SOA - Advice how we can cut costs?

katmcleod

I was hoping you gys could have a look and suggest anything we can do to cut back. At the moment we have two kids, one ages 3 and the other aged 12wks. I'm home with the kids just now, I have been full time at college and I've got one year left before I can start to earn enough money to cover childcare (full time both kids would cost me £16k!)
I'm running a home business doing ironing, it's only just started, so I'm bringing in an extra £60 a month. Next month I'm going to try and go back to work a couple days a week (childcare through family) and hopefully bring home about £400 a month extra. Then in August when I'm back at college (childcare paid for) and get a student loan of £350 a month roughly.

So by August things will be better, but right now we really need to cut back. I've been running over and over the figures but can't really figure anything out and my husband is just burying his head in the sand so it's up to me.


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................... 1470
Partners monthly income after tax....... 60 (ironing from home)
Benefits......................................... 170 (child benefit and tax credits)
Other income.................................. 0
Total monthly income....................... 1700

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage........................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 100.8
Rent.............................................. 470
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax..................................... 99
Electricity...................................... 30
Gas.............................................. 40
Oil................................................ 0
Water rates................................... 0
Telephone (land line)....................... 20
Mobile phone................................. 20 (two PAYG)
TV Licence................................... 10
Satellite/Cable TV.......................... 25
Internet Services........................... 0 (included in TV package)
Groceries etc. .............................. 200 (£100 main plus milk shops etc)
Clothing....................................... 10 (kids only as they grow -primark)
Petrol/diesel................................. 100
Road tax...................................... 10
Car Insurance............................... 47
Car maintenance (including MOT)...... 0
Car parking................................... 10 (all local parking metered, too far to walk)
Other travel.................................. 0
Childcare/nursery........................... 50 (£9 a week plus lunches)
Other child related expenses............ 100 (nappies, baby food, classes)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills..................... 0
Buildings insurance......................... 0
Contents insurance........................ 12
Life assurance ............................. 0
Other insurance............................ 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)... 10
Haircuts...................................... 10
Entertainment.............................. 10
Holiday....................................... 0
Emergency fund........................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)........... 0
Child Trust Funds (Two)................ 20
Cafes........................................ 40 (our only real luxury, a drink and cake to share on Sundays)
Overdraft Charges....................... 40
Bank Account Fee........................ 6.97
Charity...................................... 8.67
Total monthly expenses................ 1499.44


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


Secured & HP Debts
Description..........................Debt.........Monthly...APR
Mortgage........................... 0.............(0)............0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ....... 3738.79....(100.8)...16.7
Total secured & HP debts...... 3738.79.....-............-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Debenhams (His).............461.43....18.46.....26.9
Debenhams (Hers)...........773.21....30.93.....25.5
RBS..............................246.14....5...........16.8
RBS Loan.......................11000.....313.......15.9
Capital One....................1001.35..49.78....30.34
Vanquis........................1068.93...53.........4.9

Right now all we can do it make the minimum payments.

Summary of Monthly Income, expense and surplus

Total monthly income: £ 1,700
Expenses (incl. HP & secured debts): £ 1,499.44
Available for debt repayments: £ 200.56
Unsecured debt repayments: £ Surplus (shortfall if negative) £ 470.17

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Assets: £ 3000
Secured & HP Debt £ -3,738.79
Unsecured Debt £ Net Assets £ -14,551.06
Net Assets £ -15,289.85

daviesalie_2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................... 1470
Partners monthly income after tax....... 60 (ironing from home)
Benefits......................................... 170 (child benefit and tax credits)
Other income.................................. 0
Total monthly income....................... 1700

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage........................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 100.8
Rent.............................................. 470
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax..................................... 99
Electricity...................................... 30
Gas.............................................. 40 Turn the heating down a little, every little helps
Oil................................................ 0
Water rates................................... 0 How come no water...I'm assuming included in rent?
Telephone (land line)....................... 20
Mobile phone................................. 20 (two PAYG)
TV Licence................................... 10
Satellite/Cable TV.......................... 25 Can u cancel the TV and just keep internet or go to absolutely basic package
Internet Services........................... 0 (included in TV package)
Groceries etc. .............................. 200 (£100 main plus milk shops etc) If your going to use the car try and kill 2 birds with one stone, e.g. go shopping on way home from work rather than making an extra trip
Clothing....................................... 10 (kids only as they grow -primark) Can you make do with what you've got for a few months?
Petrol/diesel................................. 100
Road tax...................................... 10
Car Insurance............................... 47 Have you used comparison sites (read main site) and go through cashback site
Car maintenance (including MOT)...... 0
Car parking................................... 10 (all local parking metered, too far to walk)
Other travel.................................. 0
Childcare/nursery........................... 50 (£9 a week plus lunches)
Other child related expenses............ 100 (nappies, baby food, classes)This seems excessive. my total shopping budget inc this is £275 and thats for me a 15yr old, 12 yr old & 10mth old. I've just changed to tesco own range nappies, bit stiffer but just as good and don't leak as much either. Classes could be cancelled for a few months now that the weather is warming up - try local meetups on netmums
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills..................... 0
Buildings insurance......................... 0
Contents insurance........................ 12 I pay £6 with esure and got cashack through quidco
Life assurance ............................. 0
Other insurance............................ 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)... 10
Haircuts...................................... 10
Entertainment.............................. 10
Holiday....................................... 0
Emergency fund........................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)........... 0
Child Trust Funds (Two)................ 20 This should be put on hold until your back on your feet
Cafes........................................ 40 (our only real luxury, a drink and cake to share on Sundays) This is 20% of your shopping budget - could you prepare a picnic and eat it in the park, beach, etc
Overdraft Charges....................... 40
Bank Account Fee........................ 6.97 I'm assuming you pay this as your overdraft interest works out cheaper - if not cancel
Charity...................................... 8.67 Cancel until you can afford it
Total monthly expenses................ 1499.44

When you do have some more money coming in make sure you use a snowball to work out how much you should pay off each card. I'm recommending it to everyone, someone recommended it to me on here and its a godsend! http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

Hope some of these help - good luck with it

katmcleod

Hi daviesalie,
Water rates are part of the council tax. We're on the basic TV package and it works out cheaper than just getting broadband. We don't have a BT line so we're very limited there unfortunately.
The classes it's only one per child, cancelling one of them though so it'll just be down to one, that'll save £30 a month, should have written that sorry.
Car insurance is about as good as we can get, I'm 23 and seem to get charged silly amounts despite a good no claims.
Lots of good suggestions though, hubby is home so I've shown him too Thanks Not sure what a snowball is? But I'll visit the site and find out

RAS

Katie

Where are you based? England or Scotland?

miss_missy

katmcleod wrote: »

I was hoping you gys could have a look and suggest anything we can do to cut back. At the moment we have two kids, one ages 3 and the other aged 12wks. I'm home with the kids just now, I have been full time at college and I've got one year left before I can start to earn enough money to cover childcare (full time both kids would cost me £16k!)
I'm running a home business doing ironing, it's only just started, so I'm bringing in an extra £60 a month. Next month I'm going to try and go back to work a couple days a week (childcare through family) and hopefully bring home about £400 a month extra. Then in August when I'm back at college (childcare paid for) and get a student loan of £350 a month roughly.

So by August things will be better, but right now we really need to cut back. I've been running over and over the figures but can't really figure anything out and my husband is just burying his head in the sand so it's up to me.


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................... 1470
Partners monthly income after tax....... 60 (ironing from home)
Benefits......................................... 170 (child benefit and tax credits)
Other income.................................. 0
Total monthly income....................... 1700

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage........................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 100.8
Rent.............................................. 470
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax..................................... 99 can this be paid over 12 months
Electricity...................................... 30
Gas.............................................. 40
Oil................................................ 0
Water rates................................... 0
Telephone (land line)....................... 20
Mobile phone................................. 20 (two PAYG)
TV Licence................................... 10 this should be approx 12
Satellite/Cable TV.......................... 25
Internet Services........................... 0 (included in TV package)
Groceries etc. .............................. 200 (£100 main plus milk shops etc) this could maybe be reduced alittle as you have your nappies and baby food listed further down
Clothing....................................... 10 (kids only as they grow -primark)
Petrol/diesel................................. 100
Road tax...................................... 10
Car Insurance............................... 47 this seems high we pay 52 for 2 cars
Car maintenance (including MOT)...... 0 you need something here
Car parking................................... 10 (all local parking metered, too far to walk)
Other travel.................................. 0
Childcare/nursery........................... 50 (£9 a week plus lunches)
Other child related expenses............ 100 (nappies, baby food, classes)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 you should have something
Pet insurance/vet bills..................... 0
Buildings insurance......................... 0
Contents insurance........................ 12
Life assurance ............................. 0
Other insurance............................ 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)... 10 is this realistic are you sure you only spend this much even if you only buy for your own children thats only 60 each for birthday and christmas if this is based on last year you probably only counted your 3 yr old and not the baby
Haircuts...................................... 10
Entertainment.............................. 10
Holiday....................................... 0
Emergency fund........................... 0 you should have something here
(Unnamed monthly expense)........... 0
Child Trust Funds (Two)................ 20 as good as this is you cant afford it
Cafes........................................ 40 (our only real luxury, a drink and cake to share on Sundays) do as op suggests have picnic instead, we often go for walks, to the parks on weekends but i take drinks and snack you cant afford these luxuries
Overdraft Charges....................... 40
Bank Account Fee........................ 6.97
Charity...................................... 8.67 you really cant afford this
Total monthly expenses................ 1499.44


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


Secured & HP Debts
Description..........................Debt.........Monthly...APR
Mortgage........................... 0.............(0)............0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ....... 3738.79....(100.8)...16.7
Total secured & HP debts...... 3738.79.....-............-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Debenhams (His).............461.43....18.46.....26.9
Debenhams (Hers)...........773.21....30.93.....25.5
RBS..............................246.14....5...........16.8
RBS Loan.......................11000.....313.......15.9
Capital One....................1001.35..49.78....30.34
Vanquis........................1068.93...53.........4.9

Right now all we can do it make the minimum payments.

Summary of Monthly Income, expense and surplus

Total monthly income: £ 1,700
Expenses (incl. HP & secured debts): £ 1,499.44
Available for debt repayments: £ 200.56
Unsecured debt repayments: £ Surplus (shortfall if negative) £ 470.17

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Assets: £ 3000
Secured & HP Debt £ -3,738.79
Unsecured Debt £ Net Assets £ -14,551.06
Net Assets £ -15,289.85

some suggestions above you really cant afford charity or child trust fund payments at the present
maybe talking to cccs or payplan should be your next move you say your 470.17 short thats a huge amount and all your debts except one are high aprs some very high
are you still using your cc?
even if you could afford the minimums that you have put you would be paying off very little per month due to the rate of interest for example take your smallest debt
RBS..............................246.14....5...........16.8
you must only be paying approx £1.50 of the debt per month because of the interest charges
i really do think you should talk to cccs or payplan
sorry if i sound really negative on a positive well done for asking for help/advice

RAS

katmcleod 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................... 1470
Partners monthly income after tax....... 60 (ironing from home)
Benefits......................................... 170 (child benefit and tax credits)
Other income.................................. 0
Total monthly income....................... 1700

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage........................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 100.8
Rent.............................................. 470
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax..................................... 99
Electricity...................................... 30
Gas.............................................. 40
Oil................................................ 0
Water rates................................... 0
Telephone (land line)....................... 20
Mobile phone................................. 20 (two PAYG)
TV Licence................................... 10
Satellite/Cable TV.......................... 25 -
Internet Services........................... 0 (included in TV package)
Groceries etc. .............................. 200 (£100 main plus milk shops etc)
Clothing....................................... 10 (kids only as they grow -primark)
Petrol/diesel................................. 100
Road tax...................................... 10
Car Insurance............................... 47
Car maintenance (including MOT)...... 0
Car parking................................... 10 (all local parking metered, too far to walk)
Other travel.................................. 0
Childcare/nursery........................... 50 (£9 a week plus lunches) - you cannot afford this at the moment
Other child related expenses............ 100 (nappies, baby food, classes) - this goes in housekeeping except the classes
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills..................... 0
Buildings insurance......................... 0
Contents insurance........................ 12
Life assurance ............................. 0
Other insurance............................ 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)... 10
Haircuts...................................... 10
Entertainment.............................. 10
Holiday....................................... 0
Emergency fund........................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)........... 0
Child Trust Funds (Two)................ 20 - you cannot afford this - stop
Cafes........................................ 40 (our only real luxury, a drink and cake to share on Sundays) - - you cannot afford this - stop
Overdraft Charges....................... 40
Bank Account Fee........................ 6.97
Charity...................................... 8.67
Total monthly expenses................ 1499.44


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


Secured & HP Debts
Description..........................Debt.........Monthly...APR
Mortgage........................... 0.............(0)............0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ....... 3738.79....(100.8)...16.7 - is this the car?
Total secured & HP debts...... 3738.79.....-............-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Debenhams (His).............461.43....18.46.....26.9
Debenhams (Hers)...........773.21....30.93.....25.5
RBS..............................246.14....5...........16.8
RBS Loan.......................11000.....313.......15.9
Capital One....................1001.35..49.78....30.34
Vanquis........................1068.93...53.........4.9
total £14551.06 £470.17


Right now all we can do it make the minimum payments. - your income will not cover minimum payments

Summary of Monthly Income, expense and surplus

Total monthly income: £ 1,700
Expenses (incl. HP & secured debts): £ 1,499.44
Available for debt repayments: £ 200.56
Unsecured debt repayments: £ Surplus (shortfall if negative) £ 470.17

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Assets: £ 3000
Secured & HP Debt £ -3,738.79
Unsecured Debt £ Net Assets £ -14,551.06
Net Assets £ -15,289.85

You simply cannot sort this with your budget if you keep the car. You need to speak toa debt charity ASAP.

Frozenace

You can donate your unused stuff to charity and save the 9 pounds / month. If you pay that into the debenhams thing, you'll get rid of the debt x times faster.

katmcleod

Ok replies to the last couple posters

I've put medical at £0 because the stuff the kids need has been covered by Minor Ailments, I still get free prescriptions because my youngest is under one and my husband refuses to see a doctor for anything not life threatening!
Council tax is £99 a month so we already are paying monthly. No emergency fund either, can't spare the money and whenever we go get some it needs spent, This week was a new tyre so the £50 saved is already gone.
Birthday/Christmas is low I never noticed that, this years was paid by an inheritance, next year we'll have a proper income again so putting nothing aside.
Picnics are a good idea, we used to do that in the summer, been put off by the weather recently but you're right we can't afford it.
Childcare costs are a must, it's the only way I get time to get things done for my business, the £50 a month is for one paid hour two times a week, and lunches at £1.50 each. Once I'm working next month I'll need them, it's the government funded sessions.
RAS yes the Hire Purchase cost is the car.

At the moment my mother in law is giving us money so we can make ends meet so we're not getting further into debt at least. But we don't want to keep relying on her. My husband was getting overtime of £600 a month atleast which meant we were fine but they put a centre ban on overtime the week before our youngest was born! He's moving jobs within his office next month so hopefully overtime will start again. It means we won't be relying on my MIL but we'll only just be breaking even so these suggestions really are great thanks guys

katmcleod

RAS wrote: »

You simply cannot sort this with your budget if you keep the car. You need to speak toa debt charity ASAP.

Forgot to reply to this bit.
We already looked into selling the car and getting a little runaround but we owe more than the cars worth at the moment. We live in quite a rural location and its near impossible to get to my husbands work on public transport. There's no direct link, turns a 10mile journey into a 40mile journey each way with three bus changes.
Our halfway point where we can hand the car back and cancel the finance isn't until next year.

katmcleod

miss_missy wrote: »

are you still using your cc?
even if you could afford the minimums that you have put you would be paying off very little per month due to the rate of interest for example take your smallest debt
RBS..............................246.14....5...........16.8
you must only be paying approx £1.50 of the debt per month because of the interest charges

No we haven't used any of the cards since the summer. Capital one is banned from more spending because we froze the interest rate. RBS comes down about £1.50 a month yeah. The others a bit more nothing great. The money from my ironing is supposed to go straight to paying off chunks of it but we got a puncture two days ago and February's earnings only covered a new tyre. On the plus side that would have gone on the credit card otherwise.

miss_missy

something is wrong with your benefits your child benefit should be 143 per month and even if you got the min tax credits which we do it would be approx 42 per month
but when i had my little girl for the first year i got approx 90 per month because you get extra for having a baby under 1

your benefits should be about 235 per month as we earn more than you and with 2 children we got around that
you need to look into this