SOA - Frying Pan into the Fire??

AliJ72

I recently started a new job, taking roughly a £1k per year pay drop - yes, I know. What was I thinking?! However, I really wanted the job and the future prospects were a lot better than where I was.

In addition to this, I didn't really consider the fact that I would now have £45 travel expenses to cope with, on top of having less monthly pay.

A few points re. the SOA below:
1) My household maintenance of £30 covers a factor fee for my property, which covers buildings insurance and the maintenance of the building.
2) You will see that there is no cost entered for food/household shopping as historically my budget for this has been whatever is left over once all the other stuff has been paid.

Now that this is all down in black and white I'm worried about how to make ends meet with a budget of £27 per month to feed myself. I can't honestly see how to save money on any of my outgoings as I don't think they are excessive. My credit card payments are based on the minimum payments but I switch them about and they are on 0%.

I sometimes wonder how I will ever be able to afford another night out and holidays are just of out the question. The only money I spend on going out is the money I spend going to the gym!


I realise my situation isn't desperate and there are many people worse off than me but any suggestions would be appreciated.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,037.01
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291.46
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.13
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184.88
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.99
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.50
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,037.01

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,009.58

QueenBeruthiel

Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.50

Cancel.

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Switch to PAYG.

Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Charity begins at.....

Why both public transport and car costs? Can you manage without the car (as you only spend £20 pm on petrol, you mustn't use it much)?

butdoineedit?

Well done for posting your SOA.
My 1st thought would be can you stop your charity donation? This would free up £30 towards your food budget.
Can you also combine your phone & broadband to lower the cost slightly, i don't have either but have seen people on here who manage to get deals for next to nothing!!
Also could you go PAYG on your mobile? Theres lots of £15 deals at the mo, which would halve your cost....

Numpty_Monkey

Can you do a favour please
can you repost your SOA using this
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
It just makes it easier for us(we're used to it)

KPR11

Hi Ali,

Well done on posting your SOA!

Just a couple of observations:

1. Is £14pm all you spend on gas and electric?

2. There is not much point saving for christmas if you are starving yourself. I am sure cards will do fine till you sort yourself out.

3. As queen pointed out, you might be able to save a bit on your mobile phone.

4. As for your gym, is there somewhere cheaper you can join? I know fitspace do a £10pm gym or join like a council run leisure centre gym.

5. You have not given any details of your about your debts, this might be useful.

6. Is there anything you can do to boost your income? Second job maybe? ebay?

7. If you are a single occupier, are you claiming your discount? Also, are you paying over 10 months if so try paying over 12 months.

8. If it's a recent loan you might want to nip over to the reclaiming PPI board to see if you can claim it back.

If you post more details I am sure people will be glad to help.

Hope it helps and good luck.

KPR

AliJ72

Thanks for the replies.

My mobile phone is on contract until September.

I could cut down on the charity payment by half. I sponsor a child and don't want to stop that but the other half I could ditch!

My gym membership is with the local leisure centre. I go swimming 3 times and do around 4 classes per week. I pretty much make my money back in just over a week compared to paying per session. As I said, it's the only time I really go out so much as it would make sense to cut this out, I'd be loathe to do it. However, will consider as needs must!

I only have electricity and this was an increased payment of £3pmth from last year! I don't sit in the dark with the telly off but I'm good at only using what I need and not leaving things on standby.

I do get single occupier discounton council tax and I do pay it over 10mths. I'll look into the 12mth option - thanks.

My travel costs for the car are mainly used for visiting the family. Unfortunately, they don't live nearby and are not on the bus route that I have my monthly travel pass with.

I'll redo the SOA with the other format and will post debt details later on today, when I have more time. Will also look into reducing my broadband costs later on today too.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

theoretica

There are a number of things on your SOA which I consider less important than eating- TV/internet/both mobile and landline/DVDs/Christmas/Gym.

Have you looked at the cost of renting a small car now and then or is there a city car club or equivalent in your area? How does this compare with owning a car? Your breakdown cover seems quite expensive- there is an article about it on this site somewhere.

Do you need a bus pass every months? Could you cycle in summer? Would you save money buying an annual bus pass and would your employer advance you the money to do this from your before tax salary?

What is the course and how long is it running for? What are you doing with the money from the two council tax free months?

Happytogetdebtfree

Welcome alij 72 and good luck with your journey, look forwward to seeing the soa in MSE format x

QueenBeruthiel

AliJ72 wrote: »

I could cut down on the charity payment by half. I sponsor a child and don't want to stop that .....

Good for you!

AliJ72 wrote: »

My gym membership is with the local leisure centre. I go swimming 3 times and do around 4 classes per week. I pretty much make my money back in just over a week compared to paying per session. As I said, it's the only time I really go out so much as it would make sense to cut this out, I'd be loathe to do it. However, will consider as needs must!

Sounds like a good deal. However, I was about to suggest that you try to get something like bar work to tide you over for a while. If you went for that, you could cut the gym, at least for a few months, and just go jogging.

How much is on your credit card? And how long before your loan is paid off?

dancingfairy

Can you get better deals on your credit cards? any space on any with lower interest? can you get a 0% or life of balance deal with anyone?
Depending on how long you have left on the cards/loan etc you may need to look into doing a dmp with one of the charities Martin recommends getting help from. Have you phoned National Debtline, CCCS or been to your local CAB for advice? - might be worth seeing what they sugest?
df