MY SOA as duly requested!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cattie1

ok, not totally sure i'm doing this right but i'll try my best.
family = 2 VERY young toddlers +OH
income = £900 monthly
oh= £450 monthly
rent £250
council tax £88
store card= £650:29.9% £23
store card=£120 29.9% £8.12
credit card=£1000 not sure of apr £20
credit card= £1300 5.4% £35-arrangement
credit card =£400 12% £35
tax credit repayment £300 0% £27
catalogue £780 £67
catalogue £650 2.25% £54
shopping £400 (this includes nappies/wipes/dog food, cigarettes, things for lunches at work)
going out £0!
utilities £100
repayment £5 month
plus we are paying old electric and gas bills still £37 a month. UPDATE! (paid off at the end of month!)
t.v liscence £14.54
loan £2.500 £140 145% (extortionate!)
no insurance (extremely bad experiances with insurance companies!)
walk to work 0 travel costs
no internet (use it at work-instead of actually working!!)
never buy clothes to be honest-r sometimes if we have any left over money we use around £10 on kids clothes
clothes £20
probably spend around £200 at christmas
£20 kids and partners birthdays-don't buy any one else.
total income £1350
total outgoings £1320
(i think! not very good at maths!)
so i should have £30 left over every month-i don't know where the hell that goes!!!!!

Gemmzie

Is there any way you can transfer the store cards onto another card? How's your credit rating? As those are massive interest rates.

Well done for posting and hopefully someone can help

lynsayjane

he may not be able to cancel the sky but he can cut the package down by about £30 a month if he wanted to!

the food shopping seems extortionate to me, am sure with a little work this can be cut down.

are you getting the cheapest rates for your utilities? try uswitch to make sure.

good luck to you!

tyllwyd

I rearranged this a little bit for you

Income
income = £900 monthly
oh= £450 monthly
Total: 1350

Outgoings
rent £250
council tax £88
shopping £400 (this includes nappies/wipes/dog food)
going out £0!
utilities £100
Total: 838


store card= £650:29.9% £23
store card=£120 29.9% £8.12
credit card=£1000 not sure of apr £20
credit card= £1300 5.4% £35-arrangement
credit card =£400 12% £35
tax credit repayment £300 0% £27
catalogue £780 £67
catalogue £650 2.25% £54
repayment £5 month
my OH also pays for things like sky (full package) he cant cancel yet cos on 12month contract,
credit card £80 month
plus we are paying old electric and gas bills still £37 a month.



There seem to be a few things missing. How about child benefit? Do you have any car/travel costs? Tv licence? Landline/Mobile phones? Internet costs? Insurance?

elantan

you have got to start a spending diary to see exactly where your money is going ..when i started mine i realised i wasted alot of money ..like the advice above try and transfer your balances that will save a fortune on interest ..i'm also sure more advice will follow

CLAPTON

well done for posting and starting to get to grips with the budget.

however the SoA need to include everything that is spent. You include OH income in the income bit but say OH pays for 'things like Sky' ...well what other things like sky? You need to include everything otherwise you will have no idea where the money is going.
Currently there seems nothing there for phone/internet, clothes, travel related costs, any work related costs like lunches/coffees, any presents /xmas expenses, any holidays ......

Start a spending diary and involve OH so all your family spending is include.
Think about all the one off, yearly costs that you will spend over the next 12 months (divide by 12) and add them to your SoA.
Once you have done that you will be better placed to see how to reduce the spending.

overbudget

You can definitely cut down your grocery bill by quite a lot - check the Old Style board for ideas and make sure you plan meals so that you only buy what you need. Also do an "audit" of your cupboards - I found I had a lot of stuff lurking in the backs of cupboards and in the freezer that I had forgotten about! When we started meal planning and using shopping lists we found we wasted so much less food - and saved a lot of money.

Good luck

cattie1

yeah i did miss some things actually -sorry
child benefit included in my income-tax credits are my OH income, shopping includes cigarettes (OH tried quitting has recently cut down!)
also t.v liscence £14 .54 month
loan £140 £2.5000 145% apr (obscene i know!)

cattie1

sorry forgot to say thanks v much for rearranging.

cattie1

my OH pays
sky £44
credit card £80
mobile £15
talk talk £20
we are on key meters for gas and electric as it is easier for us
my car broke down so i got rid of it!!!
take the healthy option and walk to and from work (not loosing any weight though!)
don't drink tea and coffee and my lunches at work are made up from things from shopping.
thankyou everyone.
also my credit rating is "very poor" so cant transfer any balances hence the 145% loan!

Toomuchdebt

omg that loan is horrendous-Hopefully someone here will have some good advice.