SeaSmart SOA

SeaSmart

Hi guys...this is linked with post http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=233063

here is my SOA. thanks for your advice. At the moment things don't seem to be adding up. I have a wife and 2 kids (4 years and 8 months)

5 k of debt including overdrafts.

I did this using martins budget planner


Mortgage(including life insurance and contents/building insurance) - £625
Gas and electric - £70
Gas servicing - £30
Water - £20
TV License - £12
Internet - £18
Phone bill (includes cable TV and line rental) - £70
Bank account charges - £25 (for overdraft and platinum account, £15 for account...10 for interest on OD of 1700)
Childrens clubs - £50
Food shopping - 300
Clothes - £30
Council tax - £91
Coast of xmas split monthly and birthdya money for nephews (£10 a month...lot of nephews) - £30.83
Dentist,optical(contacts) and haircuts split monthly - £18.33
Hobbies (judo etc)- £35
Petrol - £100
Car insurance - £20.83
Car tax (split montly) - £10.83
Car Main (split montly) - £16.67
Credit card repayments (mint card 3000) - £80
Social - £135
Mobiles - £20


Income - £1805
Expend - £1893.05

scottishspendaholic

Hi SeaSmart,

Well done on posting your SOA. Lots of people will now be able to help you.

First thing I would cancel is the £15 account fee charge for your bank account if you can - this seems unnecessary. Downgrade this to a standard bank account that doesn't save a fee. If its RBS (from acc. name you have stated, then I downgraded from Royalties to an Interest Paying Current Account - that's what its called). Save yourself £180 a year.

Not a nice thought I know, but could you think about cancelling your cable tv. Your phone and internet combined are costing you nearly £90 a month - this is astronomical. I have my phone and internet with BT and pay £40 a month including calls on direct debit and this is on my list to look at as some people manage to do it even cheaper.

Can you cancel your gas servicing? This cost is really high.

The £300 for food is astromical. Have a look at this thread and why not join in - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=229933. You could maybe try to bring your grocery costs down to £200 this month, then try and shave £10 off each month - could you try this?

The children's clubs and hobbies may have to stop if your wife does go back to uni - this would save you another £85 a month.

Can you list your debts? Are you snowballing them?

I hope this helps and good luck!

scottishspendaholic x

jessicamb

Hi there

Welcome to MSE - I've just read through your other post as well.

If you want your wife to keep on studying then obviously you need to cut back on some things. I'll be harsh below and you can pick out what you like/need. I'm sure others will do the same.

Gas & Electric - what are you heating a small castle? If you're not arrears is it worth switching?
Gas Servicing £30 - not sure if this is worth it. £360 a year v the cost of a call out? Yours to decide..
Phone Bill - Way too big unless you call abroad all the time. NTL do a combined phone/broadband/TV package for £30 I think. Get rid of all but the most basic of packages. Can you get a cheaper call provider?
Bank Account Charges - are these monthly amounts where you pay for 'services' or for going over your limits? If they are for services switch back to the basic free kind.
Childrens clubs - is this for something to do or necessary childcare because you cant mind them? If its optional ditch it and let them play at home for free
Food - you can cut this back by meal planning in advance - see the old style board for ideas/help
Clothes - have you tried Primark and similar? Do you need or want them?
Xmas etc - how much does this equate to per recipient/nephew? Does it need to be so high? I'm sure your relatives will appreciate money is tight while one of you is studying. Maybe give smaller gifts that mean more? Joint presents at Xmas rather than one each?
Hobbies - nope not if youre broke
Petrol - leave the car at home and get a bus where possible? Although you might live in the middle of nowhere.

As I said above - that would cut it back to the bare bones IMHO.

SeaSmart

Thanks for that. I[m missing something there because when i tot that lot it only comes to 1788.49 whereas on the planner it comes out higher. Will have to look again.

We will have to look into the shopping but its costly with two kids. nappies etc. My wife deals with this. Also the gas servicing is vital as we have an old boiler/heating system and if it goes wrong it costs us a lot more. Just recently it went wrong and the servicing insurance saved us and arm and a leg.

We might have to knock out one of the clubs for our son but he's doing so well it would be a real shame. He's be so dissapointed and that would probably kill me!

the 135 quid i have put for social just tends to amount to that even though myself and the wife hardly go out. Its little odds and sods that add up.

Would love to switch to BT but we only have cable points in our house. Unsure about BT intstallation and set up charges.

My debts arent spiralling but they will if i am not careful I have 3g's on a Mint credit card and a 1700 quid OD. I dont want to increase that anymore.

Thanks for your help.

Edit - Hi jessica thanks. We did get the 30 quid package but its run out or something and now its switched back to the 18 quid for internet and the phone and TV comes to about 30 quid itself. We will look into calling charges.

Am i paying too much for gas and elctric? They wanted to put it up to 100 pound a month but we negotiated at 70. I thought that was cheap! Apparently we owe them money.

oops_a_daisy

Hi Seasmart - welcome

just my two penneth to add to SS's comments. Is your contents and buildings insurance taken out with the company that you took your mortgage out with ? you can change them at any time so you can try to get better quotes and if you go through a shopbot like Quidco you will get cashback for changing providers too.

All the best and good luck

calleyw

SeaSmart wrote:

We will have to look into the shopping but its costly with two kids. nappies etc. My wife deals with this.

Yes it can be costly with two children and no offence to your wife but if she is home all day then most of your meals could be cooked from scratch. That does not means she has to spend all day in the kitchen though. Get over to the money saving old style board. We all have slow cookers and produce some wonderful meals which are value for money as well as tasty.

I spend Between £60-£100 a month to feed two adults. You have one in nappies what is that about £15 a week a max. And a four year to feed. Children do not eat that much. Even if you said between the two of them that is another adult. So excluding nappies and other household items that should come in at around £150 a month. Then add nappies on at another £60 a month that comes to £210. So you are still spending a lot of money of food etc.

So you could cut back. If you are using supermarkets premimum brand cut back to the supermarket normal own label. I reckon you can slice at least £50 off a month for your food bill if not more.

Again you need to cut back on the phone and the TV charges £70 a month :eek: . Do you not have internet with the cable company as well. Get a freeview box and basic line rental will set you back about £11 plus calls. I use 1899.com for phone calls as they charge 3p connection and half a penny a min. At the weekends I use cable phone company as my calls are free.

Also down grade the bank account to normal current account.

If you cut £50 a month off your food bill and cut your telephone and tv bill down to say £20 a month that is saving of £50 a month. And down grading the bank account that is a grand total saved each month with little grief or hassle of £115. Not a bad chunk fo change for make a few changes.

All the best.


Yours


Calley

lynzpower

NTL are doin 3 for £30- I saw this online for existing customers just the other day.

As calley says, a predialler when people are at home at the non inclusive rates are also a great idea

poppy_f1

if your on telewest for cable then they also do a 3 for 30 im sure

calleyw

poppy_f1 wrote:

if your on telewest for cable then they also do a 3 for 30 im sure

Telewest/NTL are the same company.

Telewest do offer 3 for £30 but have a feeling that it is for new customers only (Cue the nationwide advert :rotfl: )

But just theaten to leave and they will often give you a better deal.


Yours


Calley

KEATERGREYHOUND_2

yeap call them up and threaten to leave cause the 3 for £30 deals been taken off your account and they will soon put it back on trust me they may even add a few extras on as well.
Why not see if youve got the cheapest gas and electric suppliers using uswitch or similar. Cutting back is difficult at 1st trust me ive been there done it and I know I need to tighten my belt even more. I may post another soa to see if anyone can help me

SeaSmart

I am going to call them up. I was under the impression it was for new customers only. NTL do get on my nerves from time to time. I'd ideally like to switch to BT and get a cheap digital box for the kids TV.

Thanks for all your help so far. From the 6th of July will be us using a preliminary budget to see how we get on.