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Our SOA

carriel_2
Posts: 186 Forumite
Firstly, thanks for all the brilliant advice on here that I have already been given, it was suggested that I should do a SOA so here goes:
Income:
Hubbys wages £2100
my wage £0 I'm a full time mum but am going back to work when my youngest starts school in September, so this will change soon, have an interview next wed £9 per hour, so fingers crossed.
Child benefit £115
Total Income £2215
Outgoings:
Mortgage £790
Secured Loan £190
Council tax £98
Gas £30
Elect £60 :eek:
TV License £11
Sky £55
Phone £20
Broadband £18
Food £300
Car insurance £26
Contents Insurance £15
Buildings Ins £22
Water £38
Kensingtom Finance (DMP) £200
Total £1873
Spare cash: 342
Debts:
IF credit card £4000
RBS CC £1800
Tesco CC £3000
Nationwide CC £2500
Barclays CC £750
Total £12050
I dont know where it goes, but that spare cash seems to disappear, hubby plays cricket every weekend, but other than that we dont go out, I think a spending diary is something I need to look at.
My DMP is with Kensington finance, although I offered to pay more than £200, he talked me down saying he didnt want me to be in financial difficulty, but in hindsight, I guess the less I pay, the longer it takes to pay it all off & the more money they earn.
Before I joined here, I hadnt realised that I could do a DMP for free, but I have been given some advice on those & will be checking them out later today. I hate being in debt & I am determined to pay it all off as soon as possible.
As for everything else, food budget is being played with thanks to the OD board, Sky, phone & broadband is being changed next week to all NTL, total package price £45, so a nice big saving there. I have checked electricity suppliers, but no savings to be had there, once my youngest is in school & I am out at work, that should drop alot.
Income:
Hubbys wages £2100
my wage £0 I'm a full time mum but am going back to work when my youngest starts school in September, so this will change soon, have an interview next wed £9 per hour, so fingers crossed.
Child benefit £115
Total Income £2215
Outgoings:
Mortgage £790
Secured Loan £190
Council tax £98
Gas £30
Elect £60 :eek:
TV License £11
Sky £55
Phone £20
Broadband £18
Food £300
Car insurance £26
Contents Insurance £15
Buildings Ins £22
Water £38
Kensingtom Finance (DMP) £200
Total £1873
Spare cash: 342
Debts:
IF credit card £4000
RBS CC £1800
Tesco CC £3000
Nationwide CC £2500
Barclays CC £750
Total £12050
I dont know where it goes, but that spare cash seems to disappear, hubby plays cricket every weekend, but other than that we dont go out, I think a spending diary is something I need to look at.
My DMP is with Kensington finance, although I offered to pay more than £200, he talked me down saying he didnt want me to be in financial difficulty, but in hindsight, I guess the less I pay, the longer it takes to pay it all off & the more money they earn.
Before I joined here, I hadnt realised that I could do a DMP for free, but I have been given some advice on those & will be checking them out later today. I hate being in debt & I am determined to pay it all off as soon as possible.
As for everything else, food budget is being played with thanks to the OD board, Sky, phone & broadband is being changed next week to all NTL, total package price £45, so a nice big saving there. I have checked electricity suppliers, but no savings to be had there, once my youngest is in school & I am out at work, that should drop alot.
0
Comments
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If you don't know where the "spare money" is going then I'd definitely suggest a spending diary.
Sky, phone and broadband would have been the first areas to tackle - which you are doing
Good luckNo longer using this account for new posts from 20130 -
clearly a spending diary will help you determine where all the money is going.... because you seem to have a fairly large surplus.
Indeed with your apparent surplus, i dont really inderstand why you went into a DMP.... can you explain why you thought that was necessary?
Your CC debts are 12,050 which means your monthly minimum repayment would only have been between 240 and 300 which you seem to be able to afford.
however some other thoughts on the SoA
do any of the debts have PPI on them?
what do you expect to earn once in employment and what will you pay out in child minding etc?
the following have maybe left out ... travel / car / clothes / going out/ entertainments, any take aways, holidays, weekends away, haircuts, presents & xmas expenses, magazine/newpapers,0 -
We went into DMP because we couldnt afford the repayments, the totalled over £500 per month. We have two young children, so there are always extra expenses, shoes, clothes, birthday parties etc which arent included in this budget.
When we finally admitted we had problems, we contacted the credit cards to offer lower payments, probably half of what they were requesting, but they all refused, which is odd as they are now only receiving a tiny amount.
My husband & I have never been very good financially (this site is really helping me) & we just panicked & contacted the first add we found on the internet.
The job I am interviewing for is good hours for school, so I wont be paying childcare costs, wont earn a huge amount, probably £450 a month?
On paper we seem to be ok, but somehow it never works out that way, i'm going to start the spending diary tomorrow (when our monthly wage goes in) & see how that goes.
Also thinking of just taking out £350 cash at the beginning of the month & budgetting it to include all our shopping & other expenses.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this & offer their advice0 -
Am I right in thinking there that you have a DMP AND the credit cards totalling 12k or is the DMP paying off those CCs?:beer: Well aint funny how its the little things in life that mean the most? Not where you live, the car you drive or the price tag on your clothes.
Theres no dollar sign on piece of mind
This Ive come to know...
So if you agree have a drink with me, raise your glasses for a toast :beer:0 -
No the DMP is paying of those debts, we dont have any others.
I was just trying to think of where our money used to go, but I think its a bit confusing, because the figures on my SOA are new figures, when we took out the DMP hubby was earning £250 a month less & we spent alot more on food shopping, regular weekly tesco shop was £100 easy.0 -
Ah, I see
thats much easier to deal with then:beer: Well aint funny how its the little things in life that mean the most? Not where you live, the car you drive or the price tag on your clothes.
Theres no dollar sign on piece of mind
This Ive come to know...
So if you agree have a drink with me, raise your glasses for a toast :beer:0 -
Sky £55 per month :eek:
Get rid of / down size the package.
There is plenty of sport / movies or what ever on the other channels.0 -
Sky, phone & broadband have already been changed, as I said in my first post, getting phone, 2MB broadband, TV package with multiroom & sky sports all for £45, saves us about £50 per month :eek:0
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Well done Carrie,
I see it now at the end of your first post.
To much skim reading for me
PG0 -
My advice to you would be that when you start earning, even if it is only £450 a month, put that money into a different account. It is money you are not used to having, and if you let it get swallowed up in the normal household expenses for a couple of months, then it will disappear quicker than you can say "spare money".
Last year I received a fairly substantial payrise (about £10K), so from month one that extra money went into a separate savings account. Our theory was we've survived without it up until now, so lets save it. So far this year we've had a weekend in New York, a ski holiday in France, a week in Greece, a brand new bathroom (complete with jacuzzi) & we're going to Australia in November for 3 weeks. All paid for by those extra wages.
That money could have so easily just sat in our current account being spent on, well junk really, but I get so much more of a kick out of watching my savings grow.0
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