where to start?

saxysarah

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 406.00 silly me i had the weekly amount down!!!!
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1891.2
Other income............................ 735
Total monthly income.................... 2727.7
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 195.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 221.02
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 73
Electricity............................. 83
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35.26
Telephone (land line)................... 14.50
Mobile phone............................ 26.33
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 18.5
Internet Services....................... 14.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 18 adujusted this from the yearly figure i put initally!
Car Insurance........................... 20
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 33
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 850
Other child related expenses............ 183.4
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 18
Buildings insurance..................... 25.94
Contents insurance...................... 10.71
Life assurance ......................... 5
Other insurance......................... 25
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200
Haircuts................................ 12
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
smoking ;-(............................. 160
endowment............................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 3294.85

Assets
Cash.................................... 2000
House value (Gross)..................... 100000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 106000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 32125.4..(195.9)....4.85
Secured Debt.................. 13000....(221.2)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 45125.4...-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
wwf............................55.66.....25........24.52
mnba...........................2384.79...67........24.52
barclaycard....................3208.45...75........22.9
family loan....................2500......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........8148.9....167.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,727.7
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,294.85
Available for debt repayments........... -567.15
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 167
Amount short for making debt repayments. -734.15
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 106,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -45,125.4
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,148.9
Net Assets.............................. 52,725.7

Ok i've tried to include absolutely everything - so where do i start? I did find a few unidentified payments when i was trawling through my bank statements so finding out how to cancel them would be a start! and i haven't included student grants in which average at £1,500 per term in grants and £1,500 per term in student loan as I plan to use most of this money to pay straight off the CC - except i haven't actually done it yet.......................................

Tixy

Hi sarah and well done for posting up your statement of affairs.
You are showing a large shortfall each month (although I do see you haven't included all your student income) but still I'll try to suggest areas you may be able to cut back

saxysarah wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 5 Gosh - bet its hectic at yours!
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 101.5
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1891.2
Other income............................ 735 what is this? is it child maintenance? if not do you get any?
Total monthly income.................... 2727.7
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 195.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 221.02
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 73
Electricity............................. 83 This looks pretty high - I know you have a large family but you still maybe able to make some savings. Have you checked you are with the cheapest supplier? have you checked the readings are accurate? have you tried to cut down on your usage -particularly high energy items such as elec heaters, tumble driers, immersion heaters etc.
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35.26
Telephone (land line)................... 31.5
Mobile phone............................ 26.33
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 18.5
Internet Services....................... 14.99 could you get a better combined deal for landline, satellie & internet - in total you pay £65, if you buy altogether you should be able to get for around £50 or so.
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 Even with a big family you might be able to reduce this by meal planning before you shop and using the drop a brand challenge. If you could reduce to around £300 that would be great.
Clothing................................ 100 Can you try to reduce a little, only buy essentials, hand clothes down from one child to the next etc.
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 215 :eek:(pretty certain this is a typo!;))
Car Insurance........................... 20
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 33
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 850 Any chance to reduce the costs here at all? how old are children? is it nursery or after school clubs?
Other child related expenses............ 183.4 What are these?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 18
Buildings insurance..................... 25.94
Contents insurance...................... 10.71 B&C looks pretty high compared to house value, at next renewal see if you can shop around (I'd expect you to be able to get for £25 for both combined)
Life assurance ......................... 5
Other insurance......................... 25
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200 £2400 is a lot over the year, can you try to reduce either the number of people you buy for or the amounts spent.
Haircuts................................ 12
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
smoking ;-(............................. 160 If you could quit that would be great, have you tried? (I know its not easy!)
endowment............................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 3294.85

Assets
Cash.................................... 2000 can you put some of this towards your debts?
House value (Gross)..................... 100000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 106000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 32125.4..(195.9)....4.85
Secured Debt.................. 13000....(221.2)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 45125.4...-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
wwf............................55.66.....25........24.52
mnba...........................2384.79...67........24.52
barclaycard....................3208.45...75........22.9
family loan....................2500......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........8148.9....167.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,727.7
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,294.85
Available for debt repayments........... -567.15
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 167
Amount short for making debt repayments. -734.15
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 106,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -45,125.4
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,148.9
Net Assets.............................. 52,725.7

......................................

Anything that appears on your bank statements that you don't know what its for then 2 options, talk to the bank to try to find out where its going or 2 cancel the DD, if its important the people will write to you and then you can ascertain what it was for.

How long are you expecting to be a student for? When you finish what sort of salary would you earn and how will that effect your benefits. You don't seem to be able to meet your payments at the moment? is that the case? or are you using the student grant and loans to make up the surplus?
Aside from the student loans are your debts listed above increasing or staying about the same each month?

Do you have an overdraft as well? if so don't forget to include it in your list of debts.

Hope some of these may help and good luck

saxysarah

ok here goes - this will be a pretty long answer!!!
Yes that figure is child maintenance:p
I have just switched energy suppliers and reduced my electric from £104pm to £83 and my gas from £75 to £50. I do use tumble drier A LOT! but i'm out of the house 4 days and 3 nights a week and it rains a lot here! i have tried the airer/radiator thing but i have so much washing i'm always missing a vital bit of uniform or kit which is waiting to go in the wash cos the radiators are full! At the moment I am trying not to dry all heavy stuf in the tumbler......its a start
My internet is under contract with a 3 month payment holiday i did try sky for an all in one but they couldnt give me an unlimited package and with 3/5 kids and me all constantly online we would be guarenteed to go over the limit.
Clothing is a rough estimate i do hand down and am a primark fanatic but my 2 youngest are twin girls so everything is new for them (the oldest are boys) I am guilty of buying too many clothes for the kids often because i don't seem to have time to keep up with the washing lol!

yes i've put in the yearly amount for road tax DOH (blonde)

childcare covers the twins for my 2 days in college and my 2 days shifts in work the oldest babysit for my evening shifts/counselling training etc. Tax credits pay 80% which is why my benefits looks so high (i'm not a scrounger i have always worked full time until i had the twins while on my own and had to reduce my hours) that leaves me with a difference of £170 a month roll on easter they should be starting school!

I should quit - I need to - I make an excuse that its my only pleasure I often swap to rollies which is a massive saving of at least £120 month i just find it hard to keep it up I don't go out drinking etc (at the most twice a year) so entertainment is for things like takeaways and doing stuff with the kids

Presents - its a fortune but between 5 kids xmas and birthdays plus immediate family.......I save all year for xmas cashback and tips etc and I have to tell you - its magic!

Yes i do intend to pay off a chunk of my CC with savings this month i like to keep a reasonable amount for emergencies tho

When i finish being a student my salary will cancel my benefits I do use my student loans/grants to cover the diff yes and no i dont have an overdraft - think that was everthing i forgot to put in pocket money for the kids but i teach a bit of piano and that generally covers that-

Oh kids expenses are for school dinners the oldest 2 take sandwiches for break AND buy food they eat me out of house and home the rest is for rugby/football/drama etc

I could cut down on shopping a bit if i could manage my time better so i could meal plan and cook properly/ahead on a college day i'm up at 6 and we are all out the house by 8 run little ones to creche then get to college then pick little ones up then get home shout at the kids a bit teach some piano yell at the kids a bit more round the youngest 2 into the bath/story/bed help with homework while shoving the post in the drawer/hoping theres something in the freezer than i can oven cook in 20 minutes while walking the dogs/ help with more homework while doing my own plus running round the house shoving stuff in cupboards etc etc - generally fall into bed by midnight and repeat 2moro:p

Most of the problem is that I haven't had the time to keep track of what i'm doing spending - my expenditure isnt going up i've chopped up all my cards ;-)

Sorry its so long wanted to try and answer everything!

saxysarah

ooooh and i've just double checked my landline bill and i've been overpaying so they've given me a 3 month payment break and reduced my monthly bill to £14.50

I think we could def cut down on electric if we switched things off too like pcs etc:D

WASHER

Well done for posting your SOA, I take my hat off to you, 5 children, and a student, gosh I wish I had your energy.

Your clothing looks high each month, I appreciate you have 5 children, but can the youngest children not use hand me downs, if only for playing out etc.

You can edit your first post by pressing the edit button in the bottom right hand corner of the first post, so you can amend the car tax, your soa would look far better with the correct figure in there.

WASHER

Are you not entitled to free school meals? If not, I would say pack ups for everyone, I know its more work for you, but you could save a bit of money each month.

Also the sky/cable tv should go really, you cannot afford it - Sorry to be blunt.


You are overspending by £500 if you amend the car tax each month, how are you paying for this? Overdraft?

pandora205

What a busy life! I thought mine was hectic but nothing compared with yours.
I'm sure the expert moneysavers will be along with helpful suggestions. Just a couple of thoughts from here. Check out those unidentified payments carefully - I discovered a direct debit I couldn't account for when I did a close check to discover I'd been paying insurance on my old house several years after I'd moved out. Several phone calls and letters later it transpired they'd not received the notification that I was moving - and I hadn't picked it up. I had a refund of over £1000! The other thing I discovered late in the day is that I am entitled to pay single person's council tax, despite having children. I thought (mistakenly) that this was just for those living on their own.

I'm sure you are more careful than I've been... but wouldn't it be nice to discover money owed, a forgotten savings account, etc.?

WASHER

saxysarah wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 101.5
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1891.2
Other income............................ 735
Total monthly income.................... 2727.7
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 195.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 221.02
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 73
Electricity............................. 83
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35.26
Telephone (land line)................... 14.50
Mobile phone............................ 26.33 - too much
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 18.5 - got to go
Internet Services....................... 14.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 100 - too much
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 18
Car Insurance........................... 20
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 33
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 850
Other child related expenses............ 183.4 -you need to reduce this
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 18 - how many pets?
Buildings insurance..................... 25.94 - the combined buildings and insurance is high, you need to shop around
Contents insurance...................... 10.71
Life assurance ......................... 5
Other insurance......................... 25
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200:eek: You cannot afford this amount, reduce by half at least
Haircuts................................ 12
Entertainment........................... 100 - you cannot afford this amount, you need to reduce it by half
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
smoking ;-(............................. 160:eek:you have got to quit - easier said than done, I know.
endowment............................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 3294.85

Assets
Cash.................................... 2000
House value (Gross)..................... 100000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 106000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 32125.4..(195.9)....4.85
Secured Debt.................. 13000....(221.2)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 45125.4...-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
wwf............................55.66.....25........24.52
mnba...........................2384.79...67........24.52
barclaycard....................3208.45...75........22.9
family loan....................2500......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........8148.9....167.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,727.7
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,294.85
Available for debt repayments........... -567.15
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 167
Amount short for making debt repayments. -734.15
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 106,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -45,125.4
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,148.9
Net Assets.............................. 52,725.7

Ok i've tried to include absolutely everything - so where do i start? I did find a few unidentified payments when i was trawling through my bank statements so finding out how to cancel them would be a start! and i haven't included student grants in which average at £1,500 per term in grants and £1,500 per term in student loan as I plan to use most of this money to pay straight off the CC - except i haven't actually done it yet.......................................

I have added comments in your amended SOA.

saxysarah

right have edited my dodgy road tax and my landline bill so that's accurate although it's too late at night to work out how that effects my final figures ;-(

The kids do hand down and down and down although there is quite a bit of age diff apart from the oldest 2 so it means keeping cupboards full of clothes for years and the twins are girls and an even bigger age gap plus as they are twins it means new clothes x 2 as they cant hand down to each other.

my student money goes to pay the difference and i'm looking to use some of that to clear cards and decrease my monthly expenditure so i can keep my sky - i have cut my package from the full £40+ down to basic much to my sport mad boys devastation but they're good kids and they appreciate that we're trying to get back on track.

Not entitled to free school meals/uniform allowance etc as that what tax credits is meant to cover - I do try to do packed lunches esp summertime for DS3 although it is a time /organised thing plus he's on the fussy side so i could do with some tips on cheap packed lunches but 'ordinary' kid type stuff! the older 2 get £2 day and sandwiches + I encourage take bottles of water etc but the deal is if they can save any of that money they can keep it to top up their pocket money and then they are responsible for their own mobile top ups and xbox live accounts DS1 is awesome at money management DS2 is not so great but he's learning! They are often late back from school with sports stuff etc so that covers any extra snacks/drinks between luchtime and 5pm and they have been known to buy a multipack of mars bars en route to school - keep 1 each for pre footy and 'exchange' the rest for a small fee so their own were free

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement:D

saxysarah

my buildings ins is actually buildings and contents - the other one appears to be an unidentified dd that needs cancelling

I could put my 'presents' in as half this amount as the other half is covered by tips/cashback etc that i hoard all year or cash that i get at xmas time is recycled into the kids presents so it would be fair to say my current expenditure is £100 month not £200

I dont have an overdraft or go overdrawn ;-)

saxysarah

On the PLUS side i'm feeling really positive - i'm not in the dire straits that many DFW are in and for a good year i have student grants to make up the deficit/get out of debt while get my life in order - i'm very lucky to have that 'cushion' i've joined up for the 2012 challenge and the £5 a day in March challenge and i will make the biggest cut i can by switching back again to 'rollies' which will save me easily £100pm even if i treat myself to real cigs at weekends

I'm not however ready to give up every single luxury immediately as i work my !!!! off in college/work and make concrete sensible steps i think i will make it!