please check my SOA thankyou.

sadnblue

i know this is overloaded on some of the figures please be gentle, recently very reduced hours and drop in income, will be applying for further benefit
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3 teenagers
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 788
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1212
Benefits................................ 216
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2216
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0 live in father in laws house
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 158 night storage heaters
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 104 old aga used for cooking all year
Water rates............................. 0 own well
Telephone (land line)................... 69
Mobile phone............................ 45
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 19 needed for exams
Groceries etc. ......................... 725 husband and boys huge appetites
Clothing................................ 150
Petrol/diesel........................... 284 rural living
Road tax................................ 17
Car Insurance........................... 32
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40 old car
Car parking............................. 28
Other travel............................ 132 bus passes for school
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 65 after school activities
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 55, glasses split over two years.
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 21
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 24
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 12 accident insurance
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 50 teenagers counted as adults
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 40
professional union fees................. 22
school dinners.......................... 120
personal pension........................ 16
Total monthly expenses.................. 2395

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1900
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1900

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,216
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,395
Available for debt repayments........... -179
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -179
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 1,900
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Fang_3

Your food bill is HUGE. Unless you are a family of giants there's no excuse for to be spending that amount if you can't afford it. You could half that easily. That will still give you £90 a week. And for five adults that's plenty, especially if you plan meals.

beanielou

Wow you are in a very lucky situation to not pay rent.
However some of your outgoings are very large:eek:
Your food billis awesome.That is nearly £200 a week:eek:
Surely you dont spend £150 on clothes every month?
£50 on haircuts every month?
But you are in the lucky position also of also having no debts which is great.

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi and welcome I am in awe of the food bill :-0 is that a mistype. The good thing is no debt, with abit of skimping on food bill you cN easily be back in the positive x :-) all the best

PasturesNew

Oil - it'd be cheaper to buy a new or second hand electric oven than to keep paying £100/month.

Storage heaters aren't the best, especially if you're out all day. There must be more fuel efficient heating methods you can use.

Food is £4.83/day for each person every day. It must be quite possible to knock this back to £3/day.

Haircuts - leave it a week longer each time - and try to find the cheapest place or cut it yourself every other time or investigate local College salons where it's cheap.

Landline - that's a huge bill. Who is using the phone? To call who? At what times? You can get calls cheaper, wait until cheaper times, keep calls short.

Clothiing budget is about what I'd spend in two years, do you not have enough clothes by now?

NJW69

Agree your heating/cooker bills are huge.

I have a six bed detached house and my combined bills for these are about £130 per month.

There are three adults in our house, me a 19 year old who does body building and my DH who has a very physical job and I have cut my grocery bills down from £350 to £200 over the last few months.

I think small changes would get you back within your income.

SouthCoast

Food is £4.83/day for each person every day. It must be quite possible to knock this back to £3/day.

You forgot the school dinners at £1,440 p.a.

catmiaow

SouthCoast wrote: »

You forgot the school dinners at £1,440 p.a.

Not if they take pack lunches, much cheaper

Triggles

I agree with previous posters, you do have room to cut back in a few areas.

- Mobiles - £45 per month - what does this cover? does everyone have one, including the kids? how often are they used and what for? Contract or payg?

- Oil - at £104 per month for cooking, I agree that you would be better buying an electric cooker and using that

- Electric - £158 per month is a lot as well, I would look into more efficient and economical heating options

- Telephone - £69 per month is quite high for basic telephone - who is it with? any chance of bringing that down with that service, or changing to a cheaper service?

- Groceries - £725 per month is much too high! What are you buying for this? Can you give an idea of what you're going through and what you're buying? I just can't imagine spending that much, even with 3 teenage boys. Especially as you are listing school lunches as a separate expense, this means you're spending well over £725 per month for food! Check the Old Style board for tons of ideas on how to cut this back. Meal planning is also a good thing to keep the expenses down.

- Clothing - £150 per month - that's awfully expensive as well. Typically what do you buy each month for that? Is this what you actually spend each month or are you averaging it out?

- Haircuts - £50 per month - again, is that actually what is spent on haircuts each month? Who is this mainly for - the boys? How often do they get it cut? Can it be extended a bit to save on money?

School dinners - £120 per month - this could most likely be eliminated by packing lunches, and with careful planning and following some of the tips on the OS board, you could have £0 per month on school dinners and easily cut your grocery spending in half or more!

I think your biggest areas for cuts are grocery spending, haircuts, oil, school dinners, and possibly electricity (depending on what you can do about alternative heating options).

Can you give us a better idea of what you're spending that grocery budget on please? Are you buying basics/store brands? Or name brands that are more expensive? Meat every meal? Meal planning? Lots of snacks and sodas?

You didn't mention specifically how old your kids were, so don't know if they're old enough to contribute to what might be their personal expenses (such as mobiles, clothing) by working a part time job. Something to consider if the reason those two sections are high are because of the kids.

sadnblue

Many thanx to all replies , didnt put in the debts , i go to court on tuesday ...... cant touch F.I.Laws house so stuck with old heaters , might try and sort out an electric oven , the old aga heats the water as well , so not sure if an emersion heater would be cheaper than the oil . food , i try and buy near closing times to get reduced items , also buy own brands a lot and yes the men folk are meat eaters OH will not eat pasta { foreign rubbish ! ] the boys will . Hair cuts are £12 the cheapest i could find stretched to 6 weeks boys are paying for there mobiles , that figuire is for mine and OH . i also do part packed lunchs , one son eats his then goes and buys extra at lunchtime and after school , can,t keep up with his appetite at the moment !! and he,s skinny !

barbarawright

Do the rest of the family appreciate your financial problems? It sounds as if you're being left to do all the budgeting while they are carrying on as normal. £850 a month on groceries, including school meals, is £170 each (and I bet your OH buys lunch at work). Surely they can see that this level of spending just isn't sustainable - what will happen if you stop being able to live rent-free?

How far from school are you? I thought the local authority had to pay fares if the distance was more than 3 miles (though things may have changed since My Day). And do you really spend £150 a month on clothing?