Saving with debts ...? (now includes SOA)

edmund_blackadder

Originally Posted by edmund_blackadder
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.................... 2 do you need 2?
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1519
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300
Benefits................................ 132.8
Other income............................ 281.4
Total monthly income.................... 3233.2
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 556
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 119
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 123 is this over 10 or 12 months? you can have it over 12 if you wish too.
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 78 this is high have you shopped around for cheaper?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33.38
Telephone (land line)................... 17
Mobile phone............................ 20.31
TV Licence.............................. 11.95
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 60 can this be reduced? use what you have and buy only when needed.
Petrol/diesel........................... 30 for 2 cars?
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 33.21
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 160
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 17.99
Buildings insurance..................... 42.73
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 12.95
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 6
Entertainment........................... 200 this can be reduced it seems very high
Holiday................................. 200 :eek:a month? wow!
Emergency fund.......................... 75
Mandatory Org Membership for Job........ 19.18
IKEA Overpayments....................... 55
Double Glazing Loan Overpayments........ 300
Mortgage Overpayment.................... 160
DD Account.............................. 25
DS Account.............................. 20
Choir (Daughter)........................ 10
Boiler and Appliance Cover (British Gas) 43.66
Total monthly expenses.................. 2763.36

Assets
Cash.................................... 3000
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 149000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 121614...(556)......2.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 2948.....(119)......17.24
Total secured & HP debts...... 124562....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
IKEA Card......................512.......19.06.....19.9
Double Glazing.................2874.7....68........21.13
Natwest Loan...................2600......103.......NaN
Total unsecured debts..........5986.7....190.06....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,233.2
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,763.36
Available for debt repayments........... 469.84
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 190.06
Amount left after debt repayments....... 279.78 this is a good amount left over do you use this? could this go on a debt each month?
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 149,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -124,562
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,986.7
Net Assets.............................. 18,451.3
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.


**Unfortunately we are very rarely left in as much credit as it implies so clearly there is a whole load of miscellaneous spending (not direct debits etc) that are not reflected in the SOA.

savingmummy wrote: »

I have added my 2 pennies worth
Good luck hunni xx

Thanks.

In answer to some of your questions:

Yes we do need 2 cars unfortunately as we both work and both out of town (although I do carshare alternate weeks!).

Council Tax is over 10 months I think ... so definitely worth a thought in getting it spread over 12.

£78 for gas is high ... but it is cheapest for what we used when I checked a few months ago (I will need to check again). The reason we use so much is because my son has a major heart condition so house needs to be kept toasty (hence DLA to offset this)

Clothes does seem high. I was erring on the side of caution with that amount. Needless to say, clothes are usually for kids (13 year old girl will not wear clothes from freecycle, ebay etc - I know, I know!!)

Petrol is just for one car as the other car's petrol, car tax and insurance gets paid out of a different account (which pretty much takes care of itself)


Yes I think the £200 for entertainment should be and could be reduced - mostly alcohol I think which we could certainly do with cutting down on.

Actually Holiday works out more like £100 per month (as we are going away for the first time in years!) but only paying for it over 6 months IYSWIM?

As for the amount left over each month ...alas this is not really a true reflection ... think it mostly gets spent on random stuff/tat (and maybe extra spends on groceries, clothes etc which I cannot accurately cover in the rest of the SOA as it can vary month to month) :eek:

HappyMJ

I would stop making the £160 overpayments on the mortgage and concentrate on the debts with the highest interest rate first you will save more in the long term.

Just like to say that £200 per month entertainment is fine it's only £11.50 per person per week. What's that going out 1 time per week? Not bad.

Can you turn the radiators down in some rooms to get the gas bill down? Maybe turn radiator down in kids bedroom in day and turn it back up an hour or so before he goes back in the room.

Now for the random stuff write everything down in a diary the £1 on a coffee, the 60p on a newspaper whatever you spend your money on it all adds up.

edmund_blackadder

HappyMJ wrote: »

I would stop making the £160 overpayments on the mortgage and concentrate on the debts with the highest interest rate first you will save more in the long term.

This is something I am thinking of doing this month.

Just like to say that £200 per month entertainment is fine it's only £11.50 per person per week. What's that going out 1 time per week? Not bad.

Can you turn the radiators down in some rooms to get the gas bill down? Maybe turn radiator down in kids bedroom in day and turn it back up an hour or so before he goes back in the room.

Yeah I'd love to be able to get into this habit as i reckon it could help a lot.

Now for the random stuff write everything down in a diary the £1 on a coffee, the 60p on a newspaper whatever you spend your money on it all adds up.

Yes this is the most difficult one of all for me as it's not just me spending it and it varies greatly from month to month to be able to keep a track of it. That being said, at the moment my main priority is getting rid of the bigger debts before working out how I can tighten up on this wasted expenditure

..........

Gemmzie

At the moment it will take around 105 months to clear your IKEA card, as you're only paying £10 approx off the capital. With the £160 it could be gone in four months

Can you overpay on your loan/double glazing/hire purchase?

edmund_blackadder

Gemmzie wrote: »

At the moment it will take around 105 months to clear your IKEA card, as you're only paying £10 approx off the capital. With the £160 it could be gone in four months

Can you overpay on your loan/double glazing/hire purchase?

Yes that's what I am doing. I've put the over payments in my SOA.

I'm over paying 300 on the double glazing...and already over paying 55 on the Ikea card. Once each one is paid off I'll transfer the overpayments to the next one til they are all gone.

rictus123

Can you take on more hours at work?

edmund_blackadder

rictus123 wrote: »

Can you take on more hours at work?

No... and to be fair I'm not really worried about the amount of money I've got coming in as that is not the problem. It was just prioritising my debts really.

sarahs999

I think the crux is, you have plenty in your account for emergencies. Stop the emergency payments, budget well for a few months and throw everything you can at the debt. You'll crack it really quickly, then you can go back to saving. Makes sense to do it now while interest rates are so low as you won't get the return on your savings.

savingmummy

edmund_blackadder wrote: »

Thanks.

In answer to some of your questions:

Yes we do need 2 cars unfortunately as we both work and both out of town (although I do carshare alternate weeks!).

Thats fab you car share - helps a lot! i thought petrol was for 2 hence me thinking maybe one could go!

Council Tax is over 10 months I think ... so definitely worth a thought in getting it spread over 12. every little helps

£78 for gas is high ... but it is cheapest for what we used when I checked a few months ago (I will need to check again). The reason we use so much is because my son has a major heart condition so house needs to be kept toasty (hence DLA to offset this) Oh sorry to hear that!

Clothes does seem high. I was erring on the side of caution with that amount. Needless to say, clothes are usually for kids (13 year old girl will not wear clothes from freecycle, ebay etc - I know, I know!!)

Yep i can understand that one lol! Maybe give her a budget then, start teaching her the value of money and how to use what she has until she really needs new bits.
Paper round after school or a spot of doing jobs for mum and dad/nan and grandad for pocket money - if she is spending her own bit of money it may help her to realise cost etc.


Yes I think the £200 for entertainment should be and could be reduced - mostly alcohol I think which we could certainly do with cutting down on.

Tesco and asda always seem to have offers on (mainly beers/wine) so try to catch these.

Groceries - try sticking to a strict shopping list each week of what you `need` i used to rub round Tesco grabbing anything but now i only get whats on my list.
meal plan for the week.
Drop a brand here and there - suprisingly some are no different although a few are a bit ewww!:D


As for the amount left over each month ...alas this is not really a true reflection ... think it mostly gets spent on random stuff/tat (and maybe extra spends on groceries, clothes etc which I cannot accurately cover in the rest of the SOA as it can vary month to month) :eek:

You need to ensure the amount left over is infact visual to yourself each month.
Start a spending diary/keep receipts its amazing how it all adds up.
I ensure i buy all my groceries to last the week so i dont need to pop out for extras - used to go out for milk and come back with bags full of extras:eek:

I dont think you need extra income you have enough to cover important bills/debt repayments PLUS extra left each month - you just need to use the extra on debts to get them shifted

edmund_blackadder

Well I've now shifted the £50 of the emergency money towards the IKEA card so that should hopefully get rid of that pretty quickly (what with the other overpayments I'm making towards it)