like it's out of fasion - thanks all!

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................ 1240
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1537
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2777

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 861.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 200
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 97.5
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 42
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 80
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 60
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 23
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 14
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1891.4


Assets
Cash.................................... 1400
House value (Gross)..................... 155000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 158200


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 131000...(861.9)....5.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 131000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
My Credit Card.................1000......100.......0
Hubby's Credit Card............800.......32........17.9
Hubby's Loan...................6500......342.......NaN
Total unsecured debts..........8300......474.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,777
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,891.4
Available for debt repayments........... 885.6
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 474
Amount left after debt repayments....... 411.6

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 158,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -131,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,300
Net Assets.............................. 18,900

[

Poosmate

HI Gem, welcome to DFWland and congratulations on posting.

Your SOA looks quite fab to me (I wish mine looked like that!). You seem to have £411 left over after all costs but I'm guessing like most of us you have nothing like that spare at the end of the month! You could start a spending diary to find out where this money goes. 40p per day for crisps at works equates to £8 per month - so true to look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves!

There are a couple of areas you could cut back on, £60 for clothing per month? You must have loads of clothes so do you need to spend this much?

You haven't put anything in for car tax/maintenance/MOT? Nor Birthdays/Christmas - you are allowed these when you're in debt (although not too extravagant cost wise).

Congrats on your emergency fund. As you're probably already aware, the first debt to tackle is your hubby's CC as it's got the highest interest rate. I would be inclined to pay that off and start saving £82 per month in your emergency fund until your 0% deal end and if you have enough then to pay it off do that so you don't incur any interest.

I'd then keep going with the emergency fund until you have enough to pay off the loan early (if you can save some interest there some loans are front loaded so you pay most of the interest withing the first half of the life of the loan).

Hope that helps and best of luck in your new home.

Poo

zcrat41

Hi Gem,
Congrats on the house!! I'm no expert like some of the fab guys on here but I've just bought my own first house so I'm in a bit of a similar situation to you. Firstly, if this is a planned soa for your house just be aware that for the 1st 6 months the TV licence is double; don't know why!! Also, make sure you've left a a contingency fund for doing up your house; there's always nasty little surprises. Can be something big but mine was as simple as going round Ikea, just getting "little bits and pieces that I really do need" and seeing a bill for £200 at the till!!!!

Mobiles seem to be quite high too, I pay £10 a month for 200 mins and 200 texts, does me nicely.

Oh - just a thought, if you're living on your own till July can you claim single person's discount till then?

Good luck,

ZC

likklegem

Hi guys, thanks for the super quick replys! Your right we never seem to have over 400 a month left - I honestly don't know where this is going!!! Were both being really good and making lunch for work at home but I do have a diet coke fetish (that must be costing me a fortune!)

Hubby's loan is what were trying to pay off - for the last 6 months we've put a bit aside - we are going to try and get it paid off in the summer (that way if he doesn't get a job straight away when he moves back that should be wiped out!)

Our contracts are £40 quid each and are on O2 - we never use more than the contract, and at the moment there is no land line or broadband (thanks mum!) as were using hers. We are both tied in to those contracts til September this year - so cant touch them at the moment.

Council tax is with the 25% reduced rate- should be £130 but as he's only going to be there 2 nights a week (well 4 nights a month excluding school holidays) council said we qualify for it - so that's good! Council tax is a band C property (3 bed semi) It has a garage but we have to pull that down within the next 12 week due to the mortage. Garage was built on top of the drains and not done very well.

£60 clothing was for both of us - reality is that we wont spend it - or I'll go slightly mental.Christmas sales I went a bit mad (only buying work clothes, as I changed jobs, previous place as it was a charity could wear jeans so I did) now I'm in a proper job (lol) requiring work clothes!!Didn't mean to spend so much, not 100% sure how it happened but somehow last month I spent £168!!

Just looked through my bank account online - my phone bill was £51 so I'm going to speak to O2 - I know I talk but surely not that much! Last month I spent 150 quid on Xmas presents for family but as I have a dont buy my presents as I'm too tight to get you one I didn't budget for them.

Car is husbands. It's fairly new so theres no MOT to worry about and it's still under guarentee - didn't come out properly of SOA.

Likewise with the 20 quid a month dental insurance - I've reguarly had problems with my back teeth on the right hand side - so I know it actually works out better for me to keep it (that and my dentist is private - costs a fortune! Just went last week - £135!!!!Ouch at least I'll get 80% back!

The house needs quite a bit doing to it - which is why I'm determined to sort out our finances! The bathroom needs redoing - got a complete bathroom set plus taps and shower / shower screen for 800 quid at Tesco's of all places - but I know I'm going to spend a bit of money on a plumer and tiler to do it up. Problem was that the bathroom in the house was totally blue (toilet, tiles, sink bath you name it) it was really cold and damp and we wouldn't have felt clean in it! Only other big problem is kitchen (which is none exsistent) but my brother who is a joiner is going to do this for us free - moving in present! Just need to buy the materials. As for tiles, the company my dad works for ordered far too many on a job and rather than get rid of them (sell them off at a reduced rate) he's managed to get them to me for free!!! Thery're quite nice - grey and white really neutral.

Sorry getting distracted there, but I see us spending at least 2/3 grand doing bathroom and kitchen as these are pretty much esential (I can live with everything else) but need to know a decent budget to stick to and where I can bring down some costs - thanks for your help!

zcrat41

Gem, in the weekly email this week there was a really useful thread on buying your first home/doing up your first home.

Get lots of quotes for your plumber and tiler - I went for the not quite the cheapest quote tiler and was told "I'm surprised you went for me, you looked quite posh so I thought someone would try and fleece you. Seems you're more sensible than you look" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although my house is small (2 bed cottage) My kitchen was £600 (albeit, I only have 5 cupboards!!) white goods, £400 and Bathroom was £400.

Good luck

Numpty_Monkey

likklegem 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................ 1240
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1537
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2777

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 861.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 200
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 97.5
Electricity............................. 30 Check this is the best tarrif use comparison and cashback sites
Gas..................................... 30Check this is the best tarrif use comparison and cashback sites
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 42 look at getting a water meter
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 80 is it the best tarrif, look at lowering contracts
TV Licence.............................. 11 budget £12:o
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0 if your happy not to have it:T
Internet Services....................... 0 look at packages for Landline/internet deals, cashbacksites if you join
Groceries etc. ......................... 150:D
Clothing................................ 60 can be reduced to £20
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 23 Any insurance use comparrison and cashback sites
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0 budget £5 here
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20 as car
Contents insurance...................... 12 as car
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 14 Whats this?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 budget £5 here
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0 Need to budget a realistic ammount here
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1891.4


Assets
Cash.................................... 1400
House value (Gross)..................... 155000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 158200


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 131000...(861.9)....5.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 131000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
My Credit Card.................1000......100.......0 ?
Hubby's Credit Card............800.......32........17.9
Hubby's Loan...................6500......342.......NaN
Total unsecured debts..........8300......474.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,777
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,891.4
Available for debt repayments........... 885.6
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 474
Amount left after debt repayments....... 411.6 bet it ain't

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 158,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -131,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,300
Net Assets.............................. 18,900

[

Hi I've put a few comments, some of the suguestions are dependent on the contracts you have
As you are doing up your new house my guess is thats where a lot of the spare cash is going, new paint brush here , a bag of screws there,
you both need to keep a spending diary

Use cashback sites( theres loads ) Topcashback,Quidco,Fatcheese,Getpoundsback ....., and MSE articles for the best deals on elec/gas, telephones

:A

slummymummyof3

You mention your OH won't be living in your new home until the summer - does that mean you are paying accomodation costs elsewhere for him to live? Could this be where your £400 per month 'surplus' is going?

If you are doing up your house, I suggest you take a good look at screwfix.com, it is amazing! There are quite a few areas in the country where they have shops as well. Look on ebay for things like your kitchen taps as there are very good deals to have - try looking at plumbworld on ebay (rather than the actual plumbworld site)

BT are currently doing a free install on tel lines (saving approx £125 on installation costs), Virgin media are usually on cash back sites (try topcashback.co.uk, cashbackkings.com or quidco.com - although quidco charges you £5 per annum which is taken from your earnings) Make sure you clear cookies on your computer if you have used comparison sites as otherwise the cash back will track to them and not you!

A number of DIY chains give new home owners 10% off for 6 months on providing proof of moving to a new home - I know Focus do this.

Oneday77

Brother who is a joiner...all joiners have plumber mates and all plumbers enjoy weekend beer money that they fully declare of course.

Mobile wise it's worth calling O2 unless their iPhones and ask to reduce a band, always worth asking.

Does your CC have any balance left. Transfer your OHs balance to it for the 0%. I guess your overpaying yours just now, if you have no limit free over pay his instead.

Also if the £1400 is purely emergency fund or early loan repayment. Then I would clear off the CCs with it and the balance in 3 months with the spare payments. The CCs can be the emergency fund, hard to impulse buy when it needs defrosted out of the freezer to use and the loan isn't getting any bigger and early repayment is a while away.

likklegem

Hi all! Sorry I haven't posted since last week! In final stages of completing now - stress!! Good news is that the house is ours this coming Wednesday!!!:beer: Bad news hubby and I went out at the weekend and spent £100 :mad:oops. I'm justifying by saying that we wont be going out for quite some time and we were celebrating!

My credit card does have a bit of balance left, its now at £1000 so I am thinking of moving his. I am over-paying it (or have been) for the last couple of months as I want to be debt free (excluding mortage!)Hubby told me last night that he's cleared the remainder of his credit card excluding £300 from his savings so he reckons that'll be paid off by April. ith his loans I know he's been putting a bit aside (and has some money left over when his saving bond that his parents did for him) is no longer locked in, so he's going to use this to pay of his loan - no savings left but at least that's them all paid off!

Hubby is living away from home til July. did calculate this in the SOA. He's living with a good friend of ours who's also a teacher.She's only charging him £200 and that includes all bills/internet etc. That's why our food bill is slightly higher than what it would be if we were together - it really is true eating for two is cheaper than one!

Yeah, having family in the building trade really is a godsend! We've been talking to one of his mates who's an electrician who's not going to really charge us labour but free use of the garden during the summer (I can totally live with that!).As for plumber he's going to come over a week on Friday and let me know what he can do and when. Good thing is that I'm not desperate for the bathroom to be done as my mum is only round the corner! Slightly worried about a tiler and removal firm - does anyone know a decent one in the North West or best place to find a removal firm. Tiler I'll keep looking as family don't really know anyone who could do it (shame but ah well!)

Have also redone insurance. Not going to be paying out £20 for contents and £12 for building. I've shopped around all day and got them both through the Post Office for £240 if I paid in one go - so I've done this, never really noticed before how expensive the premiums go if you split it over the year. I shall start buying this on credit card!

Thanks slummymummyof3 I had no idea that some of the shop's did that! I'll have to investigate. Whilst I've sorted the bathroom, Kitchen still needs organising! Was going to try and rope brother in to making them from scratch to see if it would be cheaper (after all he owes me a few favours - I got his PPI back worth £2.5k from the bank) but I'm not sure if this will be more expensive - thoughts???

I spoke to O2 - no chance on doing anything with our contracts til June at earliest which is a shame. Normally haggle with them as the two of us are both on contract and we usually get good deals with customer retention as there is two of us but they wouldn't budge as we are still in that contract!:mad:

Have also discovered I spend far too much money on books. Didn't realise how much I spent. I grabbed all my receipts and it turned out last month I spent £57 on books and December as Borders went bust I spent £112! Oh dear.... I'm quite a big reader and I read about 3 books a week but this is far too excessive and I shall go cold turkey - to the library here I come

Numpty Monkey your right!! We have know where near as £400 left at the end of the month - the books have put a right dent into my budget! I'm still not sure where all of that money goes! The other £14 insurance is actually not insurance but bank account fees. Both hubby and I pay 7 quid a month and for that we get card protection / identity theft, mobile insurance, rac breakdown cover (for us not the car so it doesn't matter if we are in another car and not driving) free withdraws abroad and interest free overdraft up to £1000 - its barclays graduate account!